Dostoevsky’s novel Devils (Besy) was first published in the journal Russian Messenger (Russkii vestnik) in 1871 (nos. 1, 2, 4, 7, 9–11) and 1872 (nos. 11–12). It was issued as a separate volume in 1873. The text of this latter edition was included in the most recent edition of Dostoevsky’s Complete Collected Works in Thirty Volumes (Polnoe sobranie sochinenii v tridtsati tomakh), Leningrad: Nauka, vols 10–12, 1974–5. It is this text that was chosen for a new translation of the work.
The chapter entitled ‘At Tikhon’s’ or ‘Stavrogin’s Confession’ appears where the author originally intended it, rather than as an Appendix. Dostoevsky’s publisher Katkov refused to print it because he found it too shocking. The author accepted this decision and the chapter never appeared during Dostoevsky’s lifetime. It was discovered in 1921 among the author’s papers and published a year later.