SUMMER CATALOGUE 2019

BOOKVICA 1 F O R E W O R D

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are excited to announce that Bookvica is starting to work together with San Francisco based bookshop Globus Books. Globus Books has been in business since the 1970s providing the Russian community of the Bay Area with antiquarian and modern editions in Russian. We are eager to continue its vital work with the help of our book experience and expertise and a lovely local book community. You are welcome to come by! The stock from our joint catalogues will be stored at Globus Books, and we will participate in American book fairs together. Our summer catalogue includes rare editions, hand-made books, photo albums and periodicals which we have been collecting and carefully selecting from the beginning of 2019. The focus once again is on the period of the 1910s-30s, and we believe the books produced during this period absorbed the sensation of the changing country the best. The usual areas covered are book design, theatre, cinema, the life of the ordinary Soviet women and men, street demonstrations of the 1920s, avant-garde editions, print in Tiflis, architecture and science. We are also glad to introduce a new section in our catalogue ‘The Printing Arts’. Since the majority of members of Bookvica team are graduates of the Moscow State University of Printing Arts, it’s only natural for us to search for unknown and unrecorded editions in this area. Most of the books are from the 1920s, the period when Soviet typographic design was at the top of its game. Also in the catalogue: - Account of life of the student giraffe in Tbilisi in 1937 (#46); - Rodchenko’s take on Chinese aesthetics (#25); - Kruchyonykh’s essay on Mayakovsky (#44); - Which bank is the best for peasant to use during NEP? (#55); - How to fill in the library cards, a guide from 1927 (#56); - Book Carnaval, the agitational show (#41); - One time Vassily Kamensky collaborated with Boris Grigoriev (#23); - How to treat mental diseases with the silent movies (#51).

BOOKVICA 2 F O R E W O R D

We hope you will enjoy our selection. You will also be able to see us and our books later this year exhibiting in Amsterdam (October 5-6), Boston (November 15-17) and participating with Globus Books in the ASEEES convention in San Francisco (November 23-26).

Bookvica team, July 2019

Bookvica 15 Uznadze St. Nizh. Syromyatnicheskaya St. 11/1 0102 Tbilisi Suite 208 GEORGIA Moscow, RUSSIA +7 (985) 218-6937 +7 (916) 850-6497 [email protected] www.bookvica.com

Globus Books 332 Balboa St. San Francisco, CA 94118 USA +1 (415) 668-4723 [email protected] www.globusbooks.com

BOOKVICA 3 I ARCHITECTURE

01 [ARCHITECTURE FOR ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS] Gevirts, Ya.G. Arkhitekturnye formy i kompozitsiya zdaniya [i.e. Architecture Forms and Composition of a Building]. Moscow; Leningrad: Mosk. aktsionernoe izdatel’skoe ob-vo, 1926. 139, [5] pp.: ill. 22x14 cm. In original card boards. Very good, small losses and soiling of the covers, Soviet bookshops’ stamps on the back endpapers. First and only edition. One of 5000 copies. Very rare. Volume 6 from the series ‘Encyclopedia of a Builder’, with 154 illustrations in the text. Worldcat locates The 1920s was the era of building Soviet world from scratch only copy in University of Pisa as well as literal building and constructing. New cities and towns (Italy). were in need of builders and architects so such textbooks or even ‘encyclopedias’ were in a high demand: “Pre-revolutionary technical literature on construction was sold out or morally old, and a new one - very poor because only starting in 1924 the construction process was being regenerated”. This edition was directed to engineers and everyone involved in construction. In this particular volume attention is drawn towards architecture forms of buildings in general and separately - cornice, buttresses, pilasters, pylons, arches, roofs, etc. The book summarizes historical styles, and also describes the trends of modern architecture (with photographs of modern building abroad and in USSR). $1,200

02 [MODEL CIVIL BUILDING IN UKRAINE] Tipovi proekti robitnichikh budinkiv = Tipovye proekty rabochikh domov [i.e. Model Projects of Workers’ Houses]. Kharkiv: Derzhavne vidavnitstvo Ukraini, 1928. 12 pp., 23 projects on 39 separate leaves. 35,3x22 cm. In original full-cloth with constructivist design gilt lettering. Soiling, some small tears, otherwise very good.

BOOKVICA 4 No 01

Not in the First and only edition. One of 2000 copies. Text in Ukrainian Worldcat. and Russian. Extremely rare. This is an outstanding album of 1920s ideas on civil building in Ukraine. The edition contains 23 projects of houses of one, two and three-room apartments which include building facade and floor plan, present some basic measurements like a number of stories and the ratio of the living area square footage to the total square footage. The projects show the architectural solutions that were approved as model ones. Actually, the general Soviet worker family did not occupy 2 or 3-room dwelling in the 1920s, even if these designs intended to economical use the inner space. One of the drawings shows that 3-room apartment had a separate bathroom while 2-room apartment contained a bathtub installed directly in the kitchen to serve as a table when it was covered. $2,500

No 02

BOOKVICA 5 No 02

03 [CITY FOR THE SOVIET MAN] Meshсheriakov, N. O sotsialisticheskikh gorodakh [i.e. On the Socialist Cities]. Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 1931. 110, [2] pp. 19,5x13,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. In very good condition, a couple of defects of edges, stamps of Kharkiv architect’s private library, p. 79-82 are loosely inserted.

No copies located First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies. Very rare. in the Worldcat. This is the book featuring the early 1930s tendencies in the Soviet architecture. The important point was dividing the settlements for zones of the separate life activities. They contained the living buildings, kitchen factories, worker’s clubs as well as buildings for the health and educational services. The main reason for that was an idea of extinction of a traditional family, instead of which various institutes intend to care about the collective everyday life. Such cities in the Soviet architectural projects were named ‘the socialist cities’. One of the best places to create the socialist city was Stalingrad. Being called after the name of the party leader, Stalingrad was formed as a model settlement for life of the Soviet people. This edition features 6 city projects depicting separate zones. They were produced by Giprogor (The State Institute for Urban Design) that was founded in 1929 and had the blooming period after WWII, actively participating in the Soviet civil building. $1,500

BOOKVICA 6 No 03

04 [STANDARD OF THE SOVIET CONSTRUCTION] Oltarzhevsky, V. Gabaritnyi spravochnik arkhitektora [i.e. Dimensional Handbook of Architect]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Akademii arkhitektury SSSR, 1947. [7] pp., 107 ills. 35x26,5 cm. In original cardboard folder. Folder restored and soiled, all leaves are very good.

According to the First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies. Rare. Worldcat, the only This is an attractive handbook including the model measures copy located in of common buildings, rooms and their separate parts. All data were Canadian Centre for Architecture. compiled by the Soviet architect Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky (1880–1966) who was a pioneer in the Soviet skyscraper construction. The same year he together with A. Mordvinov started the construction of Hotel Ukraine, which actually began to rise in 1953 and became the second high-rise in the USSR. The book features the plans of nursery, kindergarten, school, stadium and other sport constructions, hospital (several types built in the different cities), agricultural buildings, hotel, restaurant, cafe and bar, hair salon, shop, bank, library, cinema, rooms for the billiard sports and the musical performances, etc. When the book was sent to printing, the revision of standards for almost all types of public buildings was approved. As a result, an errata page listing the new GOSTs was loosely inserted. $1,500

BOOKVICA 7 No 04

05 [THE GOLDEN YEARS OF THE STALINIST ARCHITECTURE] Tsapenko, M. O realisticheskikh osnovakh sovetskoi arkhitektury [i.e. On the Realist Base of the Soviet Architecture]. Moscow: Gos. izdatel’stvo

Worldcat locate the literatury po stroitel’stvu i arkhitekture, 1952. 393, [3] pp.: ill. 22,5x18 copies at libraries cm. In original full-cloth with gilt lettering on the front cover and of University of Kansas, University spine, with blind design on the cover and laconic colored design on the of Iowa, University spine. Rubbed, pencil underlinings occasionally, otherwise in very good of Illinois, Carleton condition. College, Mervyn H. Sterne Library, First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies. Michigan State This is an interesting monograph by the Soviet art historian University, Ohio State University, Mikhailo Tsapenko (1907-1977) who headed the Kiev Institute of University of Theory and History of Architecture in the 1950s. Overviewing the Soviet Arizona, Cornell University, New architecture from the angle of the latest Stalinism, he sharply criticizes York University and the 1920-1930s styles. He stresses the foreignness of constructivism, City College, NYPL, Columbia, Getty, critisizes the structure of the 1930s socialist cities, announces that Yale, University all ideas by Mel’nikov, Ginzburg, Leonidov, Golosov, Kornfeld and other of California and architects of OSA and ASNOVA societies were impractical and utopian. University of Washington. Denouncing them for lack of the national attributes, he praises the

BOOKVICA 8 No 05

1940s buildings that, in his opinion, truly fit the bill of the Communist Party. As evidence, he puts some of the constructivist projects among numerous 1940s buildings that connected with the Stalinist classicism or had similar elements. The book features the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani buildings - the photographs of the whole constructions or the remarkable parts as well as their plans. Overall the brilliant book depicting the unity and diversity of the architecture reflecting the multinational nature of the Soviet Union. $750

BOOKVICA 9 II ART

06 [ART AND PEOPLE] Iskusstvo i narod / Sbornik pod red. Konstanina Erberga [i.e. Art and People / Compilation Edited by Konstantin Erberg]. St. Petersburg: Kolos, 1922. 229, [2] pp.: ill. 25x19 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Tears of the wrappers, cracks of the spine. Otherwise a very good clean copy. Worldcat locates First edition. One of 1200 copies. Very rare. Wrappers, logo, copies in Columbia headpieces and endpieces by K.S. Petrov-Vodkin. University, Library of Congress, Collection of articles and essays by symbolists about ‘new’ Stanford, Getty art compiled by Konstantin Siunnerberg (pseud. Erberg; 1871-1942), Research Institute, Harvard Library, Russian symbolist poet, philosopher and art theorist. He was a student University of of Lev Shestov, member of Mir Iskusstva and overall a noticeable figure Wisconsin. of Silver Age. In 1922 he published this collection which included such authors as F. Sologub, A. Avraamov, A. Gizetti, V. Kurbatov, B. Kushner, E. Lundberg, F. Zelinsky, Gaideburov. Subjects varied but the main focus was on art and its relation to people. $950

No 06

BOOKVICA 10 07 [THE LEFT FRONT: RODCHENKO AND GAN] Pertsov, V. Reviziya Levogo Fronta v sovremennom russkom iskusstve [i.e. Revision of the Left Front in Modern Russian Art]. Moscow: Vserossiiskii proletkult, 1925. 147 pp.: ill. In Constructivist publisher’s wrappers. Very good, restoration of the spine, loss of the fragment of p.82 (small damage to the text). Worldcat locates First and only edition. One of 3000 copies. Rare. copies at NYPL, National Gallery Not only a great example of constructivist book design but also of Art, University a valuable source of gathered information on The Left Front (LEF). This of Iowa, Yale edition contains a few photomontages by Alexander Rodchenko and University. photographs of objects by Aleksei Gan, two leading figures in Russian constructivism, as an illustration to Left Front activity. Pertsov saw Left front as a starting point for building future art culture. He gives some historical details and brief chronology of Russian futurism, key points of the art life (painting, literature, theatre) in the 1910s-20s which led to creation of the Left front. In the part called Revision the author analyzed all aspects of the Left Front. The book includes review of this Revision by N. Chuzhak where he stated that as there were no guides on the LEF, this first synoptical work by Pertsov is very valuable. In conclusion author puts transcript from the first LEF meeting. $950

No 07

BOOKVICA 11 08 [ART IN REGIONS] Arkhangelskiy, A. Ekskursionnaya grafika [i.e. The Excursion Graphics]. Ulianovsk: Got-tipolit. #1, 1926. 28 pp. 22x15 cm. One of 1200 copies printed. Original illustrated wrappers. Fine. Very rare. No copies found in the Worldcat. First and only edition. An interesting example of the provincial printing, that gives us the inside into the art education process. Ulianovsk, the town on Volga was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (it was renamed in his honour in 1924). After that the town started to grow and gained the importance. The book itself is the guidebook for the teacher in the local schools where to go in Ulyanovsk for the studies. It was prepared by the cultural session of Ulyanovsk planning commission. Such commissions were the branches of Gosplan SSSR, founded in 1925. They were supposed to regulate all of the sectors of social and economical life from energetics to culture. The author is the local artist who supplied the text with the series of linocut illustrations, showing the different parts of town and the ideas for sketches. A curious evidence of the provincial art life. $400

No 07

BOOKVICA 12 09 [ART & LEISURE] Ivanov, A. I. Iskusstvo i otdykh; II. O rezhime ekonomii v khudozhestvennom trude [i.e. Art and Leisure. About Economy Mode in Art Work]. Moscow: Proletkul’t, 1927. 63, [1] pp. 17x13 cm. In original illustrated constructivist styled wrappers. Very good, some pages uncut. Small tears of the spine, some slight erosion of the staples, stamp on non-existent library on t.p., stamp “For review” on t.p. Not found in First and only edition. One of 1500 copies. Very rare. Worldcat. This little brochure is not only a beautiful example of Constructivism style applied to book design but also an interesting read giving an opportunity to understand the mindset of art workers and club organizers of the 1920s. In his first article, the author discusses what art is and how a new way of life of a Soviet man (namely, active creative process) influences his level of stress and what actions need to be taken to avoid burning out. In his second article, he talk more about creating an environment and taking actions to avoid said burning out. Even though the language and tone of these works are close to scientific, there are some suggestions that hopefully were useful for men of the past. $750

No 09

BOOKVICA 13 10 [IZORAM] Izo rabochei molodezhi Leningrada: (Katalog) [i.e. The Art of Leningrad’s Working Youth. Catalogue]. Moscow: Tretiakov Gallery, 1929. 68, [3] pp.: ill. 16х14 cm. In original wrappers. Very good, small tears of the spine, former owner’s bookplate on the verso of the front wrapper, occasional pencil markings in the text, pale damp stain on the top and bottom margin near the spine on a few pages (not affecting text) Worldcat locates First and only edition. One of 2000 copies. Very rare. Illustrated a copy at Getty with 11 photogravures. Two-color avant-garde wrappers attributed to Research Institute. Ilya Chasnik. This catalogue was published on the occasion of an art exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in 1929 that displayed works by young artists of Izoram coalition. Exactly in 1928 Izoram (Art Workshops of Proletariat Youth) was created, a coalition included nearly 80 amateur art groups. The ideologist and the official head of the movement, which envisioned the search for a new realism and the creation of the ‘‘art of the workers’’ - Moisei Brodsky. “Izoram was closely associated with the left avant-garde. Suprematists and students of Kazimir Malevich, E. Krimmer, K. Rozhdestvensky, I. Chashnik, L. Yudin took part in the group’s activities. Belonging to the Left circle, this group was focused not so much on Fauvism, Expressionism and Cubism, <...>, as on the painting of purists” (Savitsky). Introductory essays include “Izoram and Amateur Art” by A.A.

No 10

BOOKVICA 14 Fedorov-Davydov, “A Bit of History” by S.K. Isakov, “Our Experience and Achievements” by Moisei Brodsky. These articles serve as a great source of information about that unique formation. Articles are followed by the catalogue itself which includes 186 titles. A list of illustrations is given at the end. Overall, a very interesting and insightful edition of not only a catalogue of the art exhibition but also information about one of the art groups of the most dynamic period of Russian avant-garde. $1,750

No 10

11 [ART WORKERS’ UNION] Khudozhnik: Ezhemesyachnyi informftsionnyi biulleten’ Vserossiiskogo kooperativnogo soyuza rabotnikov izobrazitel’nykh iskusstv ‘Vsekokhudozhnik’ [i.e. The Artist: Monthly Newsletter of All-Russian Cooperative Union of Art Workers ‘Vsekokhudozhnik’]. Moscow, 1931-1935. April, 1931 [under the title “Biulleten’ Vserossiiskogo Kooperativnogo Tovarishchestva ‘Khudozhnik’ ”]. 50, [2] pp.: ill., 3 pl. 26x17,5 cm. One of 2000 copies. Fine. In publisher’s wrappers. June, 1932 [under the title “Biulleten’ Vserossiiskogo Kooperativnogo Tovarishchestva ‘Khudozhnik’ ”]. 60 pp.: ill., 1 pl. 26x17,5 cm. One of 1000 copies. Fine. In publisher’s wrappers. Worldcat doesn’t April-May (##1-2), 1935. 48 pp.: ill. 23x16,5 cm. One of 1000 copies. Very locate physical copies. good, front wrapper is detached.

BOOKVICA 15 First and only edition. Very rare. “Vsekokhudoznik” (All-Russian Cooperative Union “Khudozhnik”, i.e. Artist) was all-Russian union of all unions and cooperatives of art workers which existed from 1928 to 1953. It was founded as trade credit partnership “Khudozhnik” [i.e. Artist] in 1928 and re-organized in 1932 into “Vsekokhudozhnik” (all-Russian). Later it was handed over to Ministry of Education. In 1935 Copyright Office was founded within Vsekokhudozhnik. After its liquidation in 1953, the Moscow House of Artists became its heir. ‘Vsekokhudozhnik’ was a solid, diversely active and rich institution. Without its help, it would have been impossible for artists to work. It supplied them with canvases and paints, gave advances and loans, ordered and bought works, sent them one by one and “brigades” on creative business trips - mainly, as it was then supposed, to factories and construction sites. It organized contests of monuments projects. Various workshops worked, either serving the artists or giving work to them. Moreover, the money earned on the sale of embroidered scarves and shawls, pottery and toys, went to ensure the unprofitable work of easel painters. In these issues articles on different subjects were printed - goals of the newsletter and art itself, exhibitions of Vsekokhudozhnik, competitions, art supplies, current work process of such artists as Pimenov, Deineka, Svarog, Lentulov and others, chronicles, news, etc. Text was accompanied by numerous black and white illustrations and a few colored ones. Overall, a great testimony of a active dynamic art life of the 1930s and its different forms. $2,500

No 11

BOOKVICA 16 III ALEKSEI GASTEV

This section is dedicated to one of the most influential and yet still understudied theoreticians of Soviet way of life, Aleksei Gastev (1882-1939). An exhibition dedicated to Gastev is opening in Moscow in the Avant-Garde Centre on the 3rd of September, 2019.

12 [GASTEV ON THE NEW WORLD] Gastev, A. Industrialnyi mir [i.e. The Industrial World]. Kharkiv: Nasha mysl’, 1919. 79, [3] pp. Abstract wrapper designed by Nikolay Kalmykov (1896-1951). Wrapper is restored, but generally in very good condition. First and only edition. One of the key works by the founder of Proletkult, avant-garde poet, revolutionary and labor theoretician Alexei Gastev (1882-1939). He has been one of the ideologists of Proletkult in 1917-1920, formulating the key principles of the proletarian culture, forming the understanding of the proletarian art aesthetics, that was crucial in aesthetics of constructivism and left art of 1920s. In the periodical ‘Proletarskaya kultura’, he has penned the principles of the transition from futurism to industrial oriented art. It’s possible to say that Gastev was the economist as much as the art theoretician, which is seen in this particular work, dedicated to the the change in the industrial world. One of the key ideas of the book is the prediction of the development of the ‘Social Will’, that will dominate the society and illuminate the concepts of the minority and majority, hence the voting will become unnecessary. In the section dedicated to the culture of the labor, Gastev announces that the new psychology of the proletarian culture is being born on the factories across the world. In the meantime he comments on the understanding of the proletarian culture; “Now to understand the proletarian culture it’s not enough to be a writer, advocate or politician, you have to be an engineer, the social constructor…” In that phrase one could see Gastev deifying his own role in this culture.

BOOKVICA 17 The artist responsible for the design of the wrapper, is Nikolay Kalmykov, who was the member of avant-garde group, based in Kharkiv ‘Soyuz Semi’, and participated in the ‘Sbornik novogo iskusstva’ [i.e. The Collection of the New Art] in 1919. In 1920 he has left the country for Turkey, where he spent the rest of his life, becoming relatively well- known artist in Istanbul, adapting the name Naci Kalmukoğlu, creating the frescoes for the cinemas and the paintings on the themes of Ottoman history. Extremely rare. Only copy is at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, according to Worldcat. $2,750

No 12 No 13

13 [LUNACHARSKY AND GASTEV ON NEW MEN AND NEW CULTURE]

Gastev, A. Snariazhenie sovremennoi kultury [i.e. The Organisation of the Modern Culture] / with additional article by Alexander Lunacharsky ‘A New Russian Man’. Kharkiv: GIZ Ukrainy, 1923. 37, [2] зp. 17,5x13 cm. Original printed wrapper. Near fine condition. Contemporary pencil notes in the article by Lunacharsky. The important example of the collaboration of the two of the

BOOKVICA 18 great minds of the early Soviet social and cultural reformation: Anatoly Lunacharsky (1875-1933) and Alexei Gastev (1882-1939). Interestingly enough for this book the two has switched places: Gastev is giving his understanding of the development of culture, while the majority of his works are on the social and economical aspects of the song Soviet society; while Lunacharsky is giving his opinion on the social aspects. Gastev calls for the ‘liquidation of the cowardliness towards the metal’ in art - this according to him is one of the main goals of post- revolutionary art. Lunacharsky however articulates the critics towards LEF (calling the constructive part of the constructivism ‘the ideological slime’) and begs not to worship the machine. However Lunacharsky separates Gastev from LEF and agrees with his ideas of self-organisation and the fact that the culture should be kindled by the technological progress It’s vital to note that by 1930 Lunacharsky became one of the harshest critics of Gastev and one of the people who have stimulated the end of The Institute of Labor and Gastev himself. He has stated that ‘Gastev thinks that the worker should be the addendum to the machine, that is not right’ and ‘He is lifting the hand that will beat us tomorrow. The poetic temperament of Gastev led him astray. He has became machine-centric, and doesn’t look in the future’. (Lunacharsky, A. Inzhener-chelovek. 1930). Gastev was arrested and executed in 1938. Extremely rare. Not in the Worldcat. $1,750

BOOKVICA 19 IV PRINTING ARTS

14 [HOW TO DRAW A FONT] Anisimov, V.I. Osnovy i risovanie pechatnogo shrifta [i.e. Basics and Drawing of Printed Types]. Petrograd: Gos. izd-vo, 1922. 69 pp.: ill. 22,5x16,5 cm. In original printed wrappers with ornament and dust wrappers with white lettering. Very good, some light fading, barely visible Soviet bookshop’s stamp on the back cover of dust wrapper, overlapped wrapper with a few small chips.

Worldcat locates First edition. From the title: “Based on scientific research”. One copies at Stanford, of 2000 copies. University of Chicago, University This edition contains basics of drawing fonts with historical of Wisconsin, examples and second part - tips on drawing fonts. This section is full The Claremont of examples (latin and cyrillic), manual of how to make proper fonts, Colleges Library, Library of general rules and possible mistakes, types of fonts. Congress. Overall a great concise textbook with both history and manual in a neatly designed form starting from dust wrappers to used type itself. $950

No 14

BOOKVICA 20 15 [PRESS AFTER THE REVOLUTION] Osipov, M. Oktiabr’ i profpechat’ [i.e. The October and Professional Press]. Petrograd: Kniga, 1924. 68 pp. 21x13 cm. In original illustrated wrappers by Aleksei Ushin. Very good, small tears of the spine and margins of the wrappers. Some pages uncut. Not found in First and only edition. One of 6000 copies. Rare. Worldcat. This is one of the first summaries of professional press in after revolutionary Russia (Soviet Union). The text is divided into periods - War Communism (1918-1920), Before the NEP, NEP Period, On the Brink (1923), Future (1924). “From revolutionary agit-leaf on multi colored paper to technically perfect and ideologically correct magazine of our days, from ‘slogan like’, hastily combined poster to modern mass all- union newspaper - this is the long path of our professional press”. Despite a propaganda tone of the book, it contains interesting information and data on the early history of Soviet press. Aleksei Ushin (1904-1942), Soviet graphic artist who was close in his art to the Mir iskusstva group. His creative rise occurred in the 1920s-30s. For two decades, he designed more than 500 books. Ushin also did a lot for the development of Soviet font art. He died of starvation in 1942 in besieged Leningrad during the WWII. $950

No 15

BOOKVICA 21 16 [CATALOGUE OF FONTS] Izvlechenie iz knigi shriftov: (Katalog) [i.e. Extraction from the Book of Fonts: Catalogue]. Moscow: Trest Poligraf, 1925. 64 pp. 23x13 cm. In original stapled wrappers with red stamping. Very good. Previous owner’s bookplate on the verso of the front cover. Not found in First edition. One of 4000 copies. Very rare. Worldcat. This trade catalogue is a short extraction from a full book of types published by Moscow company Poligraf. In this catalogue they included the most popular and necessary fonts of such type foundries as Bertgold, Leman and Flinsh. “To all Russian alphabets of this catalogue we have latin sets”. Introduction also includes information on how to make an order and pay for it, shipping information and guarantees, as well as notice to all customers that they need to present a special document to buy fonts (for example, individual owners of printing houses must provide deed of possession). $350

17 [CELEBRATION OF SOVIET PRINTMAKING] Vsesoiuznaia poligraficheskaya vystavka: Sbornik 1 [and only] [i.e. All- Union Polygraphic Exhibition: Digest One (and Only)]. [Moscow], 1927. [55] leaves of text, [18] plates. 40x26,5 cm. In original card boards with silver lettering on the front board, tied together with ribbon. Very good, except tears and losses of covers. Worldcat First and only. One of 5000 copies. Very rare. located copies at Bibliothèque This edition was dedicated to the All-Union Polygraphic nationale de Exhibition which was opened on August 19, 1927 in Moscow, on France and Cambridge the territory of the VDNKh in the Main House. The exhibition was University Library organized as a report on the 10th anniversary of the October (UK). Revolution. The program for it was developed by major scientists and famous artists. The exhibition featured the best printing houses in the country, their products, machine tools and technologies. Fifty- eight artists participated only in one section of industrial (production) art (other sections included History of Printing, Publishing, Technical Section, Polygraphic Education and others). Over 1000 artworks were exhibited. All possible types of graphic techniques were presented - both print (color monotype, autolithography, various woodcut, etching, photomontage, etc.) and preparatory works by artists (various drawing

BOOKVICA 22 No 16 techniques, watercolors, engraved boards cut by masters, various tools). The exhibition was attended by artists of different generations, trends and schools: Muscovites V. A. Favorsky, A. I. Kravchenko, N. N. Kupreyanov, Lissitzky, G. G. Klutsis, A. A. Deineka, Leningrad’s E. E. Lancere, V.V. Lebedev, K.S. Petrov-Vodkin, B.M. Kustodiev and others. El Lissitzky designed pavilions for the exhibition among other artists and later published a famous guidebook together with Solomon Telingater. This edition less known but not less interesting. It is printed on thick paper and contains numerous autotypes, musical notes, photogravures, lithographs, wood engravings, chromoautotypes. The purpose of this digest was to inform about Soviet polygraphic establishments - printing houses and presses. “Together with invitations to participate all printers were suggested to print out reviews and plates characterizing the establishment. The layout according to which the printing houses were supposed to type and print their articles for the collection was compiled by the VKHUTEMAS student Grozevsky under the guidance of Professor Piskarev”. Only 15 companies have responded from Vologda, Kazan’, Kiev, Moscow, Saratov, Tiflis and Kharkiv. Even these «business cards» from only a few printing houses allow us to look into the history of the Soviet printing business of the 1920s. $1,900

BOOKVICA 23 No 17

BOOKVICA 24 18 [ABC OF TECHNICAL DRAWING] Ierusalimskii, A. Chertezhnik-illiustrator. Kak illiustrirovat’ tekhnicheskiie knigi [i.e. Designer and Illustrator. How to Illustrate the Technical Books]. Kharkiv: Ukr. nauchnoie izdatel’stvo, 1928. 42 pp.: ill., 1 ill. In original illustrated wrappers. In very good condition, tears of the spine, small fragments of covers lost. Not in the One of 5000 copies. Rare. Worldcat. This is an early Soviet manual on the technical drawing that was issued in the Soviet series ‘School of Drawing’. This kind of illustration as unseparated part of manuals and textbooks gained immense importance during industrialization. The technical drawings supplemented words and sometimes could even replace the text fragment. This book features two techniques of the technical illustration, zincography and lithography, including the principles of colored print. The author explains how to create tonal or shading effects as well as the correct captions. $750

No 18

BOOKVICA 25 19 [MEZZOTINT] Efremov, S.V. Glubokaya pechat’: Metso-tinto [i.e. Intaglio Printing: Mezzotint]. Moscow; Leningrad: Gosizdat, 1928. 116 pp.: ill., 5 pl. 20x14 cm. In original photomontage wrappers. Very good, small tears of the wrappers and spine. Not found in First edition. One of 3000 copies. Very rare. Mezzotint plates Worldcat. printed on flat machine of Kempe factory with tints from Poligraf trest. A beautifully executed edition about intaglio printing and particularly mezzotint, the first tonal method to be used, enabling half- tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple (Wikipedia). The author goes into detailed about the essence of the intaglio printmaking and its place in contemporary photo mechanical methods of reproduction; creating forms for printmaking and the process itself; describes machines, paper, tints, equipment as well as common mistakes and ways to fix them. Overall a great source of information, photographs and illustrations, data about the mezzotint printmaking from the beginning to the end. $850

No 19

20 [INK DRAWING FOR WORKERS’ CLUB] Maslenikov, N. Risunok perom i kist’iu: posobie dlia izo-kruzhkov i nachinaiushchikh risoval’shchikov [i.e. Drawing by Pen and Brush: Manual for the Art Sections and the Novice Artists]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Assotsiatsii Khudozhnikov Revoliutsii, 1930. 48 pp.: ill. 17,5x13 cm. In

BOOKVICA 26 original illustrated wrappers with constructivist design. Tears and small losses of the spine, otherwise very good. Worldcat shows Second edition. Very rare. the only copy of This is a manual for artists of the worker’s clubs and reading the first edition located in the rooms, the main cultural centers for the Soviet workers and peasants. British Library, but It is written by the Soviet artist Nikolai Maslennikov (1895-1950) who no copies of the second one. gives advice about his craft. He introduces drawing as an experiment of the personal perception of the world around and performing it by the different tools - brush, pen, stick - everything that could be used for drawing by ink and paint. Explaining how to catch a core of figure or action, he prepared artists to create the correct objects for the wall newspapers and posters. The book contains 19 graphic works made in various techniques and supplemented the text. $950

No 20

21 [CARICATURE AND CARTOONS AS PROPAGANDA TOOL] Apresyan, V.Z. Karikatura na sluzhbu urozhaiu [i.e. Satirical Cartoon for Purposes of Harvesting]. Moscow: Krokodil, 1934. 40 pp.: ill. 13x17,5 cm. In original illustrated stapled wrappers. Very good. Wrappers detached, small tears of wrappers, some rust on staple. First and only edition. One of 15000 copies. From the series “Library of Editor of Political Department”.

BOOKVICA 27 Not found in Detailed and illustrated manual for editors and printers of Worldcat. kolkhoz newspapers in Soviet Union from the greatest Soviet satirical magazine Krokodil on why and how to bring satire into local newspapers. The manual is designed in constructivist style and illustrated with many cartoons and examples. $950

No 21

22 [LINOCUTS] Staronosov, P.N. Gazetnaya graviura na linoleume [i.e. Newspaper Linocut]. Moscow: tipo-laboratoriya VKIZH, 1935. 42 pp.: ill., 1 pl. 15x11 cm. In illustrated wrappers. Very good. Damp stains on the wrappers. First and only edition. One of 6000 copies. All illustrations are linocuts. From the series “Small Library of Editor”. Another manual on “how to do something” from early Soviet era, this time about linocuts - “simple and comfortable way to transfer the drawing into print in the absence of the newspaper’s own zincography”. Accompanied with numerous illustrations, equipment and instructions. $750

BOOKVICA 28 No 22

BOOKVICA 29 V BOOK DESIGN

23 [BORIS GRIGORIEV AND VASILY KAMENSKY] Kamensky, V. Zemlianka [i.e. The Mud Hut]. Saint Petersburg: Obshhestvennaia pol’za, 1911. 172 pp.: ill. 21,5×17,5 cm. In illustrated wrappers, the original front cover preserved. Restored, some soiling, otherwise good. Worldcat shows First edition. Very rare. the only paper Cover design and illustrations produced by Boris Grigoriev copy in New York Public Library. (1886-1939), the Russian painter and graphic artist whose style was a compromise between cubism and realism. Denying 1917 Revolution, he emigrated in 1919 but was trying to come back home and kept relations with avant-garde Russia. This pre-revolutionary edition features the art pieces that radically differ from his emigre graphic works and paintings in general. In 1910-1911 he followed traditions of ‘Mir Iskusstva’ society and was closer to art nouveau than avant-garde. This point unites the

No 23

BOOKVICA 30 early works by Grigoriev and Kamensky, both are out of their recognized styles. This is the first prose book by Vasily Kamensky (1884-1961), the futurist poet who is well-known for his ‘visual poetry’ of the 1910s, including ‘Tango with Cows’, and the experimental prints with Hylaea members. This book is full of anti-urbanist ideas of ‘return to nature’ that provided through the lyrical story. $1,900

24 [PHOTOMONTAGE ON JIMMIE HIGGINS] Sinсlair, U. Dzhimmi Khiggins [i.e. Jimmie Higgins]. Moscow: TsK Soiuza Textil’shchikov, 1928. 110, [2] pp. 22x15,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Repaired spine, otherwise very good. Very rare Russian imprint.

No 24

BOOKVICA 31 Not in the Striking photomontage on the front cover produced by A. Worldcat. Romanov combining the face of a British gentleman and some buildings that are being demolished by factory and a red socialist worker with a giant flag. The Russian edition of this well-known work first appeared in 1921 and then it was enthusiastically published in the USSR numerous times. To this edition, the print run reached 100 000 copies. The book was a supplement to ‘Voice of Textile’ magazine. $950

25 [ORIENTAL RODCHENKO] Soume Scheng. Kitayanka Sume-Cheng [i.e. Soume Cheng, the Chinese]. Moscow; Leningrad: GIZ, 1929. 149 pp. Original illustrated wrappers. Uncut. Very good condition. Stamps of the ‘GIZ archive’ with ‘withdrawn’ stamp over it. First and only edition. Construction of the book by Alexander Rodchenko. He was also responsible for the choice of the photographs. The book is the memoirs of the young Chinese female revolutionary Soume Scheng. Participating in the radical and terrorist

No 25

BOOKVICA 32 activities in 1920s, she has left the country in 1926 and published this book in French originally called ‘Souvenirs d’enfance et de revolution’. The Russian translation was done by Mared Olenina. Rodchenko has designed two books on Chinese topics, using similar patterns in designing the wrappers and the ornamentations of the illustrations – this one and Tretiakov’s Dan Shi Khua in the following year. Both of them represent an interesting ‘oriental’ take on constructivism by Rodchenko, transforming some of the usual decorative elements of the books. Very rare. The copies at the British Library, Yale and the Getty. $2,500

26 [FAR EAST CONSTRUCTIVISM] Taliev, D. Gorbusha i ee promysel [i.e. Pink Salmon Fishing]. Vladivostok: Dal’kraiotdelenie, 1931. 62 pp.: ill. In original illustrated wrappers. Covers repaired, small tears of the spine, some soiling, a part of upper outer blank corners cut, otherwise very good.

No 26

BOOKVICA 33 Worldcat doesn’t First and only edition. One of 5000 copies. Contrasting orange track this edition and black cover design is made in the constructivist style by the unknown artist. This is the first book by the Soviet ichthyologist and limnologist Dmitri Taliev (1908-1952) who was well-known for his contribution to Baikal limnology. Until he dedicated himself to Baikal Lake in 1932, Taliev was a research assistant in the hydrobiological expedition in the Sea of Okhotsk. There the salmon fishery data were analyzed and, as a result, this edition was published. He observes life of the pink salmons, their sea migration, methods of fishing and principles of breeding. The book is illustrated with the schemes of nets and traps as well as few photographs of fishes. The Far East salmon fishing was an important part of the Soviet economy oriented to the export. In particular, it was the permanent source of finance for the Far East industrialization. $400

27 [VARVARA STEPANOVA & MAYAKOVSKY’S COLLABORATION] Mayakovsky, V.V. Groznyi smekh. Okna Rosta [i.e. Menacing Laughter: The ROSTA Windows]. Moscow: GIKhL, 1932. [1], 79 pp.: ill. 25х22 сm. In original constructivist cardboards and dust jacket, both with red and black lettering. Dust jacket is slightly restored, but generally in very good / near fine condition. Only 8 copies First edition. One of 3000 copies. Extremely rare in this located in the Worldcat. condition. Brilliant edition that became the last Mayakovsky’s project he compiled himself. The book was designed by constructivist artist Varvara Stepanova (1894-1958). She created the unusual edition combining the regular leaves with half-width leaves. The endpapers present Stepanova’s photomontage with the first four lines of Mayakovsky’s ‘Red hedgehog’ (1920), one of the ROSTA Windows’ texts. For this work she used a photograph of Red Army soldier by Boris Ignatovich (1899- 1976), a pioneer of Soviet avant-garde photography in the 1920-1930s, a member of ‘Oktyabr’ art group, who contributed to the magazines ‘Daesh’ and ‘USSR in Construction’. In 1929 Mayakovsky had developed an idea of this book in connection with the 10th anniversary of the ROSTA Windows (1919-

BOOKVICA 34 1922). It was one of the most significant pieces of Soviet propaganda that appeared in the period of Russian Civil War. As Mayakovsky mentioned in the preface: ‘‘it was a record of the most difficult three-year period of the revolutionary struggle, transmitted by patches of colors and the ringing of slogans’’. At that time the hundreds posters were issued with an immense print run, but the only sixteen texts had published with the direct participation of Mayakovsky before ‘Menacing Laughter’. It was the first to gather the brightest works of the ROSTA Windows in the book form. This edition was based on the photo album which was preserved by a founder of these poster series Mikhail Cheremnykh (1890-1962). Mayakovsky selected overall 100 texts, including a well- known work ‘The Soviet ABC’, and 36 photographs of posters. Organized this inspiring edition shortly before the death, Mayakovsky had not seen that it was finally printed in 1932. $2,000

No 27

BOOKVICA 35 VI THEATRE

28 [FIGHT AGAINST THEATRE AMATEURS] Smyshlyaev, V.S. Teoriya obrabotki stsenicheskogo zrelishcha [i.e. Theory of Refinement of Stage Spectacle]. Izhevsk: Proletkul’t, 1921. 88 pp. 24x18 cm. In original illustrated wrappers in art nouveau style. Good, cracks and tears of the spine, soiling of the wrappers, faded Soviet bookshops’ stamps on the back cover. First edition. One of 2000 copies. Extremely rare provincial edition. Worldcat located Due to a lack of educational institutions in the early 1920s copies at Amherst books were the main tool of likbez and education in general. Infant College Library, Bayerische Soviet theatre as we know it was ready to accept new recruits but was Staatsbibliothek lacking guidance. So manuals like this editions came in very handy (Germany), University College for a new generation of actors, directors, writers. The author dissects London (UK). all aspects of stage work from choosing plays, role assignment, improvizations to different methods of learning lines and preparing to go on stage. A very interesting cross section of evolution of Russian theatre and theatre education. $750

No 28

BOOKVICA 36 29 [MEYERKHOLD STUDENT] Vermel’, S. Alkhimiia teatra [i.e. Alchemy of Theatre]. Berlin: Academia, 1923. 48 pp. 25x18 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Front flyleaf and half-title detached from the text block, minor tears of oversized covers and ink note on the inner side, otherwise very good condition.

Worldcat shows 3 First and only edition. Rare. copies located in Cover design (vignette is duplicated to the title page) and University of North Carolina, University four ornamental compositions were produced by Alexandr Arnshtam of California and (1880-1969), the Russian graphic artist and the early professional Yale University. cinema designer. In pre-revolutionary period Arnshtam was well-known as a creator of book and stage designs. In 1919 he was arrested and imprisoned, and soon after he was released, he emigrated to Berlin. There he continued to contribute to the 20th-century book design and turned to cinematography.

This is a collection of statements on the theatre as the separate kind of art, sophisticated and unique. Its author, poet Samuil Vermel’ was Meyerhold’s student who worked together with him but denied the Bolsheviks rule and emigrated. Occasionally the memoirs of collaboration with Meyerhold appeared; once Vermel’ wrote: “‘Balaganchik’ [The Puppet Show] by Blok under direction of Meyerhold, with stage design by Sapunov at Komissarzhevskaya Theatre - it was the start of everything”. $950 No 29

BOOKVICA 37 30 [EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE AGAINST THE PASSIVE VIEWING] Pedagogicheskii teatr [i.e. Pedagogical Theatre]. Issues 1-2. [all printed] Moscow: Izd. Gos. masterskoi pedagogicheskogo teatra, 1925-1926. 38, [2] pp.: ill.; 54, [2] pp.: ill. 26x17,5 cm. In original constructivist wrappers. In very good condition. Tears of the spine with small losses (#1); spine restored, soiling of the covers (#2). Both copies are clean internally. Print run of issues was 2000 copies. Worldcat shows Extremely rare set. the only copy of Constructivist cover design by avant-garde artist Nisson Shifrin the first issue located in Getty (1892-1961), member of Jewish art group Kultur-Liga who worked Institute. as the set designer. The editions are illustrated throughout with the photographs by Abram Sterenberg, one of the leaders of the Soviet photography, and the costume designs by G. Miller. This is two collections of articles on the experimental approach to the interaction between children and theatre. The State Workshop of Pedagogical Theatre was established under direction of Grigori Roshal in 1921 and significantly contributed to the Soviet system of Young Spectator’s Theatres. After the second issue, the edition ceased the publication. The first issue premiered performances that children either play or watch, but both cases involved children to participate in acting - they could criticize the script, correcting and enlarging it. The actors chiefly improvised: “There is no need for finished text, no need for a script. The pedagogue should not directly interfere in the play”. The actors changed the costumes almost momentary, staying on the stage, and used the simplest things for the stage design. When the spectators got to the hall they had already started participating in the show. The issue #1 published the girl’s impression on how the audience had to jump from one box to another, then they got to the basement with nothing in it and everyone did not know where the show would start. To the issue #2, the Workshop of Pedagogical Theatre expanded their influence on the province and managed to organize the children having rest in the summer sanatoriums. For education purposes the performers attracted the puppet theatre, forming the Soviet methods of this kind of folk performances. Initially, this workshop was evidence that the show was not limited in space. Later the basement was changed to the workshop with stage, but the major principle stayed the same. There was no need

BOOKVICA 38 for numerous decorations and the amount of attention to the objects around was increasing. In fact, the agitprop theatre ‘Blue Blouse’ was established in the same years, embodying the close approach to performing.

$1,900

No 30

BOOKVICA 39 31 [THEATRE CONSTRUCTIVISM] Moskovskiy teatr Revolutsii [i.e. Moscow Theater of the Revolution. Summer of 1929]. Moscow: Trudovoy Pechatnik, 1929. 19 pp. 25x17,5 cm. Original constructivist wrapper by Ilia Shlepianov (1900-1951). Occasional foxing, few places repaired with tape, otherwise good.

Worldcat shows The booklet is dedicated to the summer tour of the theatre, the only copy of with performances in Baku, Tiflis, Erevan, Batumi, Odessa and Kiev. the first issue located in Getty The design of the booklet is done by Ilia Shlepianov, who is best known Institute. as Meyerkhold student, designing several plays for his theatre, including ‘D.E.’ (1924) and ‘Bubus’ (1925). Being a designer and the director at the same time Shlepianov have left the theatre and joined the Theatre of the Revolution, where he worked until 1937. In his stage design he has used photomontage and collaborated with Rodchenko. The example of such collaboration is shown on p.8 of this booklet, with Rodchenko’s draft for the stage in the play ‘Ingi’, designed by Shlepianov, showing the scene in the club of the textile workers. All in all, an interesting projection of the constructivism both in theatre and in book design. $750

No 31

BOOKVICA 40 32 [PRE-SCHOOL PERFORMANCE ON INDUSTRIALISATION] Smotr gigantov SSSR. Muzlitmontazh dlia shkol’nikov [i.e. Show of Giants of the USSR. The Musical and Literary Montage] / A. Shenberg, K. Nazarevich. Moscow: Muzizdat, 1931. 24 pp. 25,5x18 cm. In original constructivist style wrappers. In very good condition.

Not in the First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies. Very rare. Worldcat. This is an unprecedented screenplay for the children’s celebration of the 14th Anniversary of the October Revolution. It should be performed by children on the stage together with spectators. The topic of this event was the major achievements of industrialization including Donbas coal mining region, Stalingrad tractor plant and Dnieper hydroelectric station. The performance meant that all of these points were visited by a selected group of children who checked the progress of industrial development. The screenplay contains three acts connected with eight songs (all sheet music are printed at the end of this book, except ‘The Internationale’ anthem which ends the show). The notes for pedagogue are published, including advice what music should be played and how to organize the decorations like the moving and fixed tractors, railway station, etc. $500

No 32

BOOKVICA 41 33 [CULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN THEATRE PERIODICALS] Teatral’naia periodika. Bibliograficheskii ukazatel’ : v 2 ch. [i.e. Theatre Periodicals. The Bibliographic Index : in 2 parts] / compiled by V. Vishnevskii. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1941. 125, [3]; 144, [4] pp. 22,2×15,5 cm. In original cardboards. Slightly bumped, otherwise fine.

Worldcat shows First and only edition. One of 2000 copies. Cover design by N. 3 copies located Lobanov. in University of Illinois at Urbana This is an extensive index of all theatre periodicals published Champaign, on the territories of the Russian Empire and the USSR in 1774-1940. University of Chicago The edition lists the magazines, newspapers, various leaflets, programs, Library, Stanford librettos, posters that appeared periodically and so on. Overall 384 pre- University. revolutionary and 542 Soviet periodicals were included. A part of them was taken into account for the first time. $600

No 33 No 34

34 [THEATRE COSTUME DESIGN] Lukomsky, V.K. Rabota laboratorii MKhAT po sostavleniyu al’bomov formennoi odezhdy Rossii i SSSR [i.e. MHAT Laboratory Work on Albums of Russian and Soviet Uniforms]. [Moscow, 1946]. 25 leaves. 31x21 cm. Typewritten. Leaves are gathered in paper folder with pencil title written on the front flap. Signed and with correction by the author. Unpublished manuscript. This is a unique material on history of theatre costume design.

BOOKVICA 42 Vladislav Lukomsky (1882-1946) was a Russian historian and heraldist, Doctor of Historical Sciences. He wrote and published a number of studies on heraldry, a number of reference books, several works on the history of coats of arms and pedigrees of individual noble families, and others. In July 1942, he completed his creative and scientific activities in St. Petersburg, which lasted forty years. Since that time, the last, brief, but very fruitful Moscow stage of his life has been counting. Knowledge of Lukomsky, his authority and name were so well known to specialists that very soon the Moscow State Institute of History and Archives opened the door to him, where he was credited as a professor in the department of auxiliary historical disciplines. On January 7, 1943, he signed an agreement with the Moscow Art Theater (MHAT) to work as a consultant to the Stage Experimental Laboratory. At the same time, the question of creating albums of uniform from the beginning of the 18th century til the 1940s for the theater was decided. It was in this work that Lukomsky’s rare responsibility for any information coming from him was revealed. So, when working on the production of “Woe from Wit”, Lukomsky was asked what the cadet should look like at the ball at Famusov. He replied: “I believe that at the evening Famusov could not have a cadet, even if it was older. If there were cadets, there should be teenagers and children in general. Children were summoned to dance «mornings», and in the evening only to the «Christmas tree», on New Year’s Eve, etc. In his autobiography, Lukomsky in the section titled “Working as a consultant on historical and everyday issues related to the use of auxiliary historical disciplines”, along with consultations with a number of film shows, also mentions his collaboration with the MHAT. He provided substantial assistance to the Moscow Art Theater with advice and recommendations in the following productions: “Anna Karenina” (1936–1937), “Woe from Wit” (1938), “Last Days” (1941-1943). In addition, he sent to the theater a consultation on uniforms for students at Russian universities. According to some information, they were also given consultations on a number of productions of A.N. Ostrovsky. He worked with those performances that rightly entered the golden fund of national theatrical life. In this folder gathered said recommendations to the theater. $1,750

BOOKVICA 43 VII WORKERS’ CLUBS

35 [THEATRE IN CLUBS] Markov, V.D. Rezhissior v klube: Rezhissiorskie ukazaniya po postanovke revoliutsionnykh pies v dramaticheskikh kruzhkakh molodiozhi [i.e. Director in Club: Director’s Guidelines for Revolutionary Plays in Drama Studios for Youth]. Moscow: Gosizdat, 1924. 156 pp.: ill. 24x15 cm. In original illustrated constructivist wrappers (by P.R.). Good. Tears and losses of the spine, Soviet bookshop’s stamp on the back cover, pale stains on the wrappers and a few pages. First and only edition. One of 10000 copies. Rare. The phenomenon of the workers’ clubs is one of the most interesting ones in the history of early Soviet culture. Stated by Trotsky that the clubs were ‘the forge of the proletarian class culture’, they were Worldcat locates the connection between the art and the masses, the link between left copies at Amherst aesthetics and proletarian self-conscience. Workers’ clubs started to College Library, Staatsbibliothek appear in 1920 and by the mid-1920s covered the country and were set zu Berlin and to be multi-functional tool to educate, agitate, entertain and cultivate Bayerische Staatsbibliothek the masses. The result should have been the creation of a new man, a (Germany). new life, so the workers’ club were very much in tune with the Soviet ideology of 1920s. They were organised locally, usually by the unions or other initiative groups, and they were given a lot of privileges: good buildings (often designed by the best constructivist architects of the day), supplies, support in the media and by the party officials. The unusual cultural-social experiment of making a new man came to its end in the early 1930s, when Proletkult was closed and the life of the country has started to change. The clubs itself remained but lost its independence, started to be used more for propaganda purposes or the routine entertainment events. This edition provides guidelines and instructions on how to organize creative process in drama studios in clubs across the Union. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific subject and scrutinized on example of a play. Overall 8 plays are mentioned in the book and for some parts of script are given. There are chapters on how to reduce

BOOKVICA 44 a play, how to make a march more theatrical, performance on street, ‘live’ newspapers, composition of script based on a few sources, how to connect drama studio and general work of the club, how to make a novel into a play. Chapters also include information on lighting, costumes, set designs, props, etc. The text is supplemented with drawings and scheme. $950

No 35

36 [PERFORMANCE AS PROPAGANDA TOOL] Glan, B.N. Kostiumirovannyi vecher v klube [i.e. Costume Evening in Club]. [Moscow]: Molodaya gvardiya, 1930. 46, [2] pp. 18x13 cm. 2nd ed. In original illustrated stapled wrappers. Wrappers are loose, with some rubbing. Otherwise very good and clean. Uncut. Very rare. One of 10000 copies. Not in the This book is dedicated to agitation in art forms and particularly Worldcat. in theatre and performance form. More than that, the author described

BOOKVICA 45 a new form developed for mass agitation and education in entertaining form - ‘costume evening’. Starting from discussion of pros and cons of such event the book continues with organization details (creating plan and promotion - “Costumes must present political, industrial and domestic topics”), recommendation list of topics, consultation, and goes to description of the event itself. Interesting section of the book called “We didn’t forget our daily work” in which is listed all activities that were held at the club. Overall, an amusing yet informative edition on one of the forms of agitation and propaganda in the early Soviet Union which included elements of theatre and performance. $750

No 36

BOOKVICA 46 VIII CINEMA

37 [MEZHRABPOMFILM] Kto ty takoi? [i.e. Who Are You?]. Leningrad: Tea-kino pechat’, [1927]. Leaflet folded into thirds. 23x15,5 cm. In very good condition. The only First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies. Very rare. copy located Constructivist design of leaflet was produced by Maxim Litvak in Columbia University. (1898-1943), the Soviet graphic artist who created the posters of the silent films for Leningrad cinema studio. Two impressive photomontages of this edition include the compositions of the main actors and one of them, printed on the first page, presents two clones of the main character that reflects the plot. This is a striking libretto brochure on Mezhrabpomfilm’s film ‘Who Are You?’ directed by Iuri Zheliabuzhsky. This moving picture was based on Jack London’s story ‘South of the Slot’, presenting the story between two worlds, capitalism and socialism, which ended with the triumph of the last one. In 1920, Zheliabuzhsky had already directed the film on this London’s story, but for this case, the screenplay was compiled by Zheliabuzhsky together with Vadim Shershenevich. Former

No 37

BOOKVICA 47 well-known poet Shershenevich started his contribution to the Soviet cinema and theatre in 1927 and this is one of the earliest pieces of his input. The last page features the advertisement of Pudovkin’s film ‘The End of St. Petersburg’ released in 1928. $950

38 [LEAFLETS FOR THE SOVIET ADVERTISING FILMS] 1) Devushka s korobkoi [i.e. The Girl with a Hatbox]. Leningrad: Izd. kinoteatra ‘Gigant’, [1936]. Lithographed two-colored leaflet. 20,5x28 Not in the cm. Mint. Worldcat. One of 1200 copies. Extremely rare. This is an advertisement of Boris Barnet’s film ‘The Girl with a Hatbox’ (1927) for showing it in the largest Soviet movie theatre of that time, ‘Gigant’. This Mezhrabpomfilm picture is considered as one of the first Soviet advertising films because it was commissioned by the People’s Commissariat to promote government bonds. Design of edition compared with the premiered photograph of the main character which appeared on the front cover of ‘The Soviet screen’ magazine, #15 for 1927. As mentioned on the leaflet, the picture was accompanied with music by the symphonic orchestra under direction of Tessler. The same evening the ballet and circus performances were held in the theatre hall.

2) Otel’ «Savoi» [i.e. The Savoi Hotel]. Leningrad: Izd. kinoteatra ‘Kapitolii, [1929]. Two-colored leaflet with the constructivist design. 18,5x27,5 cm. Few minor tears of edges, otherwise very good. One of 1300 copies. Extremely rare. This is a striking advertisement of a film ‘The Savoi Hotel’ that was the first work by the Soviet director Aleksandr Faintsimmer. The picture was devoted to 1919 anti-Bolsheviks revolt in Gomel during the Civil War. The film title reflects the hotel that became the base for one side of this conflict. As mentioned on the leaflet, singing and ballet performances were held in the theatre hall. $1,100

BOOKVICA 48 No 38

BOOKVICA 49 IX PHOTO ALBUMS

39 [THE ART OF INDUSTRIAL PHOTO] 1 gosudarstvenniy podshipnikoviy zavod imeni L.M. Kaganovicha [i.e. The first state ball-bearing factory, named after Lazar Kaganovich]. Moscow, 1932. 42 photos. 24x31 cm. Very good. The album was prepared for the Mikhail Kaganovich (1888- 1941), brother of Lazar Kaganovich, party secretary. Mikhail Kaganovich at that time was the deputy to the minister of industry. His brother will become the head of that ministry in 1937. Mikhail has committed suicide a week after the beginning of German-Soviet conflict in WWII. The factory became the first one in USSR to specialise on ball- bearings. The album shows in detail the construction and building of the factory, including 16 panoramas, the images of the everyday life of the workers and the images of the work process including close-ups of the ball bearings, some of which bear the undoubted artistic quality. The photos resemble the photos, made by Moscow photographer Alexander Khlebnikov, a friend of Rodchenko and Stepanova, that he has made for the trade-catalogue of Ball bearings, designed by Solomon Telingator in 1930s. Khelbnikov most probably took the studio photographs using the ball-bearings from this factory, but it’s not known whether this particular album has any of his photographs. $3,500

No 39

BOOKVICA 50 No 39

BOOKVICA 51 No 39

BOOKVICA 52 No 39

BOOKVICA 53 40 [UKRAINE IN THE 1930S] SSSR. 1936 [i.e. The USSR. 1936]. Photo-album. [68] pp.: photos. 25,5x34 cm. Leather covers tied with a string. Fine. The travel album of Czech professor Ilek Bohuslav who traveled to USSR in July of 1936 with Intourist. The album includes the photographs and postcards bought on the way and dedicated mostly to the southern part of USSR, Georgia and Ukraine, including Crimea. There’s a certain design in the album, the colorful lines are added to underline the certain photo compositions. Every chapter is dedicated to one city and often starts with the Intourist postcard. The cities are Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov, Kharkiv, Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz), rural Caucasus, Tbilisi, Batum, Yalta, Sevastopol, Odessa. Most of the photos are of architecture with the particular detail to the newly built constructions and the churches. The images include the horse carriage next to a constructivist building in Leningrad, street parades and children’s handmade decorations in Moscow, the ethnographical photos in Vladikavkaz showing the locals, also different locals in Tbilisi, including the image of the monk, the captain of the ship that took the traveler from Batumi to Yalta (Crimea), the beach dwellers in Crimea and Odessa, the shoe- repairer in Yalta, the image of the food court inside of the church in Livadia (Crimea), the images of port workers in Sebastopol, church sermon in Kiev. The typescript summary of the trip is included at the end of the album in Czech. $2,500

No 40

BOOKVICA 54 No 40

BOOKVICA 55 X DEMONSTRATIONS

41 [BOOK PROPAGANDA PERFORMANCE FOR THE RED ARMY] Kossovskii, M. Karnaval knig. Agitatsionnoe predstavlenie [i.e. Books’ Carnival. Agitational Show]. Moscow: Voenizdat, 1925. 29, [3] pp.: ill. 23x15,5 cm. In original wrappers with decorative frame. In very good condition, mainly uncut pages, minor tears of spine, small blank fragments of covers and pages lost, ink number on the front cover. First and only edition. One of 3000 copies. This is a screenplay for the book propaganda performance which was printed as an issue of series ‘Theatre of Red Army Soldier’. The show promoted 12 books, 10 periodicals and a poster which were significant for this time. Among them ‘Selected works’ by Lenin, ‘Ten Days That Shook the World’ by Reed, ‘Bezbozhnik’ magazine and ‘Pravda’ newspaper. Reflecting the topic of international socialist revolution, the performance included the book ‘China’ about Chinese workers. The edition is illustrated throughout with 10 characters of this performance, including peasant, per-revolutionary guard, worker, etc. $1,200

No 41

BOOKVICA 56 42 [SOVIET CITY DEMONSTRATIONS AT ITS BEST] Kuznetsova, A., Magidoon, A., Schukin, U. Oformlenie goroda v dni revolutsionnykh prazdnenstv [i.e. The Decoration of the City During Revolutionary Celebrations]. Moscow; Leningrad: IZOGIZ, 1932. 140 pp.: ills. 27x15 cm. Original illustrated wrapper. Very good condition, spine is restored with fragments lacking. First edition. Illustrated throughout. Worldcat Kuznetsova and Magidoon are responsible for the design of the locates copies book, as well as the design of many decorations for street celebrations, at Princeton, Stanford, MOMA, represented in this book. Schukin has written a several works on the CCA, Getty and matter. Harvard. At first festivities dedicated to revolution reminded of military parades with demonstration of war trophies and fight scenes. Right until the middle of the 1920s demonstrations were based on work of amateurs with little help from artists. This became a unique field of experiments where different types of art like architecture, theatre, painting, pantomime, sculpture united. This gave a push to development of new art ways as well as lead to a next level of mass holidays. By the end of the 1920s the balance of the «art of a new social formation» was shifting from folk festivals and amateur performances to monumental and professional art. Handmade masks were switched to large scale installations and objects accompanied by light and sound effects. Before designers of these festivals stood up complex tasks which eventually revealed the possibilities of bold creative experiments. Unusual were the scale of the work itself, when whole cities and big crowds of protesters were drawn up, when the works of artists were perceived not in the closed premises of museum or exhibition halls but in open spaces of squares and streets. The rapid manifestation of the creative initiative of the masses, when almost every factory or factory created artistic circles, also found its most vivid embodiment in the design of revolutionary festivities. What is even more important artists’ decorations for mass revolutionary festivals laid ground for constructivism. Artists like Vesnin brothers designed many decorations for parades and other festivities. Overall, an amazing source of materials on history of Early Soviet Union and people’s lives and a glimpse into this unique decade.

$2,750

BOOKVICA 57 No 42

BOOKVICA 58 XI TIFLIS

43 [THE SHORT-LIVED ARTISTIC CLUB IN TIFLIS] Pavliniy khvost [i.e. The Tail of Peacock] / words by Sergei Gorodetskiy, music by Boris Prozorovskiy. Tiflis, [1918]. 1 leaf. 36x15 cm. Folded in four. The contemporary pencil notes suggest that the leaflet was in use during the meetings of the club. The emblem of the peacock by Boris Ryabov, the art critic and the historian of architecture. The leaflet includes the ‘March of the peacock’, a song written by the poet Sergei Gorodetskiy (1884-1967) for the ‘intimate cabaret for the art public’ that opened in Tiflis in 1918. Gorodetskiy who has moved to Tiflis in 1917 and became one of the key figures in ‘transforming Tiflis into Paris’ by setting up literary groups, participating in the performances, collaborating with the local poets and playwrights.

No 43

BOOKVICA 59 The short-lived ‘Tail of the peacock’ was one of his first attempts to gather the like-minded audience around himself, it was followed by the famous Factory of Poets’. It has opened on 14th of April, 1914. The group was led by theatre critic Yakov Lvov, opera singer Tatiana Odra and Gorodetsky himself. The club existed for few months, the debates were held on erotica in art, Rimsky-Korsakov, disputes on symbolism etc. Despite being closer to the symbolist part of the town, Gorodetskiy has collaborated with Kirill Zdanevich on many occasions, including when Kirill has painted the theatre ‘Argonauts rook led by Gorodetskiy in 1918. This is a very unusual and rare example of ephemera from the period when Tiflis was considered the cultural oasis, printed for the number of participants for the evening. $1,500

44 [KRUCHYONYKH ON MAYAKOVSKY AND ILIAZD IN 1918] Kuranty. #1, 1918 [i.e. The Chants] / edited by Boris Korneev. Tiflis: Phoenix, 1918. 24 pp. 22x18 cm. Original printed wrappers. Very good. The Chants was the periodical of the group known as ‘The Fantastic Tavern’. It was edited by Korneev, included the articles and poems by Tatiana Vechyorka, Yuri Degen, Alexei Kruchyonykh. It’s known that both Terentiev and Ilia Zdanevich were in the editorial board. All of the people involved in the publication were the key participants in the publication ‘Fantastic Tavern. To Sofia Georgievna Melnikova’, which considers one of the key-books of Russian avant-garde. The article by Kruchyonykh on p.15-18 ’Maykovsky’s Love Affair’, is one of the most important works on Mayakovsky by Kruchyonykh. In it he analyses the role of the letter ‘yu’ [ю] in the love lyrics of the poet, that refers to Lilya Brik. Eventually K. concludes that the letter has the mystical meaning and symbolizes the feminine. In his own book ‘Malankholia v Kapote’ [Tiflis, 1918] he includes one section called ‘The story of letter YU’. In the same issue the review of Iliazd’s ‘Yanko Krul Albanskiy’ [Tiflis, 1918] could be found. It’s signed A.Livnev, which wasthe Kruchyonykh’s pen-name of the period (confirmed by Khardzhiev). In this review Kruchyonykh writes that it’s hard to talk about the book that

BOOKVICA 60 is understood only by the ‘few initiated in the secrets of zaum language’, but calls for its uniqueness for Russian literature. Apart from this issue, two others were printed. Extremely rare. $3,500

No 44

45 [GUDIASHVILI AS CONSTRUCTIVIST] Gruzii poety i pisateli SSSR [i.e. To Georgia! The Poets and Writers of USSR. The Literary Collection]. Tiflis: Zakkniga, 1931. XV, 160 pp. 21x15 cm. Original illustrated wrappers. Very good. Minor soiling. Partly uncut. 21,5x14,5 cm. One of 3000 copies printed. The collection of poetry and prose gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Georgian Soviet Republic. All of the text is in Russian. The book features the poems and prose by Mayakovsky, Sergei Tretiakov, Viktor Shklovsky, Vasily Kamenskii, Andrei Bely, Semen Kirsanov, Georgia Kreitan. Among the Georgian poets the verses of Sandro Euli, Titsian Tabidze, Akaki Mashashvili are included. The design of the book is a joint effort of Lado Gudiashvili (1896-1980) and M. Zhitomirskiy. Gudiashvili, who is responsible for

BOOKVICA 61 the wrapper design as well as the headpieces in text, is usually known as the lyrical symbolist illustrator. Regarded by some as the most important Georgian artist of the 20th century, he has collaborated with the main avant-garde acts in Georgia in the 1910s-20s (like his illustrations to the ‘Fantastic Tavern’ in 1919), ideologically he always has been somewhat apart from the left ideas, that embraced Georgian progressive artists in the 1920s. This book is an interesting example of Gudiashvili embracing some of the constructivist and leftist ideas and while keeping the famous elegance of his style, creating the book design the likes of which we haven’t encountered in his career before or after. The wrapper shows the famous Zahesi electro-station with the image of the man on the tractor waving to Lenin’s statue. The tractor becomes the hero in the series of headpieces created for the book. It’s clear to see the Gudiashvili took the inspiration from the industrial progress of the republic creating the series. One of the most interesting illustrations that is used two times in the book is the image of tractor forcing away the cow and the horse, which are shown in the usual Gudiashvili manner, thin and elegant, gazelle-like. This could be seen as a challenge thrown at himself, where the artist was seeking his own ideology in the changing Soviet world.

No 45

BOOKVICA 62 The constructivist illustrations by Gudiashvili is supported by the linotype design by Zhitomirskiy, who has used the typographical bars and other non-graphical means to emphasise the style created by Gudiashvili. Very unusual work of Georgian book design of the early 1930s. $1,500

46 [GEORGIAN HAND-MADE STUDENT BOOK] Zoopark. Nabliudeniya zhirafa [i.e. The Zoo. The Observations of the Giraffe]. Tiflis: Stroitelniy tekhnikum, 1937. [16] pp. 11,5x7,5 cm. Near fine condition. Illustrated throughout in color. 1 copy created. The bright example of students’ folklore, created in Georgian Building Academy as a token for graduation, for the class of 1933-1937. The whole class is pictured as animals from Tiflis zoo, with mocking and lively comments on all of the characters. From the book we learn that the wild cow Marina is inhabiting the Plekhanov avenue and able to play piano, while the seal Solomon is good at math and sports. The deer Tolik boasts its unique friendship with the little piggy Manya (someone wrote in pencil next to her that she is ‘the parasite with the soul of the snake’), that is unheard of in the zoos anywhere.

No 46

BOOKVICA 63 The author of these characteristics is the ‘true poet, architect and artist’ giraffe Zhorik. Overall a unique evidence of the student zest, done in the year of 1937, that is regarded in Soviet history as one of the most brutal years of Stalin era. $1,400

No 46

BOOKVICA 64 XII SCIENCE

47 [LOMONOSOV AS A PHYSICIST] The sammelband on electricity: 1. Lomonosov, Mikhail. Oratio de Meteroris vi Electrica Ortis [i.e. Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force]. St. Petersburg: Academy of Science typography, [1753]. [6], 68 pp., 3 pl. 21x17 cm. In modern period styled half leather. The original endpapers of the sammelband preserved. Some foxing but generally a very good copy. The most significant edition in this collection is Mikhail Lomonosov’s groundbreaking work that was published in latin in 1753 and translated to Russian only in 1780s. This edition is very rare with two paper copies in the US libraries (Cornell and Harvard). Complete with 22 figures on 3 folding leaves. Nowadays this work is considered one of the most important works written by the scientist. Lomonosov presents an original theory of generation of electricity in the air and lightning, many elements of which are profoundly correct even by present day understanding of the phenomenon. The basis of the Lomonosov theory is the idea of vertical air movements as the main cause of atmospheric electricity - the immersion of the cold upper strata of the atmosphere into the lower (warmer) layers causes mechanical friction of miniscule particles in the air against each other, that results in generation of atmospheric electricity. He also suggested that the phenomenon of Northern Lights as well as comet tails are the electrical phenomenons. The story of the creation of this book is quite dramatic. Originally Lomonosov was studying the electricity alongside with physicist Georg Richmann (1711-1753). They were inspired by Franklin’s kite experiment and the recent developments in research on electricity. Richmann set an apparatus at his home, an ‘electrometer’, that consisted of the metal pole erected on the roof, going to his cabinet, attached to the metal scale with quadrant. Richman was experimenting his

BOOKVICA 65 apparatus consistently, once even demonstrating electrical experiences to Empress Anna. On the 6th of August, 1753 during the thunderstorm Richman was standing in his cabinet taking notes accompanied by the engraver Ivan Sokolov (1717-1757). Richman was standing 30 meters from the pole and got hit by a ball lightning and died immediately. Sokolov was knocked down and lost conscience, but survived and created the engraving ‘The tragic death of Richman’. Lomonosov soon commented that Richman has died the noble death - performing the experiment. However Richman’s death caused a certain mistrust towards the science in Russia and the studies of electricity were forbidden for some time. Lomonosov still presented his speech, but these were the reasons why it wasn’t translated into Russian or printed in larger number of copies. Some books by Lomonosov were produced in 1000- 2000 copies, but not this one. 2. Schäffer, Johann Gottlieb. Die electrische Medicin, oder, Die Kraft und Wirkung der Electricität in dem menschlichen Körper und dessen Krankheiten besonders bey gelähmten Gliedern [i.e. The Electrical Medicine, or The Force and Effect of Electricity in the Human Body and Its Diseases Especially Paralyzed Limbs]. Regensburg: Verlegts Johann Leopold Montag, 1766. [10], 84 pp., 1 front. The textbook ‘Electrical Medicine’ was written by doctor Johann Gottlieb Schäffer (1720-1795). He summarized all the knowledge on treating people with electricity. He suggests that muscle acts as a nerve, so the electrotherapy can be used in some cases. Schäffer claimed that he managed to treat a paralysed limb using electrical therapy, it took him a week to get back the sensation in paralysed arm of the patient. He also makes the claim that electrified water could act as a cure. Three copies in USA according to the Worldcat. 3. Schmidt, Georg Christoph. Beschreibung einer Elektrisir-Maschine und deren Gebrauch [i.e. Description of an Electrifying Machine and Its Use]. Jena, 1773. 32 pp. 2 folding leaves. Worldcat locates this edition in four US libraries. 4. Steiglehner, Cölestin. Observationes Phaenomenorvm Electricorvm In Hohen-Gebrachin Et Prifling Prope Ratisbonam Factae Et Expositae [i.e. The Observations of Electrical Phenomena in Hohen-Gebrachin and Prifling, Close to Regensburg]. Ratisbon, 1777. 55 pp., 1 folding table. The book is written by Coelestin II. Steiglehner (1738-1819), the professor of physics in University of Ingolstadt, also a Benedictine

BOOKVICA 66 monk. In this work he gives the overview on electricity till his day, Benjamin Franklin is mentioned once. $7,500

No 47

BOOKVICA 67 48 [RUSSIAN INVENTOR OF THE RADIO] Popov, A.S. Pribor dlya obnaruzheniya i registrirovaniya elektricheskikh kolebanii [i.e. An Apparatus For Detecting and Recording Electrical Oscillations] // Zhurnal russkogo fizikokhimicheskogo obschestva [i.e. The Journal of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society] / Vol. XXVIII. Part 1-2. Pp. 1-14. St. Petersburg: V. Demakov, 1896. Contemporary half leather with gilt lettering on the spine and marbled boards. Tears of the spine’s and corners’ leather. Otherwise a very good clean copy. First publication. Very rare. In Russian tradition, Alexander Popov (1859-1909) is considered the inventor of the radio and this paper is the main reason why. On May 7, 1895, Popov presented a lecture entitled ‘‘On the Relation of Metallic Powders to Electrical Oscillation’’ to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society (RPCS) in St. Petersburg. By connecting the coherer to a wire antenna on one end and a ground wire on the other end, Popov was able to receive electromagnetic waves from distant lightning bolts. He made further demonstrations of his «storm indicator» later that summer at the Institute of Forestry in St. Petersburg, detecting lighting charges as far as 20 miles away. In January 1896, he published this work in the Journal of the RPCS in which he described the principle of ‘wireless telegraph’ for the first time. He ended the article with a prediction of the development of radiotelegraphic technology: ‘‘In conclusion, I may express the hope that my apparatus, when further perfected, may be used for the transmission of signals to a distance by means of rapid electric vibrations if only a source of such vibrations can be found possessing sufficient energy’’. (This was months before Guillermo Marconi applied for his world- known patent on the 2nd of June 1896.) On March 24, 1896, Popov reportedly demonstrated just such a telegraphic transmission by sending ‘rapid electric vibrations’ in the form of Morse Code some 800 feet from one building at St. Petersburg University, where the RPCS was again meeting, to another building, where the society’s president, F.F. Petrushevsky, transcribed the message onto the blackboard: ‘‘Heinrich Hertz’’. Unfortunately, no written record survived of this historic demonstration, and it was not until 30 years later that witnesses attested to this occurrence. There are two reasons why Popov’s invention was disregarded in the western tradition. Firstly, he hasn’t applied for the patent of his invention immediately as he made the discovery. It’s well-known that

BOOKVICA 68 No 48

Marconi travelled to England and demonstrated his apparatus to the local authorities which helped him to promote it. Secondly, Popov’s early experiments transmitted the signals only for 250-500 meters, while Marconi managed to transmit the signal for 2.4 km half a year later than Popov. $7,000

49 [THE ORIGINS OF SOVIET DEFECTOLOGY] K detskoi psikhologii i psikhopatologii : Sbornik statei sotrudnikov Gosud. Mediko-pedogogichesk. Inst. NKZ [i.e. To Children’s Psychology and Psychopathology: Collection of Articles by Scholars of State Medical and Pedagogical Institute of People’s Commissariat for Health]. Orel: Orlovskoe otdelenie Gosudarstvennogo izdatel’stva, 1922. 202, [2], II pp. 25,5x17 cm. In original printed wrappers. Small fragments of spine lost, pocket on the inner side of front cover, pencil mark on t.p., otherwise very good and clean copy. Worldcat shows First and only edition. One of 3000 copies. 2 copies located at The New This is an edition produced as the manual for understanding York Academy the causes of psychopathology, using the innovative concepts. The of Medicine and Stanford early 1920s in the Soviet Union were marked by a national catastrophe University. in economic and social fields. And this time led the foundation and

BOOKVICA 69 No 49

intensive research of psychological issues. In particular, State Medical and Pedagogical Institute was established to form the principles of defectology, bringing up the children with physical and mental defects. The psychologists experienced relative freedom at that time. The texts were composed without any ideological pressure. The book overviews the experimental approaches of psychology by 11 scholars, including D. Azbukin, M. Gurevich, P. Tutyshkin, K. Veselovskaia, N. Tiapugin, A. Vinokurova, M. Krol’, N. Ozeretskii, Z. Osipova, V. Basov and I. Borisov. They published the instruction on how to work with individuals at children psychiatrist schools and hospitals, at the deaf-mute school; how to organize the experimental psychological laboratories in the province. One of the scientists displayed the record of successful treatment of a patient with cretinism by thyroid extract. The Institute was closed as a separate organization in 1925, but it stayed in the origins of Soviet psychology and had graduated ‘the army of physicians and teachers’ reducing the aftermath of wars. $1,200

50 [ALTERNATIVE STUDY OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR] Durov, V. Dressirovka zhivotnykh. Psikhologicheskie nabliudeniia nad zhivotnymi, dressirovannymi po moemu opytu (40-letnii opyt) Novoe v zoopsikhologii [i.e. Animal Training. Psychological Observations of Animals

BOOKVICA 70 Trained According to My Method (40-Year Experience): The Animal Psychology News]. Moscow: Universal’noe izdatel’stvo, 1924. 504, [2] pp., 11 ills. 23x16 cm. In modern quarter leather with gilt lettering on the spine, the original wrappers are preserved. Worldcat shows First and only edition. One of 3000 copies. only two copies This is a comprehensive study on the interaction between located in New York Public Library people and animals by the well-known circus performer and animal and Cleveland trainer Vladimir Durov (1863-1934). He invented an innovative approach Public Library. to training based on the works by Sechenov, Pavlov and Bekhterev, the last two scholars took part in Durov’s research personally. His approach to training intended to be the interaction of two living beings that got familiar with principles and traits of each other. In contrast to the contemporary views on animal behavior based on only reflexes, Durov declared that the mood and the personal worries of animals are important as well. The book consists of three parts: observations of animal behavior, some remarkable performances of trained animals and criticism of contemporary behaviorist theories as well as overview of his own theory. Among them is the possibility of hypnosis and even telepathy. The book includes the photographs, scheme and description of the experiments that Durov set together with a Soviet pioneer of telepathy and biological radio communications Bernard Kazhinskii in the early 1920s. While these tests proved that the thought transmission could be indicated by special devices, for Durov’s research these experiments were evidence of the high level of the animals’ perception. $1,500

No 50

BOOKVICA 71 51 [SOVIET CINEMA THERAPY] Sukharebskii, L. Patokinografiia v psikhiatrii i nevropatologii [i.e. Cinema Pathography in Psychiatry and Neuropathology]. Moscow: Biomedgiz, 1936. [2], 244, [6] pp., 20 ills. 21х15,5 cm. In original cloth with silver lettering. Rubbed, water stains on the lower inner corner of p. 222-243 and the last leaf with illustrations. Worldcat shows First and only edition. One of 3000 copies. Rare. the only copy at National Library of This is the first Soviet study on the moving pictures that were Medicine. being used for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases. The book could not be allowed for official use because of the conflict between the author’s advice and parties’ decrees. In the middle 1930s the medical films were used in the USSR, but not as developed therapy. The 1937 plans on these films were supervised by the secretary of The Film Committee of People’s Commissariat for Health, Lazar Sukharebskii who was psychoneurologist and screenwriter, author of books on medical films. He called the new Soviet science ‘patopsikhokinografiia’ (i.e. cinema psychopathography). It included any use of films in touch with patients and became a kind of bridge. From one side, the psychiatrists treated nervous and mentally ill people by moving pictures. From another one, the author considered it as the only way to record accurately the patient’s behavior with all significant moments of his life. In addition to the text, he published the frames from the medical films depicting illness and health, pictures of the nerves stimulation as well as special equipment of the cinema psychopathography. Later this year Sukharebskii headed the construction of a film studio in the psychiatric hospital named after Yakovenko (in Moscow region). It supposed to build for educational purposes, but there was no evidence that the studio was established. In 1937 the large periodical ‘Kino’ published the negative review on this book, criticizing its pseudoscientific nature and ‘obvious political mistakes’. Sukharebskii analyzed the films that were earlier forbidden to show for the Soviet children. The bibliographical list included the banned books that were already excluded from Soviet libraries. Next purge decade kept silence about this scholar. $1,200

BOOKVICA 72 XIII LITERATURE

52 [PUSHKIN IN YIDDISH] [In Yiddish]: Pushkin, A.S. Skazka o tsare Saltane [i.e. The Tale of Tsar Saltan]. Moscow: Emes, 1937. 52 pp.: ill. 21x14 cm. In original illustrated wrappers, Yiddish and Russian titled on the front and back covers. Very good. Small tears of the wrappers, pale stains on some margins, previous owner’s bookplate on the recto of the front cover.

Worldcat locates First edition. One of 5000 copies. Very rare. Translated into copies at Center Yiddish by M. Fishman. for Jewish History and Harvard. According to the 1897 census, 97% of the Jews of the Russian Empire called Yiddish their native tongue, after the revolution it was the official language of the “Jewish working masses” and was recognized as the language of general education and office work in the Soviet republics. In the 1920s-1930s, Soviet authorities made efforts to encourage «Soviet proletarian culture» in Yiddish as a countermeasure against the traditional Jewish «bourgeois» or «Shtetl» culture. The Jewish newspaper Der Emes (Pravda, i.e. The Truth) was published from 1918 to 1938. But like everything else of Jewish culture and other national cultures was suppressed during Stalin years in USSR.

No 52

BOOKVICA 73 This children’s book was printed by Der Emes which was a Soviet publishing house operating in Moscow from the early 1920s till 1948. Its main focus was on fiction in Yiddish and translations into Yiddish. After its shutdown director, chief editor and a few other employees of Der Emes were arrested. After the WWII books in Yiddish were stopped from printing just like Jewish culture was suppressed, anti semitism became a state policy. $750

53 [DREISER IN THE SOVIET UNION] Dreiser, T. Niu-Iork [i.e. New York]. Moscow: Gosizdat, 1927. 127 pp.: ill. 18,5x12,5 cm. In original constructivist style wrappers and original illustrated dust jacket with portrait of the author by Hugo Gellert. Near fine, previous owner’s stamp on t.p. and few ink marks, two stains on dust jacket.

Worldcat shows First thus edition. One of 7000 copies. Extremely rare in the 5 copies at dust-wrapper. Indiana University, Princeton The brilliant cover design was produced by Aleksei Levin (1893 University, New - 1967), the early collaborator of Mayakovsky and Mikhail Cheremnykh York Public Library, Harvard University, in work on the ‘ROSTA Windows’. In 1918 Levin created the street design University of for the anniversary of October Revolution in Petrograd, later designed Pennsylvania the posters and books. Libraries. The translation of ‘The Color of a Great City’ appeared at the beginning of warm ties between USSR and writer. In 1927 Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union because of the 10th anniversary of October Revolution. He had met the avant-garde figures Mayakovsky, Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Eisenstein and observed life in the socialist country. The writer had granted Gosizdat the exclusive and unlimited rights to publish and distribute his existing and future works. It made Dreiser the reputation of ‘The Soviet American classics’ figure for a long time. In the middle 1930s, he had already turned into one of the most reliable ‘friends of the USSR’. Throughout the Soviet period, his works had 150 editions in 15 Soviet languages with a total print run of over 12 million copies. $1,350

BOOKVICA 74 No 53

54 [SAMIZDAT OF THE BEST-KNOWN WORK BY STRUGATSKY BROTHERS]

Gadkiie lebedi [i.e. The Ugly Swans] / A. Strugatsky, B. Strugatsky. N.p., [1970s-80s]. 132 typewritten pp. 30x21 cm. Unbound. As new. This is a samizdat copy of the novel ‘The Ugly Swans’ by brothers and co-authors Arkady (1925-1991) and Boris (1933-2012) Strugatsky, the leaders of the Soviet science fiction. The ideas of Strugatsky duo were innovative but relevant to the period when people recognized the totalitarian system of the Soviet Union. Strugatsky found themselves engaged in the confrontation with the censorship and could not pretend on official approval throughout the Soviet rule. Their novels, premiered in periodicals in the 1960s-1970s, were published in the book editions only in No 54 the late 1980s. $650

BOOKVICA 75 XIV MISCELLANEOUS

55 [BANKING PROPAGANDA DURING NEP] Yakovlev, Polien. Rasskaz delovoy pro Yuvselbank i muzhik s golovoi [i.e. The Business Tale About Yuvselbank and the Guy with a Head on His Shoulders]. Rostov-On-Don: Burevestnik, 1925. 15 pp. 13,5x9 cm. Original illustrated wrapper. Good. Wrappers with foxing. One of 25000 copies. First and only edition.

Not in the A curious piece of NEP propaganda. The brochure, produced in Worldcat. support of the Yuvselbank (The South Peasant Bank) was aimed to the population of the South of Russia and the Caucasus. The decree on the bank nationalisation has been one of the earliest act of the Soviet administration - it has passed on 27th of November, 1917, however in the times of New Economic Policy the desired economic growth would have been impossible without the banking system, so Gosbank has created branches and affiliates throughout the country. There were also banks owned by cooperatives and even ‘societies of the two-way credit’, that acted like the pre- revolutionary banks on the local level. One of the largest sectors of banking in the 1920s was the credits given to the peasants (conducted by TsentrKhozBank). This brochure is an interesting type of banking agitation: using the usual lubok-like ways to describe the issue to the peasants, it tells the story of the peasant Ivan who have been living miserably until he became the client of Yuvselbank. The author Polien Yakovlev (1883- 1942) was the children’s poet and the editor in chief of the periodical ‘Leninskie vnuchata’ [i.e. Lenin’s grandchildren]. After the text by Yakovlev there’s a two-page long explanation from Yuvselbank board how to receive the credit and who is eligible. After the decree ‘On the principles of the credit system, issued in 1927 the banking system started to change and by 1928 most of the local and coop banks were shut down and their function given back to Gosbank. $750

BOOKVICA 76 No 55

56 [LIBRARY CATALOGUING] Lomkovskii, N. Bibliotechnyi pocherk [i.e. The Library Handwriting]. Moscow: Doloi negramotnost’, 1927. 28, [4] pp. In original constructivist style wrappers. Front cover detached, minor defect of p.9 (not affected the text), previous owner’s stamp on t.p., otherwise very good. Not in the First and only edition. One of 8070 copies. Very rare. Worldcat. A nice and early Soviet brochure on how to write by the library handwriting on the catalogue cards. Teaching the young librarian on courses, Lomkovskii created the tables of letter elements and connection between them, supporting examples with clear and define instructions. Interesting that three pre-revolutionary letters, used until the Russian orthography was reformed in 1917, were included in this manual as well - the author explained that by needs of the science libraries. He points out the standard sizes of letters, with exceptions and spaces. The curious page 23 reproduces the types of handwriting which could not be used on the cards: “handwriting of volunteers”, “typographic, difficulty implemented”, “decorative non-library”, etc. The last pages contain the recommendations on instruments and the right card example with the edition of Marx and Engels’ work. $500

BOOKVICA 77 No 56

57 [SOCIALIST WOMEN MAGAZINE] Zhenskii zhurnal [i.e. Women Magazine]. #5 for 1926, # 8, 11, 12 for 1927, #2 for 1929, #3, 5, 10, 11 for 1930. Overall 9 issues. Moscow: Ogonek, 1926-1930. 35x26,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Good. Spines restored, foxing and soiling occasionally, some tears of the pages without losses of text. Covers of ‘Women Magazine’ issues were mainly designed by artist Semen Semenov-Menes (1895-1982) who the same time was one of the leading Soviet masters of cinema poster design. Together with Stenberg brothers, he created the well-known style of advertising posters for Mezhrabpom films. For this magazine, he also produced the drawn and photomontage designs that are close enough to propaganda posters in their nature. This is issues of the early Soviet feminist magazine that was devoted to life in the newly formed socialist country. The edition features the everyday women problems related to health, family, education and work. Challenging centuries-old traditions, the magazine urged women to advocate their opportunity for independent life. The articles on juridical issues, the technical and electrical enlightenment were published along with the political news. The whole magazine spreads were occupied by the Soviet women movement under direction of Kollontai, in particular, the materials on emancipation of the Oriental women. The edition was richly illustrated by photographs. Printed chiefly in black ink, the issues contained the colored pages in the fashion

BOOKVICA 78 section, full of the drawn models of the popular dress. An interesting part of every issue is the women-oriented advertisements printed on the inner side of covers. $3,500

No 57

BOOKVICA 79 58 [EARLY SOVIET CATALOGUE OF COLOURS] Kolernaia knizhka [i.e. The Book of Colours]. Moscow: Izd. khudozhestvenno- aerograficheskoi proektnoi masterskoi tresta ‘Mosspetsstroi’, 1939. 40 pp., 124 colored leaves cut in half. 10x13 cm. In blue cloth with silver lettering on the front cover. Pale stamp of private library on the t.p., otherwise very good. Not in the Second edition. One of 5500 copies. Extremely rare. Worldcat. This is a handbook for house painters which consists of the colour catalogue, receipts for 248 colours as well as 17 pigments, used for their creation. The book opens with commentaries by compilers on how to check the pigment resistance to lime mortar and how to indicate alkali in the lime plaster. The catalogue features colours ranging them from highly to less saturated ones. $750

No 58

59 [THE SOVIET GUIDE FOR WINDOW DRESSERS] Livshits, Iu. Vitrina magazina [i.e. Shop Window]. Moscow: Gostorgizdat, 1946. 40 pp.: ill. 20,5x15 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Tears around the staple, small pale stains occasionally, otherwise very good. First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies.

BOOKVICA 80 Not in the This is a nice illustrated handbook to the impressive window Worldcat. dressing. The author marked some key points like constructing various stands for different goods and creating the signboards composed captions and picture. Besides, he emphasizes that poor or wrong lighting may screw up any design, but effective lighting significantly attracts customers. For this aim, he examines the types of lamps and the methods of mounting them, raises issues of the reflected light on the display windows and freezing glass in the cold weather. Underlining that design depends on the type of shop, its location and customers, the author reviews the principles of arranging goods in the shop windows presenting the food products, textiles and clothing, head covering, dishes and other items. The book also contains a bibliography of 10 sources that devoted to the shop dressing, colorimetry, psychology of advertising and shop lighting. $650

No 59

BOOKVICA 81 60 [AFTERMATH OF STALINISM] O preodolenii kul’ta lichnosti i ego posledstvii [i.e. On Overcoming the Cult of the Personality and Its Consequences]. Moscow: Gospolitizdat, 1956. 32 pp. 20,5x13 cm. In original wrappers. In very good condition. Worldcat shows First edition. 10 paper This is the most significant resolution of the Central Committee copies located in Princeton of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union related to Khrushchev’s University, Secret Speech. This book was published in four months after the 20th Syracuse University, Indiana Congress of the Communist Party while the speech was not officially University, published until the end of country’s existence. University of Khrushchev’s report “On the Cult of Personality and Its California, Michigan State Consequences” became the best-known document of Soviet Era which University, had changed the socialist world in the middle of the 20th century. University of North Carolina, This resolution decreased the loud criticism of Stalin. The cult was Ralph J. Bunche denounced as well, but the party explained that the crimes occurred Library, Columbia University, during the first ever building of a socialist society. Moreover, all these University of Essex cruel events “did not lead the Soviet Union away from the correct path and Stanford University. to communism”. This very resolution was actually cited by Soviet officials whenever the issue of the Party’s stand toward Stalin was raised. $950

No 60

BOOKVICA 82 61 [HOW TO DESIGN A COMFORTABLE WORKPLACE] Estetika proizvodstvennoi sredy na avtotransportnykh predpriyatiyakh [i.e. Aesthetics of the Production Environment in Motor Vehicles]. Kiev: Reklama, 1973. 31 pp., 54 plates. 22x29,5 cm. In illustrated folder, Not found in brochure in stapled wrappers and plates are separate. Very good, some Worldcat. wear of the folder. First and only edition. One of 5000 copies. Very rare. Published by Ministry of Motor Transport of the Ukrainian SSR and the State Motor Transport Research Institute. Even though this very specific and technical edition on how to aestheticize work environment (“meaning to create psychological and physical comfort at work place”) it allows to understand the mindset of the 1970s Soviet man - worker, employer, designer. Colors of the walls, planting of greenery, parking planning, equipping recreation areas, designing fonts, curtains, interior - all this for workers of transportation companies. $1,300

No 61

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