Search Results: Authors starting with L from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo, 1930 Small quarto, wrappers, 188pp. First issue (all published). Splendid constructivist covers on this first and only issue of an ambitious review featuring foreign literature, with Lunacharsky and Bela Illes as the editors-in-chief. Includes “Clash” by Ellen Wilkenson, Lunacharsky on proletarian art, Fatima Riza-Zade on Satire and melodrama in Paris, Vladimir Klementic on contemporary Slovak literature, poetry of Antal Hidas, and more. Bright, fresh cover, and a tight copy. Rare.

Quarto 22x17.5 cm., wrappers, 32pp. Cover design by A. Shcherbakov, page design and montages by P. Suvorov. 10,000 copies. A young reader’s book on exploration of the far northern USSR from the constructivist era, with strong title page design and multiple typefaces on every page. OCLC finds 6 copies of the three editions in North American institutions. A near fine copy.

Large octavo 22x15 cm., original stiff wrappers, 172, ii, (37), xxx leaves of plates. No. 445 or 3500 copies. Possibly the first 500 copies were dedicated. The Soviet State publishing giant Gosizdat was formed in 1919 under Antonin Lunacharskii. It subsumed all private publishing at that time and brought it under state control. It lasted until 1930 when it was absorbed into OGIZ (Unified State Publishing House). It went under the directorship of Vatslav Vorovskii from 1919-21 and Otto Shmidt from 1921-24. Therefore virtually any important work that appeared during this time was under the Gosizdat imprint. This is a five-year commemorative volume, showcasing the most noteworthy productions in that time. This was a fairly open period of Russian publishing, with many later banished figures and luminaries (Trotsky and L. Kamenev), poets, playwrights, novelists (Tsvetaeva, Furmanov, Esenin, Lunacharsky) inter alia, and bibliophile productions. Gosizdat employed great designers (Rodchenko, Klutsis,… Read More

Quarto 29x22.5 cm., wrappers, 8pp. Lev Evgenievich Ostroumov (1892-1955) was a poet, translator, and children's book author. Ostroumov was initially a professor of Philology at Moscow University. He left for the life of a poet and authored 15 children's books in the 1920s. The work is illustrated by Pavel Georgievich Pastukhov (1889-1960), Russian and Soviet graphic artist and children's book illustrator. OCLC locates one holding in North America (Univ PA).

Prague: Odeon, 1927 Octavo 18.5x12.7 cm., wrappers, 66pp. No. 153 of 520 numbered copies. A bibliophile production of the author’s 1887 essay on filial piety, translated by O. Reindl. Cover, with a nice frontispiece and title page design by Otakar Mrkvicka. Very good+ with light fading on spine. OCLC locates holdings at Getty, Yale, UMI, BNF

Riga: Vainags, 1920 Octavo, wrappers, 127pp., undated but 1920. Linards Laicens (1883-1938) was one of the leading intellectual forces of the Latvian avant-garde. A leftist, frankly often a propagandist, he was a poet, novelist and essayist who had a strong sense of visual design. He edited a number of journals journals of major importance (Kreisa fronte, Tribine) and contributed to many more. Due to political ostracism he emigrated to the USSR in 1935 and was executed in 1938 during the Great Purge which singled out Latvian emigres. This work is the first collection of his poems in the new republic of Latvia. Laicens enlisted Niklavs Strunke for book design, cover and five linocuts, all in Strunke’s most visually experimental style incorporating futurist and cubist elements. Niklavs Strunke (1894-1966) was one of the leading artists of the Riga avant-garde artists group; a gifted graphic designer, he worked in both conventional and cutting-edge genres. Rare: only one copy found in North American… Read More

Budapest: A Kepzomuveszeti Uj Tarsasag, 1926 Folio 31x23.5 cm, wrappers, 20, 16, 16 pp. KUT was the acronym of the group New Society of Artists (Képzömüvészeti Új Társaság) in 1924 promoting art associated with French modernism initially, with artists Rippl-Rónai, Vaszary, Csók and Márffy staging exhibitions in large museum venues. By the time the group produced this journal for two years with eleven numbers (two double numbers) younger artists (Moholy-Nagy, Kmetty, Bernáth, Medgyessy, Égri, et al) with more progressive tendencies took the spotlight or contributed directly. Ernö Kállai sets the tone in the first number, providing an international scope to the publishing vision. It also featured first publications of literary work by Aladár Komlós (of the Ma group) and Lörinc Szabó, whose first important work appears, among others. Unlike other front-line art journals, KUT did not… Read More

Folio 30 x 24 cm, wrappers 12 numbers in 6 issues, year 1, and 4 numbers in 2 issues, year 2, 1947-48 (all published). Original wrappers bound in cloth. Lajos Kassák made an ambitious effort to present a world-class art journal from Budapest under the banner of the Hungarian Council of the Arts, launching it in January 1947. Championing the postwar avant-garde visual art emerging both in Hungary and Western Europe, it had an internationalist approach and attempted to avoid political polarization in contrast to his prewar efforts with MA, DOKUMENTUM, and MUNKA. With his fellow literary associates (Tibor Déry, Sándor Weöres, Ernö Kállai, etc) the intent was to renew communications with the art capitals of Western Europe and the USA and generate open currents of exchange, still under the banner of a socialist humanism but looking westward. Like Ma and Dokumentum, the journal looked at the international art scene as well as the developments in Hungary. The new art presented in these pages,… Read More

Budapest: Alkotás, 1947 Folio 30 x 24 cm, wrappers 12 numbers in 6 issues, year 1, and 4 numbers in 2 issues, year 2, 1947-48 (all published). Original wrappers bound in cloth. Lajos Kassák made an ambitious effort to present a world-class art journal from Budapest under the banner of the Hungarian Council of the Arts, launching it in January 1947. Championing the postwar avant-garde visual art emerging both in Hungary and Western Europe, it had an internationalist approach and attempted to avoid political polarization in contrast to his prewar efforts with MA, DOKUMENTUM, and MUNKA. With his fellow literary associates (Tibor Déry, Sándor Weöres, Ernö Kállai, etc) the intent was to renew communications with the art capitals of Western Europe and the USA and generate open currents of exchange, still under the banner of a socialist humanism but looking westward. Like Ma and Dokumentum, the journal looked at the international art scene as well as the… Read More

Quarto 29.5x22.5 cm., original wrappers, (10) pp. Fifth printing. Illustrated with color lithographs by Vladimir Lebedev (1891-1967). Both Lebedev and Konashevich illustrated this work by Marshak; both are noteworthy in their own right. Both Lebedev and Samuil Marshak (1887-1964) collaborated in several works to reform the notion of children's books for the new Soviet readership who would rise to lead the Marxist-Leninist vision in the future. It was a very productive relationship, giving birth to many fine books. The present work was a resounding success. A highly collectible, fine copy.

Octavo 17x12 cm., decorated cloth, 280pp. Leblanc (1864-1941) was the renowned author of several detective stories featuring Arsene Lupin, a gentleman-detective providing a French counterpart to the central figure of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. The present work is a rather uncommon one, known in English as Wanton Venus. This was likely the first appearance in Czech language translated by Jan Belohlavek. It has the original dust wrapper with a photo of Frantisek Drtikol, whose work appeared in the Knihovna Horizont series. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper. OCLC locates one holding in North America (Metropolitan Mus).

Quarto 23.5x17 cm.,[9]. 30000 copies. Illustrated white and orange wrappers with black lettering on the front and back covers. Many children's books from Kul'tura used the covers for the title page and publishing data. The publication is an illustrated children's book about falcons and cormorants. The lithographic illustrations throughout from Evgenii Rachev are beautifully printed in earthy tones of oranges, browns and greys, and show the influence of Asian woodblock prints. Evgenii Mikhailovich Rachev (1906-1997) was a graphic artist acclaimed as a book illustrator. He got his start in this book, and worked with Constructivist artists under the Kul'tura banner of children's literature. Text in Russian. Light rubbing to rear cover. There is a small hole through the front cover and running throughout most of the pages. Slight lamination on the interior back cover. Wrappers and interior in overall very good condition. Very scarce, OCLC locates only two copies held worldwide, both in France.

Prague: Edice Olymp, 1927 Quarto 23.7x16.5 cm., wrappers, 61(3)pp. 458 of 550 numbered copies, in No. 9 of the Olymp series. Construcivist ocver by the architect Hlavacek. Frontis photo with tissue guard. Robert Lev Novák (1894-1916) was an early modernist poet whose work appears in Czech anthologies; this is the only known work devoted exclusively to his output With a foreword by Dr. Viktor Novák. OCLC finds only one library holding in North America (CU Boulder). An uncut, very clean copy.

New York: American Studio Books, nd(1946)., 1946 Quarto decorated cloth, xvi, 80pp. Top & bottom spine edge wear. A retrospective view of this surrealist artist known for his work in theater and ballet.

Octavo 16x13 cm., wrappers, (14) pp. Lina-Sofia Samuilovna Neumann (1883-1971) was a children's book author and Russian literary scholar. She was already an established pedagogue before writing her first children's book in 1927, along with expanding literary studies and writings. She went silent after 1937 until 1960, and was only accepted into the Writer's Guild at the age of 78. OCLC locates holdings at Getty, NYPL. Very good+ with sunned spine

Quarto 23.3x15.2 cm., wrappers, 1928-1930, 18 numbers (all published). Cover designs by Ernests Kalis. A bimonthly journal, considered to be one of Laicens' most important publications and the most significant journal of the era along with SIGNALS but esteemed to be of higher literary quality and thought. Striking abstract linocut covers, highly original, in bright colors unique for each issue. As with almost all of the liberal to left wing culture in Latvia, there is a strongly Soviet orientation, and the journal was most likely financed, at the outset, with funds from the USSR. Every issue is illustrated, including some photomontage and graphics. In addition to being a vehicle of contrarian social commentary and promoting open discourse, KREISA FRONTE also was a publishing house which issued poetry and literary books. he editor Linards Laicens (1883-1938) was highly individual, prolific writer in all literary forms, editor and publisher, going against all the conventional currents of the day,… Read More

Rome-New York-London: Harold J. Loeb, 1922 Quarto, wrappers, 224pp. Two issues of Broom, hardbound with original wrappers of Vol 1 No 4 preserved. In the latter, there is a representation of the Czech avant-garde including Jan Zrzavy and Josef Capek, costume designs by Aleksandr Vesnin, work by Carlo Carra, and essays by Louis Lozowick, Gordon Craig et al; in the first issue essays by Romain Rolland, work in progress by Gertrude Stein (first appearance), John Dos Passos, William Carlos Williams, and Louis Untermayer among others. Many of the essays and poems appearing for the first time graces the pages of these issues.

Bucharest: Negatia Negatiei., 1945 Small quarto 21.5x16.8 cm, wrappers, 112pp. "A Wolf Seen Through a Magnifying Glass" was written in 1942 and one the first of Luca's works to appear in 1945, when he formed a new surrealist group in Bucharest. A collection of poems in prose and with three vaporizations by the artist Dolfi Trost (1916-1966), this work was not published in French until 1968. Gherasim Luca (1913-1994) was the most important surrealist figure to emerge from postwar Romania. He wrote most of his work in Romanian although it was published in French. The earliest works are an exception. Worldcat finds only one copy in North American institutions. This copy has light soiling on front cover, spine wear.

Greenwich, NYGS, 1968. 8vo, wrs, 246pp. Inscribed.

The only full publication of this legendary journal of the Slovak avant-gardeLarge quarto 34.3 x 25 cm, cloth, 1496pp. The reprint* of the legendary, most radical journal of the Slovakian avant-garde which appeared from 1924-26 and 1931-37 (here all published). It began as an artistic venture by the Davisti group of artists, writers and intellectuals spearheading the latest Slovak arts and literature. Always leftist in persuasion with Vlado Clementis as publisher, it went to a more political direction after three years and leaned to Soviet policy. Clementis himself was in and out of favor with Moscow. He objected to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, exiled in Paris and London during the war. Returning afterward he became Czechoslovak Foreign Minister in 1948 and in 1952 was arrested with Slanský, from that he was convicted and hanged. He was rehabilitated in 1963, which enabled this production to go forward by the Slovak Academy of Sciences with his name now acceptable..
During its first period it… Read More