Source: https://inbiblio.com/product-category/penka-rare-books/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 07:35:13+00:00

Document:
Association des Artistes Independants Ukrainiens (Asotsiatiia nezalezhnykh ukrains'kykh mysttsiv); Sitchynsky, Vladimir Octavo (24.5 × 19.5 cm). Original light blue wrappers with black typographic design; frontis portrait; 18 pp; one tipped-in color reproduction with protective calque; nineteen black-and-white reproductions. A very good copy. Rare early monograph on Mykhailo Andriienko (1894-1982), a renowned Ukrainian-born Modernist painter, graphic artist and set designer, whose work was inspired by cubism and constructivism before he shifted to surrealism and neorealism after relocating to Paris in the 1930s. Andriienko’s work is widely collected, and held, among others, by the Musee National d’Art Moderne (Centre Pompidou), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and the National Library (Vienna). The works reproduced in this overview of Andriienko’s work span the range from folklore-influenced drawings to constructivist still lifes and striking set designs. Many of them were held by private collections in L’viv at the time, such as that of M. Terlecky and O. Radlowsky, as indicated by the signatures. Introductory text and labels in Ukrainian and French. Rare, with KVK, OCLC showing copies at the British Library, Harvard Fine Arts, Urbana Champaign and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin only (the latter indicated as a possible war loss).
Macková, Anna (1887-1969) and Josef Váchal Small quarto (27 cm).  leaves of woodcut illustrations (one reproduction), some colored, printed to rectos. Very good. [Woodcut Artist’s Book by Josef Váchal’s Life Partner]. A striking sampling of Macková’swork, including sixty woodcut prints, portraits, printer’s marks, and bookplates printed in one and several colors. Also contains a list of bookplate designs by Macková, numerous pages of woodcut-printed calligraphic texts; and explanatory sections printed in letterpress. Ten of the plates are also signed in pencil by Macková (not called for). The work also includes three woodcut block prints by Macková’s husband, Josef Váchal; leaves , , and . With bright hand-colored woodcut endpapers (intended as pastedowns and inner leaves). Most of the works included here were never again published. This copy is unbound, in loose gatherings that were intended to be bound to the recipient’s taste. In total, 30 copies were printed; this copy is one of ten copies, numbered and signed, on Japan. This is copy no. 2. There were also 20 unnumbered and unsigned copies printed on Eggert paper (from the Eggert paper mill in south Bohemia). It was as a student in Josef Váchal’s workshop beginning in 1920 that Anna Macková (1887-1969) adopted the wood-engraving technique used for these works. She first met Váchal, a visionary Czech painter and graphic artist deeply influenced by esoterical and mystic thought, in 1918 upon the publication of her first collection of publisher marks. In his journals, Váchal expresses a sincere respect for her work, something he did for few artists. Yet Macková’s quiet, meditative take on nature with idyllic, sometimes playful farm images runs counter to Váchal’s favored themes of a demonic pan and spiritual turbulence. The works in this Second Yearbook could be viewed as Macková’s inner desire for a tranquil life on the farm that she and the temperamental Váchal inhabited. Indeed, it was reported that the year before the Second Yearbook was published, Váchal had chased her around the farm with a hatchet. Macková appears to have published a prior collection of her exlibris art, but we cannot find evidence of another Yearbook similar to this one. Of the present edition, KVK, OCLC show copies at the Met, Newberry Library, and the Getty. $4,500.
Association des Artistes Independants Ukrainiens (Asotsiatiia nezalezhnykh ukrains'kykh mysttsiv); Kovzhun, Pavlo Octavo (24.5 × 19.5 cm). Original beige printed wrappers; frontis portrait; 24 pp; 32 pp. of black-and-white reproductions on better paper stock. A very good copy. Early monograph on Mykola Hrushchenko (1901-1977), a Ukrainian modernist painter sometimes referred to as the "Ukrainian Monet." Mykola studied in Berlin and Paris, where he was influenced by postimpressionism, and created numerous landscapes, still life paintings, portraits and nudes. He was a member of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists, helping arrange numerous exhibitions. This book was published as part of the organization’s series of monographs on contemporary Ukrainian art. It was published in a limited print run of 350 copies, this copy being no. 86. Introductory text and labels in Ukrainian and French. Rare, with KVK, OCLC showing copies at Cleveland Public Library, UCLA, and Urbana Champaign.
Tschinkel, August Octavo (20.9 × 14.8 cm). Original sewn printed wrappers;  pp. including wrappers, with forty-two serigraphically printed pictograms. A fine copy. First and only edition, printed in a very small run in a school workshop. Previously a member of the Cologne Progressives group with Peter Alma, Gerd Arntz, Heinrich Hoerle and Franz W. Seiwert, who embraced the radical workers movement and heavily influenced Tschinkel’s development of isotype pictograms. During the early 1930s, Tschinkel explored the pictorial origins of writing and the evolution of symbols in various cultures. In the second half of the 1930s, he produced a series of books on this subject published by the State Graphic School in Prague, at the time headed by Ladislav Sutnar, where he was able to apply his design approach to subjects of ancient history. Symbol, rebus, písmeno, which Sutnar helped design, presents forty pictograms from various ages and cultures, accompanied by short Czech descriptions. Tschinkel commented on the work: "The ancient symbols, beginning with magical symbols and ending with Phoenician letters, need no further explanation: they are appreciated by today’s viewer for the modern visual language in which they are rendered." Outside the Czech Republic, KVK and OCLC only show a copy at St. Gallen and three in North America.
Halas, Franti?ek and Jind?ich ?tyrský Private printing of 100 copies by Jaroslav ?alda for his friends for Christmas 1932. Octavo (19.5 × 13.5 cm). Eight leaves, loose in card portfolio as issued. Overall design and frontis drawing by Jind?ich Styrský, this copy a rare hand-colored version of the frontispiece by Sty?ský (signed by the artist). First title page also signed by author and artist. Unpaginated. Very good. Overall print run of 735 copies, but this copy likely from a number of fewer than twenty with the hand-colored frontis (Sá?ka does not mention this subset of the tirage). Sá?ka 3252. KVK, OCLC show a handful of copies, some signed by ?tyrský, but apparently none hand-colored.
Tolstoi, L[ev] N[ikolaevich] Octavo (20 × 13.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 45,  pp. Publisher’s catalog to rear wrapper. Wrappers lightly discolored; still very good. The first foreign edition of Tolstoy’s banned anti-death penalty essay, written in response to an announcement of the execution of twenty peasants in the newspaper "Rus" in May 1908. A passionate ethical thinker, Tolstoy (1828-1910) was always against the death penalty, first writing about it as early as 1847 in one of his student essays. In 1857 he witnessed a public execution in Paris, an event that shook him to the core. He famously described the experience in a letter to the literary critic Vasili Botkin, and subsequently referred to it in numerous literary works. Tolstoy’s last essay, "Deistvitel’noe sredstvo" (The real solution, 1910) was also devoted to the topic of the death penalty. Following the 1905 revolution, the Russian government tended toward harsher measures against any manner of peasant insubordination, and the executions that inspired Tolstoy’s essay were part of the trend. Excerpts from this essay were first printed in July 1908 in the newspapers "Russkie Vedomosti", "Slovo", "Rech", "Sovremennoe slovo" and "Russkoe slovo" among others. All the newspapers that printed the passages were fined, with one publisher arrested for pasting the editions with the essay in public places all over Sevastopol. A full version of the essay was printed by an illegal printing house in Tula in August 1908. In the same year, a Marxist Russian language publisher J. Ladyschnikow verlag, associated with the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDRP) published this edition in Berlin. The preface to the essay noted that although Tolstoy was "not in favor of the Russian liberation movement," the publisher nevertheless sees the work as historically significant and thus offers it to the reader. KVK, OCLC show copies of this edition at Geneva, Copenhagen University, National Library of Israel, LSE, UCL and Queen’s University (Canada).
D. Kol'tsov (pseudonym of Ginzburg, Boris Abramovich) Octavo (18 × 12 cm). Original staple-stitched self-wrappers; 16-48 pp. per issue. Good to very good, with one issue unopened and uncut. Five issues (of twelve published) of the political supplement to the literary and political journal "Zhizn’" (Life), founded in St. Petersburg in 1897. Literary works by Gorky, Chekhov, and Tolstoy appeared on the pages of the journal, with the political section containing articles by Lenin and Marx. By 1898, the journal became the primary Marxist publication in the Russian Empire until its closure by the censor in 1901. Socialist-democrats living in exile in London and Geneva briefly resumed the publication of the journal, with this political supplement published weekly. "Zhizn’" and Listki "Zhizni" used the same typescript as "Kolokol" (The Bell) the first Russian revolutionary journal published by political exiles Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogarev, establishing the journal’s place in the continued socialist and revolutionary struggle. The issues also contain poems, proletarian songs and ditties, overviews of peasant unrest throughout Russia, information on Russian prisons, including one full-page diagram, updates about a court case against Tolstoy in Germany, and appeals for protest and uprisings.
Konrad, Karel Octavo. Original typographically designed wrappers by Vít Obrtel; 40,  pp. Very good; partially uncut und unopened copy. This little-known collection of feuilletons by the D?vetsil poet Karel Konrád includes a study of Buster Keaton’s performance inThe General, as well as an ingenious piece entitled"Strom poznání"(The Tree of Knowledge) in which the poet imagines various Dev?tsil members encountering a tree, caricaturing them in their reaction to it. Karel Teige (as art critic) is the first to approach, followed by Jind?ich Honzl (theatre), Josef Hora (poetry), Jaromír Krejcar and Vít Obrtel (architecture), A. C. Nor (columnist), Vladislav Van?ura (novelist), Konstantin Biebl (poet), Josef and Karel ?apek, Vít?zslav Nezval, E. F. Burian and several others. The second volume in the Edice Hanf series. With a striking constructivist cover by Vít Obrtel.
Sikora, Rudolf Original printed folder, A4, with 58 loosely inserted pages of text and reproductions. Signed and inscribed by the artist to rear flap. Light wear and small tear to portfolio; contents very good. Catalog published on the occasion of an exhibition by the Slovak conceptual artist Rudolf Sikora (born 1946), held in August-October 1979, at the House of Culture in Orlová, near Ostrava, Moravia. With introductory articles in Czech by Ivo Janou?ek, Ji?í Valoch, and T. ?traus, a short biography and list of exhibition, a table of contents in Slovak and English and thirty-six reproductions on thirty-five leaves. Signed and inscribed by the author during the exhibition, in October 1979. Sikora was an important painter and conceptual artist from Bratislava, who was forced to work in alternative venues during the Normalization period. He is known especially for his large-scale installations which explore cosmological, ecological, and existential aspects, such as the present meditation on time, space, and the relationship of humanity to the cosmos. He was co-founder of the "1st Open Studio," a crucial space for unofficial art and activism in Bratislava, and even managed to participate in several foreign exhibitions in the 1970s. KVK, OCLC only show two later editions of a similar catalog at Albertinum and Tate Library (both dated 1980).
Hohol', Mykola (Nikolai Gogol') Octavo (20.4 × 14.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 27,  pp. With one full-page illustration by Konstantin Kuznetsov. Publisher’s ads announcing further publications of Gogol’s works. Wrappers brittle; front wrapper detached; small nicks to spine extremities. An early publication by Ukrainian Displaced Persons (DPs) in the Munich area, which reproduces part of Nikolai Gogol’s collection of short stories about life in a Ukrainian peasant village. Although written in Russian, they were translated into Ukrainian early on. Most likely this is the translation by M. Staryts’kyi (1840-1904), which had already been published by R. Herroze in Gräfenheinichen, a publisher who produced books for Russian and Ukrainian forced laborers in Germany. With the printed notice "Approved by UNRRA Team 108, Oktober 1945." Of the present title, KVK, OCLC show copies at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Munich), Göttingen, Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia, Ohio, Urbana Champaign and Minnesota Universities.
Lepkyi, Bohdan, editor Octavo (23 × 14 cm). Original pictorial wrappers (gilt and black); VIII, [I], 239 pp. Numerous small portraits and illustrations in the text. Very good, save for light toning to wrappers and rust stain to staple. Part one of this scarce anthology of Ukrainian verse published in Berlin. The editor, Bohdan Lepkyi (1872-1941) was a prominent Ukrainian writer, intellectual, artist and patriotic activist. He did not live in Berlin, but was active as a professor in Cracow’s Jagiellonian University from 1899 to his death. Among the authors Bohdan included are key representatives of nineteenth-century Ukrainian poetry, such as Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Kotliarevskii, as well as folk songs and numerous lesser-known figures.
Pannekoek, Anton (Pannekuk) Octavo (23 × 13 cm). Original printed wrappers; 58 pp. Publisher’s ads. Two very small chips to rear wrapper; a very good copy. First Ukrainian edition of this work by the Dutch astrophysicist and theoretician of council communism (1873-1960). Translated from the English by M. Durdela. With a lenghty call for readers to join the Ukrainian Federation of the Communist Party in America, as well as an advertisement for the "only Ukrainian worker’s newspaper in America," Robotnyk ("The Worker"). KVK, OCLC show copies at LOC and University of Minnesota only.
Adamovich, Georgii (1892-1972) Octavo (19.5 × 14.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 316 pp. About very good; gift inscription on endpaper; sun toning to spine. Adamovich (1892-1972) was a leading member of the Russian Acmeist group "Tsekh poetov" in St. Petersburg, which included poets such as Nikolai Gumilev and Osip Mandelshtam. He became known for his prose works and poetry, published in pre-Revolutionary journals such as Apollon. After emigrating in 1923, he garnered recognition as one of the premier literary critics of the first emigration and the initiator of the so-called "Parisian Note," a loose movement that encompassed émigré poets such as Georgii Ivanov, Vladislav Khodasevich, and Boris Poplavskii. This collection was the only book published during his lifetime to gather critical essays on various literary matters; it represents a summation of Adamovich’s own efforts, and contains often controversial views on Merezhkovsky, Bunin, Aldanov, Gippius, Nabokov and other writers in the diaspora.
Hird, James Dennis Large octavo (23 × 15.3 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 185, [I] pp. With 193 illustrations in the text. Paper toned; overall still a very good copy. Part I of the Ukrainian translation of Hird’s "Picture Book of Evolution" (translated by P. Krat), apparently no other parts were published. Scarce example of secular, progressive literature aimed at Ukrainian readers in North America and published by socialist or communist Ukrainian publishers. KVK, OCLC show the copies at Ontario and Toronto Universities.
Bertenson, Sergei, et al] Small quarto. Original decorative wrappers; 62 pp.  leaves of plates featuring black-and-white reproductions of individual actors. With a full-color reproduction of Valentin Serov’s portrait of Stanislavsky. Wrappers worn; rear wrapper beginning to detach; private owner stamp to title. A scarce Russian monograph on the Russian Moscow Art Theatre in exile, with a short historical overview by Sergei Bertenson (1885-1962), a Russian historian of literature and theatre who worked as a Hollywood set designer late in life. Further contributions include "Nash teatr" ("Our theatre") by M. Germanova, "Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavskii" by E. Krasnopol’skaia; "Iz moikh vospominanii o khudozhestvennom teatre i o Chekhove" ("From my memories about the Art Theatre and about Chekhov") by Ol’ga Knipper-Chekhova, and several others.
Octavo (21 × 15 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 67,  pp. Four leaves of plates on better stock (portraits of Skoropads’kyi, Khmel’nytskyi and two maps of Ukraine). A very good, apparently unread copy. The second of two volumes (1942-43) of this anthology, issued by Ukrainian nationalists who sympathized with the National Socialist regime as part of their fight against the Bolshevik regime, which they characterize in anti-Semitic terms in the editors’ preface. Included are the transcript of a speech by former Hetman Pavlo Skoropads’kyi at a congregation of Ukrainian Nationalists in Berlin, as well as articles by Borys Homzyn, Maksimilian Plechko, Dmytro Chizhevskyi and O. Hubchak. Scarce; KVK, OCLC show copies at University of Alberta and Indiana University, as well as the Bavarian and Berlin State Libraries only.
Remizov, Aleksei (1877-1957) Octavo (19.5 × 14.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 419 pp. Very good, save for fading to spine. First edition of this late novel by Aleksei Remizov (1877-1957), one of the most versatile and idiosyncratic Russian writers of the twentieth century, known for his complex ornamental narrative style, his fascination with the Russian oral tradition, a deep interest in dreams and the surreal, and his illustrations, which combine elements of calligraphy with folkloric themes. In 1921 he emigrated, eventually settling in Paris, where he spent the rest of his life in poverty and relative obscurity, in spite of his prolific output.
Evreinov, Nikolai (1879-1953) Octavo (19.5 × 14.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 412 pp. Very good; sun fading to the spine and partly wrappers. First edition, published posthumously, of the great Russian theatre director, producer, and theoretician Nikolai N. Evreinov (1879-1953). Published by a New York-based Russian diaspora publishing house.
Bunin, Ivan Octavo (19.5 × 14.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 388 pp. Light soil to wrappers; tiny loss to lower corner of rear wrapper; still about very good. First appearance of the complete text of Ivan Bunin’s famous novel, published during the writer’s lifetime (1870-1953). "The Life of Arsen’ev" was the crowning achievement of Bunin’s illustrious career, and it is one of the most significant explorations of the emigre experience in Russian literature" (Cornwell 1998, 209).
Os'machka, Teodosii Octavo (20.6 × 14.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 153,  pp. Frontis portrait. With full-page intertitle illustrations and decorative capitals, as well as front wrapper design and rear wrapper vignette by Mykhailo Dmytrenko. Errata slip laid in. Light wear to overlapping wrapper edges, else about very good. A long poem in 628 verses by Todos’ Os’machka, written after he left the Soviet Union in 1942 and while living in a German camp for Displaced Persons (DPs). "Os’machka’s expressionist poetry is full of allegory and evocative metaphor which, however, do not obscure his philosophic quest. He is the poet of determined protest against the sovietization of the Ukrainian village and against attempts to suppress the spirit of Ukrainian culture" (Nestor Luckyi, p. 126). The illustrator, Mykhailo Dmytrenko (1908-1997), was a famous Ukrainian-American monumentalist painter of religious motifs, as well as a graphic designer and art historian. He studied with the Ukrainian modernist painter Fedir Krychevsky (1879-1947) and participated in numerous exhibitions, such as in Odessa (1934), Lviv (1942), and Munich (1947), where he lived as a Displaced Person and created the illustrations for the present publication. After settling in the United States, he painted numerous interiors of Ukrainian Churches in New York and Detroit. He lived in Canada after 1951, and in 1960 settled in Detroit. With printed note: "Permittet by authority of Military Government" (sic!). Scarce in the trade.
Ianovskii, Vasilii S. (1906-1989) Octavo (20 × 14 cm). Original printed wrappers; 128,  pp. Wrappers worn, with loss and old tape repair to spine extremities; small owner signature to title; else good. First edition of the third novel by Vasilii Ianovskii (Vasily Yanovsky), a notable writer of the first wave of the Russian emigration who lived in Paris and belonged to the "younger generation," a group of Russian writers that came of age during the Civil War and the ensuing exile. Yanovsky’s first novel, Koleso (The Wheel), focused on the homeless children of the Russian Civil War and first years after the Revolution. His second novel, Mir (Peace), was seen as a cynical study of the petty and decadent lives of the Russian emigration and Yanovsky was widely condemned by contemporary critics after its publication; his later works increasingly explored mystical and theosophical themes, as one of these inscriptions suggests. In 1942, Yanovsky arrived in the United States, where he continued to collaborate with emigre journals such as Opyty (Experiments), and later began to publish English translations of his works. In 1983 he published the stylized memoirs "Polia Elizeiskie" (Elysian Fields), which would become his most widely-read book, valued by many as an unusually profound analysis of Russian emigre life and culture. Not in Savine.
Ianovskii, V. S. Octavo (19 × 14). Original decorative wrappers; 159 pages. Ca. 10 × 10 mm hole to front wrapper (text not affected). Light wear and soiling, two small tears to front wrapper edge, a touch of chipping to spine extremities. First novel by Vasily Yanovsky, a notable Russian writer of the first wave of the emigration, who was active in Paris and part of a generation of writers that came of age during the Civil War and the ensuing years in exile. The subject of Koleso were the homeless children of the Russian Civil War and first years after the Revolution. This copy was handled by the legendary Paris collector and book dealer Andrei Savine, who specialized in Russian emigre publications in the 1970-90s. His price, which corresponds to the record held by the UNC Chapel Hill, is written in pencil on the rear fly leaf: "175 fr, kat. (catalog) 40." It apparently passed through Savine’s shop in the early 1980s.
Small quarto (26 × 21 cm). Original printed wrappers with a portrait of Pushkin; , 102,  pp. Very good, uncut and unopened copy; wrappers lightly dust soiled. Scarce collection of biographical sketches for key representatives of Russian literature, arts, sciences, government and other areas, issued on the occasion of the Czechoslovak Russian Culture Day in 1926, a large-scale celebration of Russian culture and history held in many centers of the emigration. With the exception of Pushkin, who served as the patron of the yearly "Russian Culture Day," the editors here avoided the more well-known figures (such as Tolstoy or Dostoevsky), focusing their attention on less-known acteurs instead. Among the authors were key members of the Prague emigre intelligentsia, such as S. V. Zavadsky, V. A. Rozenberg, E. F. Shmurlo, and A. A. Kizevetter, and their contributions cover such figures as Lobachevskii, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Speranskii, Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as an introductory article explaining the phenomenon of "Russian Culture Day" in the diaspora community. Not in Savine. Scarce in the trade.
Kysil', N. Octavo (18.8 × 12.4 cm). Original printed wrappers; 16 pp. Very good, uncut and unopened copy. A scarce play set at the Ukrainian communist newspaper "Proletar" in the United States, with characters including "Varenik", the editor of the newspaper, the editorial committee and Pelekh, a printer’s employee — apparently a satire from the milieu of Ukrainian socialist publishing in exile, set in the Northeastern USA. Quite uncommon, with KVK, OCLC showing copies at Columbia, Harvard, Urbana-Champaign, Minnesota and Saskatchewan, but none in Europe.
Kryzhanovskii, S[ergei] E[fimovich] Octavo (20 × 14 cm). Original decorative wrappers; 221 pp. From the inventory of Andrei Savine, with his price notation in pencil to last page. Rear wrapper lightly foxed, else a fine copy, in protective wrappers. First edition of the memoirs of Sergei Kryzhanovskii (1862-1935), a Russian lawyer and politician who served as State Secretary during the final days of the Russian Empire. As such, he authored numerous important pieces of legislation, including the voting acts of 1905 and 1907. This unique copy was handled by the legendary Paris collector and book dealer Andrei Savine, who specialized in Russian emigre publications in the 1970-90s. His price, which corresponds to the record held by UNC Chapel Hill, is written in pencil on the rear fly leaf: "150-." It apparently passed through Savine’s shop in the mid-1980s.
Comite des Zemstvos et des Villes Russes; Comite Central de l'Union des Villes Russes Large octavo (24.5 × 16.5). Original staple-stitched photographic wrappers; 1-22,  pp. With nineteen black-and-white photographs in the text. Wrappers lightly soiled; still a very good copy. Rare publication by the émigré instantiation of Zemgor, or United Committee of the Union of Zemstvos and the Union of Towns, an organization founded in 1915 to assist the Russian efforts during WWI through private means. It is sometimes asserted that the primary goal of the Zemgor was to prepare the October Revolution and numerous of its functionaries served in the Provisional Government. After the Bolsheviks disbanded the organization in 1919, however, many functionaries emigrated and reestablished the institution in Paris in 1920-21. Its primary aim was now to distribute aid to Russian refugees throughout Europe. Chapters were established both in Paris and Prague, both funded by the respective local governments, and during the years of the Civil War it succeeded in evacuating Russians from Constantinople to Yugoslavia and other European countries. The present report focuses on the Zemgor’s special interest in the children of the Russian emigration and documents the various educational institutions created in Constantinople, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Czechoslovakia through the joint efforts of the Zemgor and the governments in question. The photographs depict children and young adults of all ages engaged in various activities, from a gymnastics lesson in Bulgaria to a lecture auditorium in Trebova. Also included is a list of all Russian schools and lyceums and the number of students enrolled. KVK, OCLC show only five copies, at Harvard, Leiden University, University College London, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and Nanterre BDIC.
Panin, Dmitrii Octavo (23 × 17 cm). Original decorative wrappers; 69 pp. One of 300 copies (distributed as a manuscript, "na pravakh rukopisi"). Photoreproduction of typescript. Light wear and sun-staining to wrappers, else very good. Panin (1911-1987) was a Russian engineer, activist, writer and thinker who was arrested in 1940 for supposed anti-Soviet conspiracy and spent thirteen years in a Soviet GULAG. He served as the prototype for Sologdin, a character from Solzhenitsyn’s 1968 novel In the First Circle. After being rehabilitated in 1956, Panin emigrated in 1972 and became famous for his works in Paris. Very rare, according to Andrei Savine’s annotation. Savine 02513.
Kliuchnikov, Iu[rii] V[eniaminovich] Octavo. Original illustrated wrappers; 127 pp. A very good copy, with only the lightest dust-soiling to wrappers; pages lightly toned. Kliuchnikov (1886-1938) was a Russian professor of law who played an active role in anti-bolshevik resistance after the October Revolution and later served as Kolchak’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, shortly after emigrating to Paris, he became disillusioned with the White Emigration and initiated the Smena vekh (Change of Landmarks) movement in 1921, which urged acceptance of and compromise with the Soviet regime to preserve the unity of the Russian people and restore the country to its former strength. In late 1921, Kliuchnikov relocated to Berlin, where the present work, an exposition of the Smena vekh’s ideas in the form of theatric dialogues, was published by this newly-founded publishing house. Its appearance caused a scandal in emigre circles in Paris and Berlin, further dividing this already factionary world of activists and public intellectuals. Along with other members of the Smena vekh group, Kliuchnikov returned to Moscow in August 1923. In 1938, he was arrested and perished in a Soviet labor camp. Attractive illustrated wrappers by Nikolai Zaretskii, an emigre artist active in Berlin throughout the 1920s. Inserted is a folded publisher’s prospectus announcing recent and upcoming titles, dated March 1923. Scarce in the trade.
Tkhorzhevskii, Ivan Ivanovich (1878-1951) Large octavo (24 × 18.5 cm). Original blue decorative wrappers by Boris Grosser; 193,  pp. Signed and inscribed by the author to a fellow translator on the front flyleaf (Sablina). Wrappers lightly worn, edges rubbed; some fading and loss of spine strip at ends; internally very good. A monumental collection of French poetry in Russian translation, featuring the work of over seventy French poets of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, prepared and with a preface by Ivan I. Tkhorzhevskii, Russian emigre poet and translator. Among the many poets included are Verlaine, Rimbaud, Maeterlinck, Claudel, Gide, Proust, Apollinaire, Jean Cocteau, Paul Valery, and Valery Larbaud. Tkhorzhevsky’s translations were far from universally appreciated. The poet Vladislav Khodasevich was reputed to have quipped about his translation of the Rubaiyat: "I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamed that I was a Person poet and that Tkhorzhevsky was translating me" (Karlinsky 315). And Vladimir Nabokov, in a letter to Gleb Struve, ridiculed Tchorzhevsky’s translation of Rimbaud’s "The Drunken Boat" for his unwarranted additions (such as a captain of the Russian intelligentsia). Wrappers designed by Boris N. Grosser (1889-1982), a French Jewish artist of Russian birth who illustrated numerous books published by Russian emigres with his distinctive woodcut designs. After studying with Bilibin, Grosser continued his training in Munich and Paris. After 1918, he lived in Odessa and in 1920 he emigrated, settling in Paris after 1921. He collaborated with numerous publishing houses in Paris, Berlin, and Holland, illustrating the works of Ivan Bunin, Vladimir Nabokov and many others. Grosser remains an understudied part of Russian book design and illustration abroad. One of 500 copies printed. Not in Savine; not at the Russian State or National Library.
Ternovskii, Iu[rii] Octavo (20 × 14 cm). Original illustrated sewn wrappers; 29 pp. Fragile, toned text; some chipping to spine and upper right corner of text. An intriguing pamphlet aimed at Russian emigres of the second wave (who found themselves in Western Europe following WWII). Ternovskii addresses the very topical question of repatriation, but argues persuasively that a return to the Communist regime would have unfortunate consequences for individuals, and would also damage the efforts of emigre anti-Communist organizations. The cover illustration shows a repenting repatriated Russian during a conversation with three Soviet investigators, who were known to screen such individuals. It is now known that most Russians who repatriated following WWII were treated as traitors and often sentenced to prison camps or executed. The publisher (Golos Naroda, or The People’s Voice) was associated with SBONR, the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, which consisted largely of second-wave emigres and was less nationalist in orientation than other anti-Communist movements. This copy was handled by the legendary Paris collector and book dealer Andrei Savine, who specialized in Russian emigre publications in the 1970-90s. His price, which corresponds to the record held by the UNC Chapel Hill, is written in pencil on the rear fly leaf: "80- (k. 40) (i.e. catalog 40)." It apparently passed through Savine’s shop in the early 1980s. Savine incorrectly categorized this title as a publication by Russian displaced persons, though it is now well-established that the DP era ended in December 1951. Savine 06258. We can only locate ten copies in KVK and WorldCat.
Tsurikov, N. A. Small quarto (25 × 17.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; frontis portrait of Pushkin; 107,  pp. Numerous black and white photographs in the text. A very good copy, printed on better paper stock, wrappers lightly dust-soiled. Scarce collection of detailed reports on local festivities on the first international Russian Culture Day in 1925, a large-scale celebration of Russian culture and history held in many centers of the emigration at least three years in sequence. A brief introduction explains the origins of the celebration, which was based on a successful Russian Culture Day in Estonia in 1924. The reports were gathered in the form of letters from international organizers and provide details on the celebrations in major centers of the emigration, as well as less-prominent places, such as Dresden, Lviv, Pilsen, and Sarajevo. The appendix includes articles on Russian culture, selected press responses, as well as samples of local invitations to the festivities and sample programs (the program of the Pilsen festivities is even reproduced). Numerous black and white photographs are included throughout the volume.
Dronnikov, Nikolai Small octavo (17 × 13 cm). Staple-stitched printed wrappers; 9,  pp. Letterpress with decorative initials on variously colored paper stock, with numerous original linocut illustrations. A very good copy. Volume four of this important set of artist’s books by the Russian graphic designer, painter and portraitist Nikolai Dronnikov (born 1930), who emigrated from Moscow to Paris in 1972. A solitary figure, Dronnikov is most famous for his portraits of various members of the Russian emigration. He has also created over forty fine press books in small print runs, incorporating original lithographs, paper of various sorts and textures, and hand-set type. While his paintings have garnered some recognition in his homeland, Russians are still discovering Dronnikov’s oeuvre of handmade artist’s books, which were first shown in a standalone exhibition in St. Petersburg in March 2012. His Statistics is a challenging six-volume meditation on the state of Russia’s development before the October Revolution, based on information that was ignored or supressed by the Bolsheviks. Through careful juxtaposition of images, emblems, and innovatively set type, Dronnikov’s litany of statistical data and contemporary newspaper articles, interspersed with his occasional commentary, balances elegeiac notes with hints of irony. No. 171 of 400 copies.
Teige, Karel Small octavo (18 × 13 cm). Publisher’s printed wrappers; 13,  pp. of text, 8 full-page black-and-white reproductions of Archipenko’s works on better stock, all loosely inserted into the fragile green wrappers, as issued. Inscribed by Teige to the French Futurist poet Nicholas Beauduin, and with his calling card tipped in to front wrapper. Professional restoration to spine and edges; very good. Rare catalogue for Ukrainian-born sculptor Alexander Archipenko’s 1923 exhibition in Prague. Karel Teige’s first published book, comprising his essay about the artist, a list of works exhibited, and eight reproductions. The typographic design, reminiscent of the Dev?tsil anthology, is also by Teige, with his characteristic Dada-inspired use of mandibles on the rear wrapper. This copy is inscribed by a young Teige to the French Futurist poet Nicholas Beauduin: "Á Monsieur Nicholas Beauduin, hommage de sympathies, Charles Teige, Prague 1923." Also included is Teige’s calling card from the early Dev?tsil years, when he lived with his parents on ?erná Street in Prague 1. Often seen as a precursorof Futurism, Beauduin’s movement, Paroxysme, derives from his admiration for Verhaeren’s asthetics. Yet developing in 1911, the movement was a contemporary rather than a predecessor of Futurism. Similar influences can be seen in the view of art as a dynamic process and the need for a sense of beauty to reflect man’s relationship with machines. In 1913 Apollinaire praised Beauduin, along with Marinetti, in his manifesto "L’Antitradition futuriste." The Archipenko exhibition in April 1923 at the Krasoumná jednota spaces is considered a ground-breaking event for Dev?tsil, whose activities had previously been limited to lectures and recitals.
Partiia sotsialistov-revoliutsionerov [Socialist-Revolutionary Party, or SR] Octavo (19 × 13.6 cm). Original staple-stitched printed self-wrappers; 18,  pp. Tear to lower front corner, else very good. Rare, apparently unrecorded, and illicitly published pamphlet, most likely issued by the Central Bureau of the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries. The SR Party also issued a similar journal in Petrograd in 1920 or 1921. A report by the Soviet Secret Police notes that a large number of SR pamphlets were confiscated in July 1922. The publisher was likely the SR activist Leonid V. Rossel’ (1896-1943), who fled to Finland after 1917; it is possible that the pamphlet itself was actually printed in Finland. The text is a furious indictment of the Bolsheviks’ "war" on the Russian peasants, and its perpetuation of famine, warfare, censorship, destruction, and terror and violence against its own people by the state police. A highly interesting document, either produced clandestinely in Petrograd or smuggled there by activists. Not held by the Russian State or National Library. KVK, OCLC only record microform copies at the University of Alberta and USC.
Askochenskii, Viktor Ipat'evich (1813-1879) Octavo (20.5 × 15.5 cm). Later half buckram binding preserving part of front wrapper; 282, VIII pp. Wrapper lightly soiled; old Soviet bookstop stamp to rear pastedown; occasional foxing; else good or better. First and only publication of history of the Kiev Theological Academy (KDR), the oldest institution of higher education of the Russian Orthodox Church, which developed from the Mohyla Academy. In 1817, Alexander I closed the Mohyla Academy by decree; in 1819, it was reopened under the auspices of the Kiev Brotherhood Monastery, and continued its work until its closure by the Soviets in 1919. The author, Viktor Askochenskii (1813-1879) was a Russian writer and historian, and a former student at the Academy.
Miatlev, V[ladimir] P[etrovich] Octavo (14.5 × 11 cm). Original side-stapled wrappers; 38 pp. Light fraying of wrapper edges; upper and lower corner of the front and rear wrapper chipped; cancelled stamps of the University of London to front wrapper and the title page; still good or better. First edition of this satirical narrative poem, supposedly written around 1890 and copied down from memory in Cannes in 1921 by the Russian nobleman and poet Vladimir Miatlev. Miatlev was a monarchist and member of the Zemstvo. Before the Revolution he published seven volumes of verse in Russia. KVK, OCLC show copies at Cambridge, University of Leeds, Bibliotheque de Geneve, Harvard, Amherst, Wilmington, and Maryland.
Nelidova-Fiveiskaia, Lidiia Octavo (24.2 × 16 cm). Original staple-stitched wrappers with a portrait of Pushkin; 67,  pp. Frontis portrait of the author (reproduction of a drawing). Printed on thick coated paper stock. With numerous illustrations pertaining to Pushkin’s life. About very good; upper right corner creased and lightly torn; wrappers lightly discolored. Second edition. Uncommon Pushkiniana written by a white émigré poet Lidia Nelidova-Fiveiskaia, first published in Chicago in 1933. As a "national poet" Aleksandr Pushkin had great symbolic significance among the white émigrés, who had to leave Russia fleeing the Bolshevik regime. While the Bolsheviks presented Pushkin as a revolutionary anti-monarchist (because of his early connections with the Decembrists), the émigré intelligentsia emphasized Pushkin as the standard bearer of Russian high culture. Pushkin societies, reading circles and émigré re-publications were especially common, with this publication yet another manifestation of the author’s significance for the community. KVK, OCLC show over a dozen copies of the first and second edition worldwide.
Octavo (17.5 × 11 cm). Contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards; 32 pp. Spine extremities chipped; light wear to boards; owner inscription to title page; light foxing throughout, still about good or better. This historical brochure contains brief accounts of the lives of Russian Emperor Paul I, the statesman and general Grigory Potemkin, and the statesman and de-facto head of Russian foreign policy Aleksandr Bezborodko. The brochure contains multiple "historical inaccuracies" such as listing the cause of death of the assassinated Emperor Paul I as "a sudden stroke." The title page of the brochure notes that it was approved by the St. Petersburg censor, a fact suggesting that this version of Paul’s death, as well as other historical inconsistencies were held as official for a time. Paul I (1754-1801) was the son of Catherine the Great, and enjoyed a relatively brief reign 1796-1801. Shortly after breaking his pact with his allies England, Austria, Turkey, and Naples, and signing a peace treaty with Napoleon in 1800, Paul I was assassinated in his bed chamber in 1801. Grigory Potemkin (1739-1791), a favorite of Catherine the Great, eventually became commander-in-chief of the Russian forces in 1787. While Paul I subsequently attempted to underplay Potemkn’s contribution to Russian military history, this brochure presents Potemkin in a very favorable light. Aleksandr Bezborodko (1747-1799) was the only minister of Catherine the Great who retained favor with Paul I, becoming the Grand Chancellor of the Russian Empire under the Emperor. The final section of the brochure encloses an address of Bezborodko to Paul I, requesting a leave from his post and a permission to travel abroad due to ill health – a leave he was granted but did not live to take advantage of dying soon after it was approved. KVK, OCLC show a sole copy, at the British Library.
Bereznii, T. A. (Beresney, Timothy A.) Large octavo (26.5 × 16.5 cm). Original decorative wrappers; 48 pp. Lower spine extremity frayed; light soiling and fading to wrapper, still about very good. Published for the 100th anniversary of Pushkin’s death, this reader is intended for children of the white émigré community in the US. As a "national poet" Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837) had great symbolic significance among the white émigrés, who had to leave Russia fleeing the Bolshevik regime. While the Bolsheviks presented Pushkin as a revolutionary anti-monarchist (because of his early connections with the Decembrists), the émigré intelligentsia emphasized Pushkin as the standard bearer of Russian high culture. Pushkin societies, reading circles and émigré re-publications were especially common, with this publication yet another manifestation of the author’s significance for the community. The author, Timothy Beresney, also published "Elementary Russian" and "Russian Reader and Grammar", intended to uphold the knowledge and appreciation of the language by the children of the émigré community. KVK, OCLC show copies at Brown, Yale, NYPL, LOC, Wisconsin, Manitoba, Arizona and UCLA.
Prof. K. I. Zaitsev, P. A. Kazakov, and P. I. Savost'ianov, editors Large octavo (26.6 × 19.2 cm). Original decorative wrappers; 216 pp. Very good; wrappers lightly worn and just beginning to detach from text. Published by the Central Pushkin Committee in Kharbin (modern day China), this collection of reproductions illustrating Pushkin’s life is a kind of catalog of the art exhibit organized by the Committee for the 100th anniversary of Pushkin’s death in 1937. As a "national poet" Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837) had great symbolic significance among the white émigrés, who had to leave Russia fleeing the Bolshevik regime. While the Bolsheviks presented Pushkin as a revolutionary anti-monarchist (because of his early connections with the Decembrists), the émigré intelligentsia emphasized Pushkin as the standard bearer of Russian high culture. Pushkin societies, reading circles, conferences and even art exhibits like this one were fairly common in émigré communities in Europe, Asia and America. The Russian population of Harbin decreased significantly after the 1935 when Japan occupied the region, with this publication as one of the last remnants of the white émigré community in the city. KVK, OCLC show just over a dozen copies of this publication worldwide. See also: Olga Bakich, "Pushkinskie dnia v Kharbine – 1937 god" on the Pushkin centennial in Harbin. One of 1160 copies printed.
Shklovskii, Viktor Octavo (22 × 14.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 100 pp. Unopened and uncut. Spine extremities frayed; tiny chip to corner of front wrapper, still about very good. In protective mylar. First edition, and a scarce Georgian printing. A collection of critical essays about five Russian and Soviet contemporary writers – Andrei Bely, Yevgenii Zamyatin, Boris Pil’nyak, Konstantin Fedin, Leonid Leonov – by the literary theorist and writer Viktor Shklovsky. In 1916 Shklovsky (1893-1984) along with Boris Eikhenbaum and Osip Brik founded OPOIAZ (Society for the study of Poetic language), one of the two groups that developed the theories of Russian Formalism. In the essays collected in this book Shklovsky continues to champion formal analysis of literary texts, an approach that was becoming frowned upon by the late 1920s. The text’s publication in Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia) at a relative distance from Moscow where the author lived, may have been due to the growing distrust toward the formal method by the Soviet authorities which would turn into an outright persecution by the end of the decade. Born and educated in St. Petersburg, Shklovsky took active part in the February Revolution. His subsequent distrust for the Bolsheviks, however, led to his numerous arrests. Distancing himself from political activity in the 1920s, Shklovsky dedicated himself to literary polemics, publishing actively in the avant-garde journal LEF (Left Front of the Arts) alongside Vladimir Mayakovsky, Osip Brik, Sergei Eisenstein and many others. Named as one of the most important literary theorists of the twentieth century by the Modern Languages Association, today Shklovsky is best remembered for coining the concept of "ostranenie" (estrangement or de-familiarization) as the key element of art. One of 3000 copies printed. KVK, OCLC show copies at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Free University (Berlin), Harvard, UNC, Michigan, Indiana, Urbana-Champaign, Stanford, Berkeley, British Library, UCL and Cambridge.
Hloucha, Karel and Jaroslav Horejc (illustrator) Octavo. Original pictorial wrappers by Jaroslav Horejc; 181,  pp. Very good. A rare Czech sci-fi novel, one of the first Czech "space operas". The main hero is carried off by a hurricane and awakens on the man-made asteroid Titania, created by an inventor named Andersen. The asteroid has its own water and air. The space travelers fight with jelly-like creatures from space, nearly collide with a comet, put down a mutiny, and encounter a meteorite that reflects human memories. The cover’s designer, Jaroslav Horejc (1886-1983), was a leading representative of Czech Art Deco and considered one of the most versatile artists of his generation. A member of Art?l from 1909, his sculptures adorn Czech modernist buildings, villas, and even the interior of a chapel in St. Vitus cathedral. KVK, OCLC only show the copy at the Czech National Library.
Hampl, Franti?ek (1901-1977) Octavo (24.5 × 16 cm). Original pictorial wrappers by V. Tai?l; 96 pp. Light soil and wear; else about very good. A rare Czech sci-fi novel, which Hampl sets in his native Beroun Valley outside of Prague. The unbalanced Dr. Holm has finally come up with a wonder drug that enables people to forget the past, but will it bring more suffering to his young love-spurned patient? On the effects of deliberately white-washing the memory, a theme successfully explored 80 years later by Charlie Kaufman in his screenplay for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Striking wrapper design by V. Tai?l. This is copy number 149 of 500 on Japanese paper. KVK, OCLC only show the copy at the Czech National Library.
BOBROV, Sergei and KOZINSKAIA, Liubov', illustrator Octavo (20 × 13.5 cm). Original illustrated wrappers; 197,  pp. About very good; uncut and unopened copy; light wear to overlapping edges. First edition of this avant-garde novel by Futurist and member of the Centrifuge group Sergei Bobrov (1899-1971), published by Abram Vishniak at the urging of Boris Pasternak (Barnes 304). Wrappers designed by Liubov’ Kozintseva (1900-1970), a former student of Aleksandra Ekster who later married Ilya Erenburg. She participated in numerous exhibits while residing first in Berlin and later in Paris. After returning to the Soviet Union in 1940, she worked as an editor for Mosfilm. The novel features a printed dedication to Liubov’ Popova. Rare in such good condition. Almost no copies have appeared in the Russian auction market in recent years. Not in Getty.
Mussolini, Benito; Novikov, V. N., translator Octavo (19 × 14 cm). Original printed wrappers; 60,  pp. Unopened and uncut. Light foxing to front wrapper, still very good or better. First edition. First Russian translation of Benito Mussolini’s programmatic essay on fascism, originally published in the Italian Encyclopedia of Science in 1932. A Russian fascist Viacheslav Novikov translated the text and wrote an introduction to this edition, in which he glosses the rising interest in fascism within the Russian white émigré community, starting with the attempted formation of a Russian fascist party in 1924 in Serbia, under the leadership of Prof. D.P. Ruzskii and Gen. P.V. Cherskii. A Russian fascist party was finally formed within the White émigré community in Manchuria in 1931. Novikov also discusses the publication of the fascist journal "Klich" (Cry) in Belgium in which he seems to have published under the pseudonym Verista. Viacheslav Novikov (-1966) was a St. Petersburg lawyer, later a legal counsel to Aleksander Kolchak during his tenure as the head of the White government in Siberia (1918-1920). From 1920 onward, Novikov lived in emigration in Paris. In 1926 he published a monograph "Fascism. Notes on Italian Fascism", with this translation as his second major contribution to the development of Russian fascist thought. KVK, OCLC show copies at Amherst, NYPL, UNC, Ohio, Wisconsin, Stanford and the British Library.
Single leaf, once folded, printed to rectos and versos, measuring 13.5 × 10 cm. Very good. [Covert Anti-Soviet Broadcasts by Russian Emigres in Post-War Germany]. This special issue of the semi-clandestine magazine Posev (The Sowing), published by NTS (National Alliance of Russian Solidarists), an anti-communist organization of Russian émigrés, is dedicated to the promotion of the clandestine radio station "Free Russia," another NTS organ. Small enough to fit into a pocket or inside another book or booklet, the brochure offers detailed information on how and when to catch the secret broadcasts, such as when visiting German friends who will not understand the content of the broadcast. The brochure also promotes the radio station as the bearer of "truth" as opposed to the constant stream of propaganda coming through official Soviet channels. NTS was formed in Belgrade in 1930, by the Russian émigrés fleeing the Soviet regime. The organization was both anti-communist and anti-monarchist and advocated an ideal of solidarity and Christian fellowship of all peoples. By means of disseminating anti-Soviet propaganda among the Soviet soldiers stationed in East Germany in the form of informational handbills, journals like Posev, and eventually radio broadcasts, the members of the group hoped to overthrow the Soviet government from within. NTS and other parallel anticommunist Russian émigré groups, such as the Central Association of Political Emigrants from the USSR (TsOPE) were actively, though covertly, supported by the CIA, and their publications often contained pro-American messages (see John Prados, Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 2006; pp. 72-75). The publication of Posev started in 1945 and with a short break in 1946 continued publication in 1947 onward, publishing information usually withheld by the Soviet official channels. The makeshift radio station "Free Russia" began its broadcasts in 1950 out of a minibus, which traveled through the countryside of West Germany, looking for the most advantageous position from which its broadcasts could reach the East and be heard by the Soviet soldiers and civilians. The rear wrapper of this brochure contains the emblem of NTS and an illustration of the minibus parked in the countryside under a line of telegraph wires, to underscore the secret nature of the operation. Based on the limited broadcast times provided in the brochure, it must have been published sometime before the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, by which point "Free Russia" was able to offer broadcasts round the clock to cover the violent events in Budapest. Scarce.
Papou?ková (Nadezhda F. Mel'nikova, born 1891), editor Octavos (19.5 ×14 cm). Original printed wrappers in red and blue, with translucent protective covers; 70,  pp. and 123,  pp. Owner signature of the Russian-born American painter and graphic artist Louis Lozowick. Text evenly toned due to stock; some light underlining in pencil, else very good. A famous two-volume collection of poetry of the Russian Silver Age, published in Prague at the height of the Russian Civil war (1918-1922) when many Russian intellectuals were fleeing the Bolshevik regime and settling abroad. The two volumes include poems by the big names of Russian Symbolism such as Konstantin Balmont, Dmitrii Merezhkovskii and Zinaida Gippius who settled in Paris, as well as Vyacheslav Ivanov who settled in Rome. Other poets included in the collection, such as Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok and Anna Akhmatova initially supported the Bolshevik Revolution and chose to remain in Russia, later growing disillusioned with the regime and in the case of Akhmatova and Bely being barred from publication. Of those included in the collection, only Aleksei Tolstoy had a successful writing career in the Soviet Union writing mostly prose and science fiction. Both volumes include an introduction by émigré literary scholar and publisher Nadezhda Mel’nikova-Papou?ková, reflecting on the current moment in Russian poetry.
Krzhizhanovskii, S. Octavo (20 × 15 cm). Original printed wrappers; 31,  pp. Signed and inscribed by the author to title to an unidentified woman. Wrappers and edges professionally restored (paper repairs); else very good. [First edition, signed and inscribed, of the author’s only book published during his lifetime]. This treatise on the poetics of titles is the only separate lifetime publication of the Soviet modernist writer, translator, and literary critic Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky (1887-1950). Dubbed "the best-known unknown writer of his generation," Krzhizhanovsky’s fiction has been compared to Borges and Bulgakov as well as to Gogol and E.T.A. Hoffmann for its philosophical complexity, meta-fictional tendencies, as well as its grotesque and satirical qualities. Although the Soviet censors largely rejected his fictional and critical writing for publication, Krzhizhanovsky was a prolific writer and was well known in the literary circles for his public readings of his fiction, as well as his lectures at the theater section at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow. Nearly forgotten after his death due to the dearth of publications, the Russian poet and writer Vadim Perelmuter discovered Krzhizhanovsky’s archive in 1976 and began publishing his work starting in 1988. A six volume edited and annotated set of Krzhizhanovsky’s work was finally published in Russian in 2001-2010, with the New York Review of Books acquiring the rights to his work in English translation, resulting in four English language publications and belatedly bringing this "unknown" author into the international literary scene. Born in a Polish family in Kiev, Krzhizhanovsky studied law, publishing his first fictional story in a Kiev journal in 1918. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he wrote six books of short stories and five novellas, none of which were published, presumably due to their philosophical complexity and insufficient topicality. Presented with Krzhizhanovsky’s work, Maxim Gorky commented: "the youth will only break their brains against this prose." Unable to publish his fiction, Krzhizhanovsky supported himself with working as an encyclopedia editor, translator, screenwriter and opera librettist. A handful of his critical essays, such as "Dramatic Devices of Bernard Shaw" (1934) and "Poetics of Shakespeare’s Chronologies" (1936) were published in literary journals. A collection of his stories was finally prepared for a separate publication in 1941, however it stalled due to the start of WWII. This 1931 critical treatise (written in 1925), which reflects on his own fiction as much as it does on the work of others, became the only separate volume of his work published in his lifetime. One of 3000 copies. KVK, OCLC show copies at Maryland, UNC, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, Stanford, Berkeley, National Library of Israel and the Swiss National Library.
Morand, Paul and Jarmila Fastrova, translator Octavo (23 × 13.8 cm). Original pictorial wrappers by C. Bouda; 116,  pp. Very good, in protective mylar. A Czech translation of a fictional travelogue, written in 1926 by the French modernist Paul Morand (1888-1976). The photo-montage cover design was done by the celebrated graphic artist Cyril Bouda (1901-1984) in the style of Czech poetism, as a "picture poem." First introduced by the artist Karel Teige and poet Vitseslav Nezval in 1923, this avant-garde movement dominated Czech book design throughout the interwar period. KVK, OCLC show copies at Toronto, Boulder, BnF and Dresden.
Sakulin, Prof. P. N. Octavo (20.8 × 14.8 cm). Original printed wrappers; 16 pp. Wrappers with old vertical crease and moisture stain (not affecting text); else very good. Evidently the first stand-alone publication to treat the complex changes to Russian orthography initiated long before WWI, but famously brought to fruition after the February Revolution. Sakulin sketches the origins of the effort to "simplify" the Russian language and reproduces, at length, the results of the resolution passed on May 11, 1917, which led to the removal of four letters, as well as orthographical changes to certain case endings, such as the genitive. A third section presents the linguistic and historical reasons for these changes, resulting in the author’s assertion that the reform leads to a more "scientific" orthography, based on the gradual development of Russian, rather than a mere simplification along the lines of "write as you hear." The plan as outlined by Sakulin was approved by the Provisional Government, which mandated its use in Soviet schools beginning in 1917, and the Bolshevik decree of December 23, 1917 finally ordered the May resolution to be implemented without exceptions. KVK, OCLC only show the copy at Aix-en-Provence; Harvard holds a microfilm.

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