323 - 372 RUSSIAN BOOKS. (AVANT-GARDE) ART, LITERATURE and FINE PRINTING
- First text leaf upper corner restored. = Rowell/ Wye 215.
- Binding sl. worn along edges. Internally fine.
= Rowell/ Wye 929; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34, p.142f: "(...) The verdict must surely be that Chernikhov's almost unlimited imagination for architectural forms provides a pattern book for modernist architecture, rather than a repertoire of viable designs". SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE V.
- Spine splitting; frontwr. sl. dogeared and loosening. Otherwise fine.
= Contains architectural works of i.a. Yakov Chernikhov and Yevgeni Levinson. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE V.
- Lacks backwr.; frontwr. creased and chipped; backstrip for the larger part worn off.
= Rare publication on civil architecture. With (text) contributions by i.a. El Lissitzky. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE VII.
- Partly loose(ning). Wrapper split along spine, chipped and loose.
= The fold. plate shows the design of the massive tribune construction Struggle Between Two Worlds (communism and capitalism), placed on Palace Square in Leningrad for the 1931 May Day celebrations. On the frontwrapper several designs for the never constructed Palace of the Soviets. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE VI.
- Outer margin of final two text lvs. sl. chipped. Wrapper sl. worn.
- Title-p. w. sm. tears and owner's entry.
= Rare, only 2 issues were published (no.1/2 and 3). This issue largely dedicated to the memory of Aleksandr Blok.
- A few (vague) stamps on front- and backwr. A fine, unopened copy.
= From the series of short filmographies published by the Soviet cinema press. With nice wrappers design.
ADDED: a Russian translation of H.G. WELLS, In the Abyss (Moscow, 1926, orig. wr., 12mo).
- Sl. yellowed; some sm. scratches and rubbed spots.
= Remarkable constructivist rendition of the hammer and sickle. With manuscript ticket on verso [in Russian]: "Design of the emblem of the Birobidzhan Exhibition of Agriculture and Crafts. 1934". The Jewish Autonomous Region Birobidzhan was established in the Russian Far East in 1934. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE VI.
- First blank w. large owner's entry in ballpoint and some gluestains. Spine-ends sl. rubbed.
= Tells the story of the 1932 Soviet Arctic expedition from Arkhangelsk to Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka). Nice plates.
- Top edge sl. irregularly cut; wr. trifle rubbed and worn.
= Reports from various remote areas of the Soviet Union.
- Year 2, no.1 w. several library/ cancellation tickets on title-p. and as often without p.3/4 containing Mayakovsky's article Ne torguyte Leninym ("Don't sell out Lenin") which was censored shortly after publication. Both vols. wr. worn and backstrips dam./ (partly) lacking; year 2, no.1 lacks backwr.
= Khan-Magomedov p.135; Rowell/ Wye p.209; Bowlt/ Hernad p.135; Andel p.166. Important periodical of the early Russian avantgardist movement. Only 7 issues were published between 1923 and 1924.
- Bookblock warped; final leaf loose. Lacks backwr.; frontwr. frayed and worn; backstrip dam. and worn.
= Rowell/ Wye 401; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34, p.52: "The year 1922 saw increasing exchange of information about avant-garde art between the Soviet Union and Western Europe. Publications printed in Berlin brought up-to-date news to artists in a language they could understand. Thus the writer Ilia Ehrenburg's book - with a striking cover by Fernand Léger composed from stencilled letters and machine-like forms - included information about the principal European avant-garde journals (...)".
- Backwr. sl. dogeared.
= El Lissitzky Retrospektive 79; Rowell/ Wye 403; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34, p.96. The first of four issues published, containing literary contributions by i.a. Andrei Belyj, Boris Pilnyak and Aleksei Remizov. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE VI.
- Owner's entry on frontwr.; wr. sl. soiled and yellowed.
= El Lissitzky Retrospektive 80; Rowell/ Wye 403; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34, p.96. The second of four issues published, containing literary contributions by i.a. Andrei Belyj, Aleksei Remizov and Aleksei Tolstoi.
- Wrapper of map vol. torn along spine and lacks text brochure; one large fold. plate in vol. 6 torn on folds; vols. 4 and 6 backwr. browned. Portfolio rubbed, stained and soiled.
= El Lissitzky 1890-1941 Retrospektive 241; Karasik, The Soviet Photobook p.214ff: "The Industry of Socialism is one of El Lissitzky's masterpieces. Everything in the book, beginning with the cover image, speaks of the triumph of Soviet Industry (...). This book makes use of all methods of printing available at the time and all sorts of materials: paper, card, tracing paper, film, fabric, metal and acrylic plastic (...). The publication of The Industry of Socialism was itself a triumph of the Soviet heavy and printing industries. It was printed not just by the whole of Moscow, but by the whole country!" SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE VIII.
- Wrapper sl. yellowed and creased along edges; sm. stamps on backwr.
= Part of the printrun was issued with wrapper design by V. Khodasevich. In copies with Lissitzky's design Khodasevich's name is pasted over with a printed ticket on verso title-p.
= Album of satirical drawings by contemporary artist Vasya Lozhkin, famous for i.a. his grotesque cats.
- Binding worn along extremities; some restorations in corners; sm. stamps on backcover.
= Rowell/ Wye 1006 and ill. p.240; Lavrentyev, Perekryostki russkogo avangarda p.265ff. Overview of Maykovsky's poster designs for telegraph agency ROSTA. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE VII.