Piatiletka (The Five-Year Plan)
Semen Kirsanov, S.B. Telingater design, photomontages Octavo 20x14cm., original decorated cloth, 176pp., 10000 copies. Book design with 8 double-sided photgravures by Solomon Telingater. "The Five-Year Plan" is a major poem. The author Semen Kirsanov (1906-1972) established the Southern Association of Futurists as a teenage poet, and apprenticed under Mayakovsky and Aseev. He was a strong promoter and member of LEF, and felt that he had inherited Mayakovsky's torch after the latter's death in 1930. At that time Mayakovsky had sketched a beginning to the plan and Kirsanov felt the urgency to complete it for him in a paeon to the vision of Lenin and Stalin and the forthcoming triumph of their aims. He collaborated with the design wizard S.B. Telingater (1903-69) here, who provides a stunning example of Constructivist book design, with photomontages and typography living up to the aspirations of the poem. OCLC locates seven North American holdings. Getty 331. Provenance: S. Polivanskii, N.A. Drachev, with their bookplates and stamps. Near fine with slight edgewear.- $1,800
- $1,800
V tsarskikh pogonakh (In the Tsar’s Epaulettes)
V. Babushkin Octavo 19.5x14 cm., decorated boards, 127pp. Two-color photomontage cover by N. Pinus (Natalia Sergeevna Bukharova, 1901-1980). Pinus studied at VKhUTEMAS-VKhUTEIN and was a member of the Artists Union of the USSR. She is best known for her powerful agit-prop posters. She devoted her later life to painting. Along with Valentina Kulagina, she was among the top of the Soviet women photomontage artists of her generation. Viktor Babushkin (1894-1958) was a Soviet editor, author and journalist from Saratov. After a varied background he participated in the First Congress of Soviet writers, headed various newspapers and magazines, and flourished until he was expelled from the party as a double-dealer and participant in the Sapronov leftist opposition, was tried and sentenced for three years in the gulag. Prohibited from writing, he distinguished himself as a mechanic during WWII and received numerous honors. He was finally reinstated in the party and the Writers' Union in 1954. OCLC locates copies at LOC, Columbia.- $2,200
- $2,200
Politiki vraga. (Ocherki I portrety). Vozhdi kapitalistichkoe i soglasatel’skoi v Evropy.
G. Geronskii; S.B. Telingater, design. Bela Kun, Pref. (The Poliics of the Enemy: Leaders of Capitalist and Accommodating Europe; Essays and Portraits). Octavo 19.8x13.5 cm., wrappers, 200pp. Solomon Telingater, front and rear cover and page design, with a photocollage on rear cover and vignettes with photos and drawings on the chapter title pages. This work presents two dozen essays characterizing class enemies --- Western politicians and leading personalities, with Pope Pius blessing them and flanked by police and armed guards. The photocollage depicts social democratic leaders brandishing their strength to keep the capitalist ball rolling. The author Gennady Isaevich Iakov-Geronskii (1900-??) was a journalist. He was arrested twice in the 1940s and sent to labor camps, rearrested in 1961 under Article 70 (undermining Soviet power). Béla Kun was the leader of the Hungarian 1919 revolution and exiled to the USSR; he was arrested and tried as a Trotskyite and shot in 1938. Worldcat locates copies in Princeton, Berliner Staatsbibliothek. Important document- $2,250
- $2,250
Kartoshka
Lena Neiman, A. Shcherbakov illus. Octavo 16x13 cm., wrappers, (14) pp. Lina-Sofia Samuilovna Neumann (1883-1971) was a children's book author and Russian literary scholar. She was already an established pedagogue before writing her first children's book in 1927, along with expanding literary studies and writings. She went silent after 1937 until 1960, and was only accepted into the Writer's Guild at the age of 78. OCLC locates holdings at Getty, NYPL. Very good+ with sunned spine- $700
- $700
VOZNIKNOVENIE GORODA. Stikhotvorenaia povest’.
Viktor Zavodchikov Octavo 18x13 cm., boards, 48pp. Cover design by N.O. Iakubovyi Munts. Vladimir Pavlovich Zavodnikov (1904-1969) was a Komsomol poet and war correspondent. The present work, The Emergence of the City, includes photographs of urban building in various stages. OCLC locates two holdings in North America (Stanford, Ohio State Univ). A fine copy- $750
- $750
150.000.000
Vladimir Mayakovsky Octavo 18x13.5 cm., wrappers. 70 pp. The first edition of this epic work, published anonymously. Released in 5000 copies, Lenin was nonplussed, and dismissed Mayakovsky as "one of those Futurists" who he detested, and called it "hooligan communism." The poem had tremendous propagandistic effect, however, and proclaimed itself as Russia's Iliad. It was subsequently reprinted, translated into many languages, and has been a subject of study and exposition ever since. This copy fine.- $1,100
- $1,100
Groshki i meshki (Pots & Bags)
Ia. Godin, Tat'iana Krshanovskaya illus. Octavo 20x15 cm., wrappers, (12) pp. Iakov Godin (1887-1954) was a Russian poet, translator, and editor. No biographical data for the illustrator Tatiana Krshinovskaia is currently available . OCLC finds one North American institutional holding (Harvard) for this work. A fine copy- $700
- $700
Knizhka pro knizhki (A Book About Books)
S. Marshak, D. Mitrokhin illus. Square octavo 22.5x19 cm., wrappers, (10) pp. A slovenly boy severely abuses the books in his household, leaving missing covers, torn pages, and other damage in such classics as The Brothers Grimm, Don Quixote, and Robinson Crusoe, among others. The books decide to escape, and flee en masse to the public library where they are greeted by a strong, stern, library catalog. They are repaired and put to bed to convalesce. When the boy discovers that all of his books are missing, he goes to the library to inquire about borrowing. The books recognize the boy, alert the library catalog, and - as the final illustration implies - fly off the shelves to chase or attack him. Author Samuil Marshak (1887-1964) was one of the great children's story tellers of the 20th century, authoring some of the most significant works for children in the Soviet era. Dmitry Mitrokhin (1883-1973) was a major graphic artist. He illustrated this 4th edition in a wonderful collaboration.- $1,100
- $1,100
OTCHET IZBIRATELIAM 1931-1934. Materialy o rabote Leninskogo raionnogo soveta RK I KD, Moskva. (Report to Voters for 1931-1934 on the Work of the Lenin District Council.)
Nikolai Sedelnikov and V. Ignatovich. Quarto 26.5x18 cm., wrappers, 112pp., with 26.5x17 cm. foldout. Cover and book design by The book addresses the work done to develop the Lenin District of Moscow, its communal economy, cultural objectives, etc. The Leninsky District was an administrative unit that existed from 1930 to 1991. Nikolai Sedelnikov (1904-1995) was a highly talented graphic designer and illustrator who excelled in photocollage. Includes Constructivist design work by Iofan, Kucherov, Vlasov, photo-portraits. Rare, with no worldcat holdings. A near fine copy. 2700- $2,700
- $2,700
STAATSTHEATER W. MEYERHOLD. Auustandstournee 1930
Vsevolod Meyerhold, (Klutsis cover) Quarto 24.5x19 cm., stiff wrappers in silver jacket, 46pp. Dust wrapper design by Gustav Klutsis. The accompanying book to Meyerhold's tour abroad in 1930 when he took the State Theater (Gos TIM) to Germany and France where he received acclaim. The book is replete with photos and summaries of Biomechanics, and various plays with cast featured, including Liubov Popova's work for The Magnanimous Cuckhold. A very fine copy in fine dust wrapper.- $1,500
- $1,500
STAATSTHEATER W. MEYERHOLD. Auustandstournee 1930
Quarto 24.5x19 cm., stiff wrappers in silver jacket, 46pp. Dust wrapper design by Gustav Klutsis. The accompanying book to Meyerhold's tour abroad in 1930 when he took the State Theater (Gos TIM) to Germany and France where he received acclaim. The book is replete with photos and summaries of Biomechanics, and various plays with cast featured, including Liubov Popova's work for The Magnanimous Cuckhold. A very fine copy in fine dust wrapper.- $1,500
- $1,500
Komizhevskii Registrator (The Station Master)
Quarto 30x22/5 cm., wrappers, (16) pp. A brochure for a film with I. Moskvin, V.Malinovskaia and B. Tamarin directed by Iurii Zheliabuzhkii and Ivan Moskvin, in a screenplay by F. Otsen and V. Turkin. Includes a two-page written summary with credits. Ivan Moskvin (1874-1946) was a Russian and Soviet actor, theater director, People's Artist of the USSR and recipient of two Stalin prizes. He was noted as a reader, particularly of Chekhov stories. Rare, with no holdings found in worldcat. Krest i Mauzer. Kinodrama v 8 chastakh (The Cross and Mauser)
Quarto 30.3x22.5 cm., original wrappers, (12) pp. Oversize prospectus for the Goskino production directed by Vladimir Gardin (1877-1965). The strong photomontage designs throughout, utilizing repeated geometric elements is the work of Anton Mikhailovich Levinsky (1893-1968), who employed them dramatically in a number of film brochures at this time. Levinsky started in Baku and eventually became part of LEF. OCLC locates one holding worldwide (Monash Univ, Australia). Predatel’ (The Traitor)
Oblong octavo 15x23 cm., wrappers, (9) pp. A prospectus for a film directed by Abram Matveevich Room (1894-1976). An agent working for the Tsar fools a group of Bolshevik but is captured and punished after the revolution. With Mariia Parshina, Evgeniia Khovanskaia, Nikolai Radin, inter alia. With photomontage cover and illustrations throughout. OCLC locates copies at Yale, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Fine. Dneproprostroi denprovskaia gres. Pervyi tok Dneproprostroi Gidro-elektro-stantsii.
Octavo 24.5x17.5 cm., wrappers, 32pp. Published on the completion of the Dnepro Dam after five years of construction, on May Day of that year, with a photocollage cover encompassing front and rear covers. This is a richly illustrated series of essays discussing the construction and completion of the hydroelectric dam near Zaparizhzhia, Ukraine. Cover and book design by Iurii Slepian. No copies found in worldcat. 800 Trinadtsat’ trubok (Thirteen Pipes)
Octavo 18x13 cm., wrappers, 228 (5) pp. Erenburg wrote this set of satirical stories using one of the pipes from his collection. Cover design by Liubov' Kozintsova or Kozintseva (1898-1978) wife of Erenburg. She studied under Aleksandra Ekster, Robert Falk and Rodchenko and exhibited in Berlin, participating in the 1st Russian art exhibition, in Der Sturm Gallery and the left wing of the joint exhibition of the Berlin Union artists and Union of German Architects, collaborated in the journal Veshch-Objet-Gegenstand, exhibited constructivist graphics in Hanover, Prague, Brno and Antwerp, and from 1924 in Paris with the Autumn Salon. She illustrated several books of her husband and on returning to the USSR in 1940 and ceased exhibiting. The present work is the second edition and differs from her cover design in 1923 with a more complex composition. The book was widely translated and received fine cover designs by Heartfield, Zarnower, Strakhov. OCLC finds 3 holdings for the 1924 edition (Columbia, Amherst, UBC). Trinadtsat’ trubok (Thirteen Pipes)
Octavo, original wrappers, 258 (3) pp. The first edition of this work that inspired Constructivist thought and esthetics. Erenburg wrote this set of satirical stories using one of the pipes from his collection. Cover design by Liubov' Kozintseva (1898-1978). The cover design for this first edition is iconic. Erenburg's essay with striking cover had a great impact in Poland with Mieczyslaw Szczuka and Teresa Zarnowerowna, who produced a fine volume in translation. It came out with a number of printings both in the USSR and abroad. OCLC locates ten North American institutional holdings. This copy with cover wear. MASTERSTVO TEATRA. Vremennik Karmernogo Teatra.Nos. 1-2
Octavo 22x17.5 cm., original wrappers, 111, 112 pp. Nos. 1-2 (all published). Illustrated with drawings by Kuznetsov, Lopukhin, and with photographs. Contributors include A. Tairov, K. Bal'mont, Shpet, Toporkov, inter alia. OCLC locates six North American institutional holdings. No.1 has light stains on first two pages, No. 2 fine. Znak Zorro. Duglas Ferbenks
x26.5 cm., wrappers, (6) pp. Cover drawing by Nyk. Kravchenko. An oversize promotional edition by Sovkino, with an essay on Fairbanks and raves from the press for his role in this silent favorite, with a full-page promotion for the inaugural showing of Robin Hood. Glavlit 42303. No institutional holdings found in worldcat Izbrannye stikhi (Selected Verse)
Octavo 17.5x12.5 cm., wrappers, 112 pp., 2000 copies. Foreword by M. Ravich-Cherkasskii. Bagritsky translated a majority of these poems. Volodymyr Sosiura (1898-1965) is recognized as one of Ukraine's most important lyric poets. A party member from early on, he was twice expelled for "nationalistic overtones" in his work and was forced to undergo "re-education" as a factory worker from 1930-1931. Most of his work went unpublished in his lifetime. Constructivist cover design unattributed. OCLC finds one institutional holding (Stanford). Fine.