The work of the Moscow poet Aleksandr Velichanskii (1940–90) has hardly been publicly discussed at all, either inside or outside Russia. This is not surprising, because after the poet's remarkable début in 1969 there was no further substantial publication in the USSR until 1988. Velichanskii did not take part in official literary life during the 1970s and 1980s. In the year before his death, Velichanskii's friends took advantage of the new situation in publishing in the USSR and sponsored a series of collections, each with a print run of 3000. These books are as follows: Udel. Izbrannye stikhotvoreniia 1966–1973 (Portion. Selected Poems 1966–1973, 1989); Basta. Rechitativ. 1973–1975 (Basta. Recitative. 1973–1975, 1989); Pomolvka (nesostoiavshiisia roman). 1976–1977 (Betrothal (A Love Affair that Didn't Work). 1976–1977, 1990); Podzemnaia nimfa. 1976–1977 (The Underground Nymph. 1976–1977, 1990); Bezdonnyi cheln. 1982–1983 (The Bottomless Boat. 1982–1983, 1990); Kakhetinskie stikhi. 1985–1986 (Poems from Kakhetia. 1985–1986, 1990); and Vplot′ (Right up to, 1991), which collects lyrics from the last period of Velichanskii's life, 1983–9. All these books were published in Moscow by Prometei, the house attached to the Moscow State Pedagogical University; they all include a statement indicating that private sponsorship was involved. There is only one book published by a major Moscow house, Vremeni nevidimaia tverd′. Stikhotvoreniia (The Invisible Firmament of Time. Poems, Moscow: Sovremennik, 1990), a selection which includes items from almost all the books mentioned earlier.