Search Results: Titles starting with F from Bookvica

Moscow: Gos. izd-vo, 1929. 234, [4] pp. 22x14 cm. In original constructivist cardboards. Restored, slightly rubbed, otherwise very good and clean. First and only Russian edition of 'Basken, Stiere, Araber - Ein Buch ĂĽber Spanien und Marokko' by one of the leaders of German expressionism, Kasimir Edschmid (1890-1966). Foreword was written by literary historian Ivan Anisimov. One of 4000 copies. Very rare. Outstanding design was produced by Faik Tagirov (1906-1978), a student at VKHUTEMAS at that time. Tagirov was born into a family of Tatar artists; after his father's death, he moved to Ekaterinburg where contributed to an art studio of a local Proletkult branch. Returning to Kazan, he studied in the Kazan Institute of Architecture and Art in 1923-1925. In this period, he designed store signs, interior for clubs, decorated streets for revolutionary holidays, designed books and mastered Tatar type design using Arabic script. Tagirov was familiar with the experience of contemporary constructivist… Read More

Chita: Dal'pechat': Tip. Ob'edin. Soiuza Zabaik. Kooperativa, 1921. 120 pp. 26,5x19 cm. Original front cover. The back cover and spine renewed, edges of pages and front cover restored, few stains on the front cover, otherwise very good and clean internally. First and only edition. Scarce. A collection of essays written by the leader of Far Eastern Futurists, Nikolay Chuzhak (real name Nasimovich; 1876-1937). For many years, Chuzhak was a journalist and editor of the underground press. He threw himself into the revolutionary movement in the late 19th century. In 1904, he joined the Communist Party, edited the party periodicals, and was arrested several times. In 1908, Chuzhak was exiled to the Irkutsk province. At different times, he headed the editorial boards of the newspapers Rabochaia Sibir' [i.e. Working Siberia] (1917), Krasnoye znamya [i.e. A Red Flag] (Vladivostok, 1918-1922), Dal'nevostochnyi put' [i.e. The Far Eastern Way] (Chita), Vlast' truda [i.e. The Power of Labor] (Irkutsk), etc.… Read More

Tashkent: Electr.-steam typo-lithography of Turkestani military district HQ, 1909. [2], IV, 1815, [4] pp. Contemporary half-leather. Small piece of the title page is missing from the top (restored). Otherwise near fine copy. First and the only edition. The first attempt to create the universal dictionary for Turkic people of Russian Empire. Even though Arabic studies were quite developed in Europe, in Russia I.Yagello was among the pioneers of Middle East studies, and his dictionary preceded and inspired great Russian linguist Harlampij K. Baranov (1892 - 1980) to create his absolutely brilliant Arabic - Russian dictionary. I.Yagello developed effective system of root alphabetic order, which is implemented in contemporary comparative dictionaries. Pg. III contains Rules of pronunciation for "harakyat", i.e. common for all Arabic -based alphabets signs for vowels. The author presents detailed explanation of every vowel, comparing it with Russian sounds. This edition is the first academic work… Read More

[4], IV, 134 pp., 2 pl. including 29 ill. 22,5x15 cm. Contemporary quarter-leather. Binding is rubbed. Extremely rare textbook, one of the first examples of the medical book written by a female doctor Lyubov Izmailova from Kutaisi (Georgia). The textbook was created for the female schools. The book has the stamp of the teacher's seminary in Hazi in Western Georgia. That seminary was the third school of such kind in the Caucasus region. Not in the Worldcat.

St. Petersburg: typ. Akademii Nauk, 1891. [2], 78 pp. 22,5x15,5 cm. Without wrappers. Very good, occasional foxing, with later spine and back cover. Very rare. Offprint from Sbornik otdeleniya russkogo yazyka i slovesnosti Akademii nauk (V. 52, #7) [i.e. Digest of the Department of Russian Language of Academy of Sciences]. This is a book of very valuable additions to ''Biographical Index of Russian Female Writers'' by N. Golitsyn (St. Petersburg: typ. V.S. Balasheva, 1889). Nikolai Golytsyn (1836-1893) was a Russian bibliographer. During his life he'd been gathering information on Russian female writers. Even though the index was criticized by his contemporaries this was a very important first work of such kind. Ponomarev's additions consisted of two parts: review of the index and supplement to it. In the first part he tried to answer the question 'in which genres female writers were mostly working' and gathered their names into thematic groups - fiction, bibliography, drama, history, natural… Read More

Moscow: Vsekokhudozhnik, 1933. 87, [1] pp.: ill. 22,5x15,5 cm. In original wrappers. Very good, chipped, some general soiling, pale water stains on covers, clean internally. First and only edition. One of 5000 copies. This is not just another book on fighting 'escapist' formalism by accusing artists of the total ignoring of the reality. In this famous book the author described some of the finest art of the period in very harsh manner, and this art was later banned. With this book he almost destroyed lives of several artists during the most horrible cracking down period of Soviet history. Among reviewed artists in the book were A.G. Tyshler, P.N. Filonov, A.D. Drevin, Labas, I.V. Kliun, Udal'tsova, A.V. Shevchenko, R.N. Barto, D.P. Shterenberg and others. Interesting that being an ardent defender of Socialist realism the author put 24 images introducing formalist artists and their works to his readers. More than that this book became a foundation of creating a liberal history of Soviet art much later.… Read More

Riga: Tipografiia R. Ruetz, n.d. 90x56 cm. Tears of edges, faded strip in lower part, otherwise mint. Rare. In Latvian and Russian. An early 1920s movie poster released by a Riga theater. The movie theater 'Moulin Rouge' was renamed from 'ZiemeÄĽpols' in the 1910s and worked until 1926. Printed in one ink, with some vertical text lines, this poster is reminiscent of constructivist prints. Most likely, it advertised a Western film about railroad adventures on the mentioned route.

[Leningrad]: Kirja, [1929]. 119 pp. 21.13x14.4 cm. In original publisher's wrappers. Tears of the spine, pencil markings on the title-page. Otherwise in a very good condition. First edition. Scarce. One of 4,000 copies. The first textbooks of the Finnish language in Russia emerged in the second half of the 19th century, shortly after Finland was annexed by Tsar Alexander I in 1809. Although by 1897 the Finns constituted a significant part of the minorities in the Russian Empire (mostly Leningrad, Karelia, and Siberia where the Finns emigrated), the dissemination of Finnish was mostly backed by the Lutheran church and often contradicted Imperial policy of nationalization. The situation changed drastically in the early-1920s when the newly-established Soviet state adopted the strategy of indigenization at the XII Congress of the RCP in 1923. The policy, which envisaged overcoming global inequality, resulted in 'Finnish boom': over 60 Finnish village councils and 286 primary and 14 secondary Finnish… Read More

Berlin; Paris: Russkoe iskusstvo, 1921-1926. #1-14. Ca. 32x25 cm. Every issue in illustrated wrappers. Generally very good, some mild soiling, with tiny tears and losses of the spine (#1,2,12,14), foxing and piece of tape on the spine (#13). A complete set. Extremely rare in wrappers. Lavishly illustrated throughout with black and white and color plates with captions. Print run was approximately 300 copies. Zhar-ptitsa is 'perhaps the most famous of post-revolutionary art journals, whose contributors threw new light on the development of Russian art at the beginning of the twentieth century' (Fekula). By the early 1920s, a large Russian emigre colony had formed in Germany, and the hyperinflation that swept over the country turned it into a paradise for publishers who found the conditions under which the output of books was much cheaper than anywhere else in Western Europe. All this caused a 'Russian book boom' on the banks of the Rhine: about 50 Russian publishers worked in Berlin at that time.… Read More

Moscow: tipo-lit. t-va I.N. Kushnerev i K°, 1914. 7 pp., 4 ill. 28x19.5 cm. In original publisher's wrappers. Soiling of the wrappers, loss of the upper left piece of the front wrapper, loss of the pieces of the spine, pencil markings on the wrappers, several pages detached. Otherwise a good internally clean copy. First edition. AN EXTREMELY RARE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY EDITION DEDICATED TO THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST AERODYNAMIC INSTITUTE IN EUROPE. Interest in the study of aerodynamics in the Russian Empire emerged in the 18th century, when the members of the Russian Academy of Science Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) and Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782) developed the basic principle of the lift. In the following centuries, Russian aerodynamics experienced a leap forward, mainly due to the contribution of the Father of Russian Aviation Nikolay Zhukovsky (1833-1895) and the scientist Dimitri Riabouchinsky (1882-1962). In 1904, Riabouchinsky, with the financial aid of Zhukovsky, established the first… Read More

Moscow: Verlag fĂĽr Fremdsprachige Literatur, 1944. [4] pp. 27.7x21.9 cm. In original illustrated publisher's wrappers. Previous owner's ink inscription on the front wrapper. Otherwise near fine. STRIKING FIRST GERMAN-LANGUAGE EDITION OF THE NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM OF THE SOVIET UNION. In 1943, the Soviet regime announced a contest for a new composition to replace the anthem Internationale, which was active as a hymn of the Bolshevik Party, Soviet Russia, and the Soviet Union in 1912-1943. This decision was dictated by the dissolution of the Communist International (1942) and the Soviet shift from internationalism to nationalism. The competition included more than 200 participants, among which Stalin personally chose music by the Soviet composer Alexander Alexandrov (1883-1946). The task of writing lyrics that referenced not only the Great Patriotic War, but also a Country of Soviets was given to Sergei Mikhalkov (1913-2009), the Soviet and Russian author of children's books, and Gabriel El-Registan… Read More

St. Petersburg: tip. N. Grecha, 1835. Vol.1. [4], VIII, 197 pp., [1] front.; Vol.2. [4], 153 pp. 8vo. Lord Byron's portrait on the frontispiece. Two volumes in contemporary quarter-leather bindings, with gilt-lettering on spines. Labels on spines, some rubbings to covers, pre-revolutionary library stamps (Tallinn), foxing. Rare, especially with the portrait. This is the first edition of the work by Thomas Medwin which was noted during a residence with Byron at Pisa in 1821-1822. This is also a first book in Russian about Lord Byron. Thomas Medwin (1788-1869), poet, Percy Shelley's cousin and close friend of Lord Byron. Published in late October 1824, Medwin's Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron was the first of the book-length memoirs to appear following Byron's death in April. The influence of Byron in Russia is difficult to underestimate. Almost all of the notable poets of the first half of XIX century were influenced by him; his books were translated during his lifetime and afterwards.… Read More

St. Petersburg: tip. Kukol'-Yasnopol'skogo, 1867. [2], 474, IV pp., 1 port. 8vo. Contemporary quarter-leather binding with gilt-lettering and decoration on the spine, decorations on boards in blind. Very good. Rubbed, few spots and owner's ink stamp on the title-page.  First edition. The book is translated from German the year after original publication. The first book about Linkoln in Russian came out in time of interesting parallels between America and Russia in 1860s. Avraam Linkoln was more influencial in Russian life than it seemed at first. Although they were very different Russia and USA maintained friendly relations during difficult for America 1860s. Lincoln personally asked Russian chancellor A. Gorchakov for help and Gorchakov sent him these words: "Your country was just born when Russians stand by your bedside. We don't need neither Northern nor Southern states. We'll be satisfied only with United Stated of America". Lincoln always said Russian and America were congenial. In 1863-1864… Read More

Kharkiv: ONTI, 1935. 60 pp. 18x13 cm. 1 of 3000 copies. Original publisher's wrappers. Front wrapper is slightly rubbed. Otherwise a near fine copy, partly uncut. Extremely rare. The first printed book by Nobel laureate Lev Davydovich Landau (1908-1968) best known for his contributions in the field of condensed matter physics. When he was 24 years old he was appointed as a head of the theoretic department of Kharkiv Physico-Technic University where he started to give seminars. This book was published during Landau's years in Kharkiv. It was three years later when Landau was caught by KGB handling anti-Soviet brochures that were labeling Stalin as fascist. Pyotr Kapitsa managed to save young talented physicist from inevitable imprisonment - that was almost impossible in the late 1930s. Despite all that Lev Landau continued his work on the different states of the matter to come to revolutionary results in his research of liquid helium in 1940s. No copies found outside of Russia.

Translated by Pan'ko Kulish. L'vov: Z drukarni Naukovoho Tovarystva imeny Shevchenka, 1905 (1906 on the front cover). Published as part of: Literaturno-naukova biblioteka vydaie ukrayns'ko-rus'ka vydavnycha spilka u L'vovi, series I, pt. 96. Publisher's wrappers. XIV, 178 p. 19.5 x 12.5 cm. Good condition. Loss of a corner of the back cover, loss of the fragment of the spine from the lower side. Traces of numbers in ink and owner's inscription on the title. Foxing of the covers. 1st Ukrainian edition of Byron's classic narrative poem. Translated by Panteleimon "Pan'ko" Kulish (1819 - 1897). With a preface by the prominent scientist and national Ukrainian revival movement leader, Ivan Franko. Franko cites Kulish' diaries to state that the translation was completed already in 1894. By 1894 Kulish was already a prominent Ukrainian author, as popular as Taras Schevchenko. Kulish invented a version of ABC for Ukrainian language, now known as kulishovka. He wrote numerous novels, poetry and short stories… Read More

Tbilisi: Nakdauli, 1969. 373, [2] pp. ill., 8vo. Original cloth in good condition. No dust-jacket was printed. Several illustrations by T.Mirzashvili. The second edition of the first translation into Georgian of this collection of Salinger's stories. First printed in 1963 (earlier than the first Russian book edition) by the same publishing house. This remained the sole translation into Georgian till 2006 when an edition appeared by Gia Chumburidze. However, this first translation is still considered the standard and the book was re-published in 2011. Vakhtang Chelidze (1917-2005) was one of the main translators from English to Georgian after WWII. His first work was a translation of Romeo and Juliet in 1945. Later, he became the head of the important Georgian publishing house, "Sovetskaya Gruzia" ("Soviet Georgia").

Uliss [i.e. Ulysses] // Novinki zapada. Al'manakh [Almanac of Western Literary Trends] no. 1 [all published]. Edited by Yevgeny Lann. Moscow, Leningrad: Zemlya I Fabrika, 1925. 8vo. 251, [3] pp. 21x14,5 cm. In a letterpress design wrapper. The spine and the rear wrapper are supplemented later. Overall, a very good, clean copy. One of 5000 copies produced. First appearance of any part of Ulysses in Russian. The selections from the novel- excerpts from Episodes 1, 7, 12, 17, and 18-appear here on pp. 65-94, translated by V. Zhitomirsky. A complete Russian translation did not appear until 1989, published in book form in 1993. (See Emily Tall, 'The reception of James Joyce in Russia' in The Reception of James Joyce in Europe, vol. I (2004) p. 245. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were two fundamentally different approaches in the Soviet translation school. Zhitomirsky belonged to the direction of "technologically accurate translation", which was opposed to the so-called "creative translation". The… Read More

St. Petersburg: M. Stasyulevich, 1880. [8], 145, 207 pp. 21,5x14 cm. Original publisher's cloth with few bumps on the edges of the spine, but generally a very good copy. Extremely rare. No auction records found. The first separate edition of the poem which social resonance in Russian society is hard to compare to any literary piece at the time. The first part was published in the periodical 'Otechestvennye Zapiski' in 1869, and the different parts and variations appeared in periodicals throughout the 1870s. Nikolay Alexeevich Nekrasov (1821-1878) was a Russian poet who has revolutionized both the metrics of the Russian verse (many of the Silver Age poets have considered himself as their predecessor) and the agenda of the poetry itself - emphasizing the social importance and reflexion towards the fate of Russia. He was highly influential as the editor of the widely read periodicals like 'Sovremennik', and generally regarded by the radical and liberal opposition as its leader. Nekrasov started… Read More

Moscow: Gosizdat, 1940. 504 pp.: ill., 1 front. (ill.). 20x13,5 cm. Illustrations by L. Brodaty. In original publisher's illustrated card boards. Covers slightly rubbed, owner's signature on the front endpaper, owner's ink book stamp on the title page, pp. 17, 41, 504; a small wormhole on the lower side of a few pages. Otherwise a very good clean copy. First Russian edition. First book by Steinbeck in Russian. Although the book was banned shortly in Ireland and few American towns (in schools and libraries) it was for obvious reasons never banned in Soviet Union. It was important for Soviet authorities to monitor what was published in the West. Unfortunately for them it was a hard task to find anything suitable for their purposes - a high standard bright foreign fiction with correct ideology. That is why Grapes of Wrath was a definite bombshell not only in America but even more so in Soviet Union. It made Steinbeck famous in a day. Starting in August of 1939 such newspapers as Pradva, Ogonyok,… Read More

Saint Petersburg: Ory, 1907. 96, [8] pp. 13,5x10 cm. In original two-color printed wrappers with publisher's vignette (doubled on t.p.) designed by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Near fine. Second edition printed the same year. Rare. First Russian novel that openly discussed lesbianism. It was created by female poet and writer Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal (1866-1907) who was close enough to Narodniks, she was full of revolutionary ideas. Together with her second spouse, poet Vyacheslav Ivanov, she hosted symbolist meetings ('On the Tower', called because the meetings were held on the tower) and sponsored their small-run publishing house 'Ory' printing symbolist works. The novel was written in late 1906, but the censorship saw "the signs of a crime" (promotion of depriving behavior) and decided to forbid the book. The print run was arrested for a few months. By this time, the first Russian gay novel had already printed. Kuzmin's 'Wings' (1906) filled up the whole issue of 'Vesy'. The main periodicals of symbolists… Read More