[A REAL-LIFE DOCTOR DOLITTLE IN RUSSIAN] Ogonek: Istoriya odnogo lisenka [i.e. The Sprite: The Story of a Red Fox]

Moscow: Posrednik, 1931. 55 pp., 1 ad.: ill. 21x14.9 cm. In original illustrated publisher's wrappers by Nikolay Troshin. Soiling of the wrappers, small stains on the front wrapper and the title page, spine with tears, previous owner's ink inscription of the verso of the front wrapper. Otherwise in good condition.

Scarce. 1 of 6,000 copies. Second edition. First Russian edition published in 1929. First printed In original English language in 1924.
Wrapper design by the Soviet painter, graphic artist, and book designer Nikolay Troshin (1897-1990). Nikolay received his initial art education at Selivertson Penza Art School and subsequently continued his studies at VKHUTEMAS, in the workshop of I. Mashkov (1918-1920). In the 1920s and 1930s, Troshin made posters for the Transreklama enterprise and the publishing house of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. From 1930 until the beginning of the Patriotic War, Troshin designed more than 40 issues of the magazine SSSR na stroyke [i.e. USSR in Construction]. The publication was awarded the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937. During WWII, Nikolay became recognized as the author of numerous agitational posters. His brutal style of propaganda photo montages contrasts sharply with the design of this short story for kids.
The second Russian translation of anything by Ernest Baynes (1868-1925), a noted American naturalist and writer often referred to as a real-life doctor Dolittle.
A close friend to the animal world, Ernest Baynes dedicated his life to hand-rearing and protecting the cause of wild animals. The founder of the American Bison Society, Baynes received his early education in England and moved with his parents to New York in 1879. He graduated as valedictorian of his high school and attended the College of the City of New York. In 1904, Baynes was appointed conservator of the Corbin Park buffalo reserve in New Hampshire. At the time, the bison population of America had been reduced from a natural level of 60 million to just 1,000 as a result of human activity. In an effort to promote the usefulness of the breed as draught animals, Baynes famously drove around the park in a carriage pulled by a pair of tamed bison. After 15 years of work and campaigning by Baynes, the national bison herd had increased to 20,000. In 1913, Baynes, who was also a vigorous campaigner against wild birds being killed for their plumage, established one of the earliest bird sanctuaries at his home in New Hampshire. The occasion was marked by a play being performed there in 1914, written by poet Percy MacKaye and called Sanctuary: A Bird Masque (attended by Woodrow Wilson). In the last years of his life, Baynes received widespread criticism for supporting vivisection and denouncing the claims of anti-vivisectionists.
Ernest Baynes is the author of a number of publications about animals that dealt with the events of the author's life: Animal Heroes, Wild Bird Guests, Jimmie, The Sprite, etc.
The first Russian translation of anything by Baynes appeared in 1928. Jimmie: the Story of a Black Bear Cub was translated into Russian by O. Gorbunova-Posadova five years after the original publication in English. In the next few years, the Soviet society got the chance to become acquainted with other works of the author, among which The Sprite turned out to be the most widely beloved.
This second edition of The Sprite came out in 1931 and was translated by O. Gorbunova-Posadova, who was the main Russian translator of Baynes. The 'biography' of a tame red fox raised by Ernest in the early 1900s narrates the adventures of a mischievous fox, its acquaintance with the author, and the sad partening of the two friends. The edition includes 14 black and white photographs of Sprite, including 1 photograph of Baynes with the fox.
Wrapper design by the Soviet painter, graphic artist, and book designer Nikolay Troshin (1897-1990). Nikolay received his initial art education at Selivertson Penza Art School and subsequently continued his studies at VKHUTEMAS, in the workshop of I. Mashkov (1918-1920). In the 1920s and 1930s, Troshin made posters for the Transreklama enterprise and the publishing house of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. From 1930 until the beginning of the Patriotic War, Troshin designed more than 40 issues of the magazine SSSR na stroyke [i.e. USSR in Construction]. The publication was awarded the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937. During WWII, Nikolay became recognized as the author of numerous agitational posters. In the 1940s, Troshin received a patent for the invention of a method for the chemical coloring of photographs.

No copies found in Worldcat.