Pogremushki. Stikhi (Rattles. Poems)

Berlin: Ladyzhnikov, I., 1922. Hardcover. First edition; oblong 8 3/4 x 11 1/2; pp. [25]; cloth-backed, illustrated paper over boards; paper along edges rubbed; some foxing and age-toning mostly contained to title page and margins of pages; illustrated with full-page chromolithographed plates and in-line silhouettes; overall in very good condition.A scarce Russian emigre children's poetry publication, it would most probably be author, poet, and playwright Vladimir Korvin-Piotrovskii's (1891 - 1966) very first book. Before emigrating, he served in the White Army and was captured by the Bolsheviks and shot, but he survived and escaped to Germany through Poland in 1920. In Berlin, he met Vladimir Sirin (Nabokov) and Iurii Ofrosimov and became heavily involved in the Russian literary community. He was an active member of the Berlin Poets' Club - a society of Russian emigre poets - together with Vera and Vladimir Nabokov, Raisa Blokh, Mikhail Gorlin, Sofiia Pregel, etc. While in Germany, Piotrovskii contributed to and edited various emigre journals, published several other children's books and poetry compilations, and also co-authored - under the pseudonym Rene Kadu - the mock-fantasy novel "Atlantis under Water." In 1939, Vladimir and his wife moved to France, where he was active in the French Resistance movement. The last five years of his life, from 1961 to 1966, Vladimir and Nina Piotrovskii lived in Los Angeles.OCLC lists one copy at Amherst College, none other in the trade (as of March 2015).