Loshadka. [The Horse] by Kvitko Leib - 1938: Series Knizhka-malyshka [Book-baby]

The collection includes an article about the Moscow literary group of Jewish writers "Potok" (1922-1924) "Dem Shtrom in Moscow" ("Stream "in Moscow"). It was written by one of the greatest Jewish prose writers of the XX century . P.M. Kaganovich (pseudonym Der Nister), who died in the camp in 1950. The collection also contains a cycle of poems by Leib Kvitko "Pogromteg" ("The Day of the Pogrom"), shot in the "Night of the murdered poets" in 1952. Kvitko's poems contain numerous corrections and poetic additions (in pencil in the margins, in Yiddish), probably author's. In addition, in the collection: poems and an article "Literatur fun ibergangtzeit" ("Literature of the Future") by Moishe Lifshitz, a Jewish poet, playwright and journalist, a friend of Mayakovsky, Briks, R. Jacobson. The rarest, ephemeral collection, absent from the collections of the world's largest libraries. Worldcat shows 5 copies only ( USA,Israel,Germany)

Berlin: Jewish Literature Publishing Co./ Judischer Literarischer Verlag/ Yidisher literarisher farlag, 1922. First edition. Hardcover. g- to vg-. Small octavo. 206pp. [2]. Rebound in 3/4 brown textured buckram over decorative light brown paper boards. Illustrated title page and publisher's device following the title page. A collection of Yiddish poems from acclaimed novelist, children's writer and poet Leib Kvitko (1890-1952), published during the period when he lived in Germany. Some of the poems in this collection had been previously published in Ukrainian publications during 1919 and 1920; and some material was published here for the first time. The content includes 61 poems, divided into 10 sections based on theme. The start of each section contains an illustration in black after woodcuts, designed by Ukrainian-Jewish artist Issachar Ber Ryback (1897-1935). The modernist avant-garde typography on the title page and with the illustrated imaiges was also designed by Ryback. Kvitko and Ryback… Read More

Berlin: Jüdischer Literarischer Verlag (Idishe literarisher farlag, printed by Lutze & Vogt), 1923. Octavo (19 × 13 cm). Original pictorial wrappers by Y. Tshaykov; 163, [3] pp. Light wear and traces of professional restoration to spine and hinges; else about very good; the best copy we have encountered in the trade. First edition of one of the most important works of Yiddish literature, a poetic response to the 1919 anti-semitic pogroms around Kiev by White Army Troops. The book is pictured as no. 21 in: Jiddisches Erwachen: Buchkunst und Graphik von jüdisch-russischen Künstlern ab 1916 (2018). Wrapper by Joseph Chaikov (also spelled Tshaykov and Tchaikov, 1888-1979), the Ukrainian Jewish artist and graphic designer, who co-founded the Kultur-Lige in Kiev along with El Lissitsky and Boris Aronzon. From 1912-1914 he studied in Paris, where he founded the Jewish artist group Machmadim and exhibited in the Salon d'Automne in 1913. Back in Kiev, he taught sculpture, designed numerous children's… Read More

Quarto 23x16 cm., original wrappers, (4) pp., here including cover. Cover design by Issachar Ber Ryback, musical composition by A. Dzimitrovski, lyrics by Leib Kvitko. This work is for women's choir with soprano or violin, as noted on rear cover. The notations and lyrics are hand-written. Leib Kvitko (1890-1952) and Issachar ber Ryback (1897-1935) are both renowned in Yiddish modernism and avant-garde for their respective accomplishments as poet and painter. First (and only?) edition. Refs: MahJ Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaisme, inv. 2000.16.403. No institutional holdings found by OCLC. In very good condition with a small stain on all pages.

Kharkiv: Tsentrfarlag, 1929. First edition. Hardcover. vg to vg+. Octavo. 297pp. [7]. Original illustrated blue-green, yellow and black paper boards with white lettering on the covers. Separate Yiddish and Russian-language covers. This massive collection of poetry by the acclaimed Russian Yiddish-language novelist, children's writer and poet Leib Kvitko (1890-1952) is comprised of a total of 134 individual poems, organized into three "books" in six parts. The collection was published during what is considered the poet's most productive period while living in Kharkiv with his family, and includes a final controversial cycle of of 7 poems titled "Sharzun" (Exaggerations) in which he sharply criticizes a numbers of fellow Yiddish literary and leftist cultural figures, including Moyshe Litvakov. This controversy (often referred to as the Kvitko Affair) begins the period of cultural campaigns against Kvitko and his work and a falling out between him and more conformist elements in the Soviet Union. This… Read More