Search Results: Titles starting with V from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

Moscow-Leningrad: Kinopechat', 1927 Vera Stepanova Mailinovskaia (1900-1988) was a silent film actress who achieved renown for many early films culminating in Waterloo. In 1928 she emigrated to the West and retired when the talkies emerged. Four North American institutional holdings.

Prague: Beaufort, 1928 4to, dec. cloth, 95pp + 170 plates. Foreword by Vaclav Nekvasil. A Festschrift of over 60 years of work by this firm, who designed high quality buildings ranging from 19th-century Neoclassicism through Jugendstil-Secessionist to Functionalism. Very scarce, excellent documentation for this era. This copy very good+, light spotting on title.

Quarto 22.5x15 cm., wrappers, 91 pp. 5000 copies. Anatoly Vasilievich Lunacharskii (1875-1933) was an oversize cultural figure in the first decade of the Revolution, although he wielded little political influence. Initially installed as the Commissar of Enlightenment, He was the first Bolshevik Soviet People's Commissar responsible for the ministry of Education, and was an active playwright, critic, essayist and journalist. A very tolerant Bolshevik, he was interested in all forms of music, literature and visual art, and provided a great support to the more experimental artists of the day who were constantly under fire from traditional and reactionary proletarian cultural doctrines. Here are some of his writings on music, which include Western classical, Russian muzikanty, and the impact of the Workers' Revolution on art and culture. OCLC locates three first editions in North American institutions (Harvard, Univ MI, Stanford). A near fine copy.

Tartu: Eesti Kirjanakkidu, 1928 Octavo, wrappers, 84pp., errata sheet attached. Karl Rumor (1886-1971) was an early revolutionary calling for the end of the Tsar, which earned him several years in jail. In addition to his writing he is known for his political activities and elected to Parliament in 1918. “The Wrong Woman” is a drama in three acts. Very fine cover by Jaan Vahtra. One library holding worldwide, none in North America.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1931 Octavo, boards, 253pp. Karl Aben translated this collection of contemporaneous avant-garde Latvian literature, with work by Jaunsudrabins, Akuraters and Pavils Rozits, with a prefatory chapter for each author. This was the first of what would have been a series of translations from new Latvian literature. Cover design by Richard Kivit. These works signal the end of the avant-garde, experimental era of Latvia, when in 1932 much of the content was deemed subversive and suppressed. Worldcat finds no copies of this title worldwide.

Kiev-Kharkiv: Vidania Orgkomitetu Spilki Radians'kikkh Khudozhnikiv Ukraini, 1935 Octavo, wrappers, 102pp., 48 plates. Exhibition catalog of Ukrainian Soviet Realist painting, graphics and sculpture which took place in Karkhiv and Kiyev in 1935. Works by 258 artists including Kasian, Lisenko, Burachek, et al. This was a very large exhibition, with over 765 works displayed and noted in the catalog. Rare, with no library holdings found in worldcat.

Octavo 17,8x 12 cm., wrappers, (26) pp. The All-Russian Union of Poets was organized in Moscow in 1918 and continued to 1929 when it was absorbed into All Russian Union of Writers.
In 1922 it came under the scrutiny of the NKVD who forced it to change the charter of its aims This collection consists of exponents of various schools "due to the extreme dubiousness of the goals and revolutionary objectives pursued by the Union, as well as harmful activities to the ranks of youth." This is the second poetry collection issued by the Union. Poets representing various isms are found here with Mandel'shtam (Sestry), Tsvetaeva (Kon'-Khrom), Pasternak (Mne v sumerki ty vse..), Sel'vinskii and Boguslavskii, among others. Rare, Getty 827,MOMA 394. Printed on heavy van Gelder, This copy very crisp, near fine. With very fine cover by Gustav Klutsis, one of his earliest works.

Oblong octavo 15x21 cm., four numbers per year. Vytvarna Vychova (Art Education, Anthology of Artwork, Design and Visual Training) was a series of books issued from 1935 to 1944 in four numbers per year. Every cover had the same design format. Generally each number holds 56 pages of instructions, lessons, and discussion of art and design principles, with copious illustrations throughout, many in color. Edited by Josef Vydra (1884-1959) artist, ethnologist, art theorist. Vydra was an art educator of first magnitude working in Bratislava and Brno. He teamed with legendary Ladislav Sutnar (1897-1976) who had longtime interests in art education, toys and crafts as learning tools, and Karel Herain (1890-1953), art historian and Curator of the Decorative Arts Museum (Uměleckoprůmyslové Muzeum) in Prague. These four drew on some of the best minds and talents of Czechoslovakia and beyond to produce a series of ideas and praticalities in visual art and design. Contributors included Zdeněk Rossmann,… Read More

Octavo 18x12.5 cm., original wrappers, 219 (5) pp. Constructivist cover design by E. Khiter. Sholem-Aleikhem was the pen name for Solomon Naumovich Rainbovich (1959-1916), Prolific Yiddish author and playwright. This work was translated into Russian by Ia. Slonim and M. Shabadal. No North Ameriican holdings found in worldcat.Near fine.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus Octavo, wrappers, 143pp. Roht (1891-1950) wrote children’s novels, but also ventured into studies of psychological states. “Freedom & Prison” is of the latter ilk. Cover design by Peet Aren. No library holdings found in worldcat.

Prague: Narodni Techinicke Muzeum, 1982 Square quarto 22cm., wrappers, 30pp. Exhibition catalogue celebrating the work of architect Vaclav Zraly (1906-1991) Bauhaus-trained modernist who studied under Kandinsky and Mies. He worked in Czechoslovakia as an architect and graphic designer, working in the functionalist mode, working in his hometown, Pnetluky. Very little literature or documentation released on Zraly, who made an important contribution to the design world of the interwar years. One library holding found in North America.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1934 Small quarto, 1-2 cloth, 345pp. Cover design by Ernst Kollom. Jakobson (1904-1963) was a novelist and playwright who held high positions under the Soviets; indeed, he was the only playwright whose works were not banned during their era and his work was translated and published throughout the USSR. This work (The Conquerors) is part of a series of novels centering around a family saga. Worldcat finds no copies for this or subsequent editions. This copy has small rear corner chip.

Octavo 21x13 cm., 1/2-calf, 123 (1) pp., with seven woodcuts by Josef Vachal. The first and only edition of this work with Vachal woodcuts. Josef Vachal (1884-1969) was a visionary artist and writer, a spiritualist whose works make him a parallel William Blake in Czech. His spooky ecotplasmic depictions fit well with the Dickens tale. OCLC locates three North American holdings (DePaul, Harvard, Indiana). A near fine copy.

Prague: Druzstveni Prace,, 1935 Octavo, decorated cloth, 232pp. DJ & cover design by Antonin Pelc, typography by Sutnar. DJ chipped on edges and spine ends, else a very fine copy of a classic Sutnar production.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1932 Octavo, wrappers, 77pp. Raudsepp wrote plays with grotesque caricatures of human folly and weakness common to all of humanity which achieved great popularity. Vedelvorst (“Idler”) is one of Raudsepp’s plays set in village life. Cover design by Edouard Ole. One North American library holding found by worldcat.

Prague-Smichov: Veraikon, 1921-1934. 107 numbers, from No. 1921 no. 1 to 1934 No. 5. Quartos and octavos, all in original wrappers, 12 complete years of issue from 1921 to 1933, and 5 numbers from 1934. . Editions were released in limited quantity, certainly under 500. This collection includes scores of original lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, and hundreds of reproductions documenting the contemporary art movements of Czechoslovakia, France, Russia and Yugoslavia, with the emphasis of course on the art of Czechoslovakia, and featuring work of well-known and lesser-known artists of the day. This includes important essays on contemporary art topics by Emil Pacovsky, Jiri Kroha, Jaroslav Jira, Vaclav Vancura, inter alia --- almost all by working artists themselves. Several numbers are devoted to new Czech architecture, and a good number focusing entirely on the work of women artists, rather uncommon in the era. Included are original woodcuts, linocuts and engravings by Josef Sima (3), Jan Rambousek,… Read More

Moscow-Leningrad: Kinopechat', 1928 Octavo 15x11 cm., wrappers, 16pp. Iakov Guminer, cover photomontage. Werner Krauss (1884-1959) was a German actor of stage and film, and was regarded as the greatest actor of his time. OCLC finds this in three North American libraries.

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.

Kaunas: Audra, 1923 Small octavo, wrappers, 47pp. Pranas Vytautas Budvytis (1900-1975) was a journalist and poet. From early on a committed leftist satirical writer but independent, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment by Soviet authorities in 1951. Uncommon, with two library holdings in North America, one a microfiche.

Vyskove na Morave: Edice Obzinovych Tisku, 1925 Octavo 19.8x13 cm., wrappers, 144(2)pp. No. 780 of 1000 copies. Abstract cover design by Petr Pistelka (1887-1963), Moravian painter. Eight stories written from 1920-1924 by Nohejl (1896-1974), novelist, screenplaywright, essayist. Nohejl worked in Pilsen and Brno, where he edited the journal Host. He is noted for his stories of romance. OCLC locates one North American institutional holding (Indiana).