Search Results: Titles starting with W from Bookvica

Moscow; Petrograd: Gos. izd-vo, 1923. 6-ye izd. M.; Petrograd.: Gos. izd-vo, 1923. 165, [3] pp., 1 portrait. 23.6x15.6 cm. In original illustrated publisher's wrappers. First few pages detached, loss of the pieces of the spine, tears of the wrappers, neat restoration of the front wrapper (tape). Good. Scarce. Sixth edition with Whitman's portrait. First edition published in 1907. Avant-garde wrapper design by Evgenii Belukha (1889-1943), an artist and designer who greatly contributed to the 1920-1930s Soviet book illustration. Sixth edition of Korney Chukovsky's classic Russian translation of excerpts from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Much of Walt Whitman's enormous popularity in 20th century Russia stemmed from the literary activity of the two noted Russian writers, Konstantin Balmont (1867-1943) and Korney Chukovsky (1882- 1969). The former published the first Russian translation of excerpts from Whitman's Leaves of Grass under the title Pobegi travy [i.e. Shoots of Grass] in 1905. The… Read More

Moscow: Vsesoiuznoe kooperativnoe ob'edinennoe izdatel'stvo, 1944. 64 pp.: ill., 3 ills. 21,5x14,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Spine repaired, tiny tears along it, corners of covers and some pages repaired, foxing, otherwise very good. First and only edition. One of 5000 copies. This manual on various-material Christmas tree decorations was published for producers who created decorations in the mass scale. It is based on experiments held at laboratories of the All-Union Research and Experimental Toy Institute of the People's Commissariat for Education. The book is divided into three sections which compilers wrote separately: decorations of glass (by Lapkovskii), of cotton wool (by Oveshnikova) and of cardboard and paper (by Danilevskii). First of all, any materials require certain work conditions. The author starts with how to organize and equip a glass blowing studio and an auxiliary premises. This text is supplemented with small drawings of the equipment needed. Then, he elaborates on… Read More

Moscow: Detgiz, 1942. 16 pp.: ill. 16,5x13 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Some foxing, wormhole in lower outer corner throughout the copy, otherwise very good. Russian wartime edition of "La Dernière Classe" by Alphonse Daudet. Being the best known story from the collection 'Contes du lundi', the work premiered much earlier. The first Russian translation of "La Dernière Classe" appeared in 1877. Daudet wrote about the Franco-Prussian War in the late 19th century in which Alsace-Lorraine were annexed by the Germans. Orders of the new authorities claimed that no language but German could be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Several decades later the story was relevant for Russian readers. In 1942, an essential part of Western territories of the USSR was occupied by the Nazis. Four illustrations for this edition were created by theater designer and graphic artist Grigory Miller (1898-1963). In his youth Miller belonged to the "pure" constructivists. Since 1920, Miller had studied… Read More

Moscow: Der Emes, 1944. 64 pp.: ill. 20x12 cm. Original publisher's cardboard binding with the portrait of the author on the front cover. Covers rubbed, with small tears. Otherwise very good. The wartime edition of Sholem Aleichem's (1859-1916) classical short stories. According to Russian National Library, 'Der Emes' has produced more than 100 editions in 1941-1945 in both Yiddish and Russian and their typography has stayed in Moscow as well. This one came out in March of 1944. Sholem Aleichem has remained the most popular author to print by this publishing house.

Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1941. Brochure in original illustrated wrappers mounted on illustrated cardboard of 28,5x15,5 cm. Creases and soiling of cardboard, with two pin holes in it, some stains and marks in calendar brochure. Ink inscription on rear side of front cover: "To mother and child from a dad's New Year's celebration. Moscow. January 12, 1942". Unique survival of the time: a calendar was published in the first year of the Great Patriotic War, during the Battle of Moscow. These military actions lasted from September 1941 to April 1942. The calendar was signed for printing on December 2, 1941. The cardboard, as the base of the whole product, was supposed to be hung on a wall. In its upper part, a colored lithographic picture of the Battle of Kulikovo (1380) was placed as a historical example of Russian victories. In its lower part, the calendar brochure was glued. These two parts were printed separately and they credited different printruns: 300,000 copies of the calendar and 75,000 copies of the… Read More

Sverdlovsk, 1942. 28, 31-80 pp. 17x13 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Complete edition with printer's error of page numbering, oversized cut of p. 33-40, some black typographic stains. In a very good condition, a couple of tears around staple. Extremely rare edition printed in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) during the German occupation of the European part of Russia. The edition was prepared by the evacuated OGIZ (the State Publishers) and the local branch of Moscow-based typography '1ya obraztsovaya tipografiya'. The children's novel 'Timur and His Squad' was released a year before the USSR joined the war actions. The story was written by Arkady Gaidar (1904-1941) in 1940, and it quickly gained popularity. The war and the following years of reconstruction influenced a lot the unprecedented spreading of the Timurite movement. The printing of this book was finished on the 21st of May, 1942. It lacks illustrations - the front cover features the only monochrome picture of characters, the book has… Read More

Lviv: Nakladom Natsional'nogo Muzeiu: Z drukarni "Dila", 1935. 24 pp. 20,5x14 cm. In original printed wrappers. Small stains on front cover, covers slightly chipped, otherwise very good and clean internally. No title page, as published. 29 members of the Exhibition Committee are credited on verso of front cover. Most of them were artists displaying their works. The edition is a source of the first thirty years of the National Museum located in Lviv (now Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum of Lviv). The museum was founded by Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky in 1905. In 1930, its funds consisted of 80 thousand items. By the publication, the collection had already survived a couple of wars yet preserved a significant amount of national art. This exhibition displayed contemporary West Ukrainian art. The edition includes an exhibition catalog, two articles on West Ukrainian art and music from the 1900s to the early 1930s, as well as a program to the concert "Ukrainian Song During 30 Years". The… Read More

Lviv: Z drukarni A. Hol'dmana, 1917. 66 pp.: ill. + 14 pp. of ads. 12x8,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Spine slightly restored, some foxing on covers, otherwise mint. Very rare. This pocket edition was published by the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion during the First World War. The legion was a unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army. "Samokhotnyk" was the name given to a soldiervolunteer. Under this title, a satirical magazine was published in 1915-1918. It was created by hand and then a few hundred copies were made by a hectograph for each issue. Publications were of wide diversity: jokes, anecdotes on military and general-Ukrainian topics, household advice, poetry, etc. This particular calendar contains selected texts and illustrations, previously printed in the magazine. Among them are 12 full-page illustrations. Drawings for front cover and page designs were created by artist Osip Kurilas (1870-1951). From 1886 to 1890, Kurilas studied at the Lviv Art and Industrial School. Due to the… Read More

Leningrad: Raduga, 1927. 12 pp.: ill. 15x11,2 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Tear of spine, some soiling and foxing, otherwise very good. First and only edition. Very rare little-format Raduga book. An early Soviet poetry book for younger children. It doesn't determine which of two sisters-artists, Elsa or Antonina Westfalen worked on this edition. Both contributed to the Russian book design occasionally and lived in Saint Petersburg/Leningrad. Elsa Westfalen (1876-1942) studied at the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron Stieglitz with G. Kotov and V. Savinsky. She is known for designs of carpets, book bindings and illustrations, and watercolor landscapes. In 1932, Elsa was employed as an art historian in the Hermitage. Antonina Westfalen (1881-1942) studied at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts under I. Bilibin, N. Roerich, A. Rylov. As her masters, she collaborated with Evreinov's Ancient Theater, designed books and bookplates. Together, Elsa and… Read More

Lviv, 1933. 122-144 pp: ill. 24x17 cm. Original modernist front wrapper preserved. Good, no back cover, front cover detached, tears of few leaves along spine, some foxing. Very rare. One of rare and good examples of cover designs produced by Ukrainian artist Pavlo Kovzhun (1896-1939). He arranged the title in Ukrainian, French, English and German along the edges of the front cover and placed an illustration at the center. Kovzhun stood at the forefront of interwar West Ukrainian art contributing to book design and being a founding member of the Association of Independent Ukrainian Artists. This monthly magazine promoted mass beekeeping among Ukrainians in Poland and published a diversity of practical recommendations for beekeepers and farmers. The periodical was organized in 1914, was soon closed and reopened in 1928. It was released by 'Sel's'kii gospodar' [The Rural Governor] preserving national isolation and economic development. One of the pioneers of apiculture, Petro Prokopovych (1775-1850)… Read More

Moscow: Aktsyen gezelshaft 'Shul un bukh', 1927. 40 pp.: ill., [8] ads. 19x13,5 cm. In original covers. Restored, glue traces on the inner margin of first and last pages, otherwise very good. First and only edition. Scarce. One of 15000 copies. Constructivist cover is printed in Yiddish and Russian, the catalogue itself is in Yiddish. The catalogue could be regarded as the reference material for the constructivist book design of Moscow-published yiddish books. The catalogue contains nine sections from books on politics and art to the educational literature and children's books. The catalogue shows 38 covers of published books confirming the constructivist design of 1920s Jewish editions. This is the fifth book trade catalogue of 'Shul un bukh' which significantly contributed to the Soviet Jewish publishing in 1923-1928. In the 1920s there was an attempt to create the culture and life of a new Jewish society. The press, book publishing, schools and socialist propaganda organizations in Yiddish… Read More

Leningrad: [Izd. Nauchno-Issledovatel'skogo instituta kormov], 1942. 8 pp. 13x9,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. Near fine. First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies. An extremely rare survival of time and curious brochure on the role of Vitamin A and ways to get it in the wartime conditions. According to the book, contemporary experiments with this vitamin at Moscow University successfully showed its influence on visual acuity and light adaptation. For that time, it was incredibly important for pilots, snipers, et al. This edition was published in the besieged Leningrad. It wasn't about how to stay safe and alive, but compilers took care of the population from the very essence of their nutrition. Without access to closed stocks of food, people were forced to obtain nutrients from various wild herbs. The approach was invented by an Experimental Laboratory of Vitamin Concentrates. They created a recipe for carotene extraction supplementing it with a calculation of how to prepare the… Read More

Moscow: Scorpion, 1911. [4], 216, [10] pp. 8vo. A fine copy. The contemporary owner's cloth binding with lettering piece glued to the spine. Original printed front wrapper preserved. A bookseller's mark on the free endpaper. The most complete pre-revolutionary edition of Walt Whitman's work in Russian. The earliest Russian translations of Whitman were made by Ivan Turgenev in the 1860s, though they remained unpublished. Leo Tolstoy found (as he put it) "something good" in 'Leaves of Grass'. He was very fond of Whitman in the 1890s and recommended his work for translation and publication. Between 1906 and 1913 there was a rising interest in Whitman's poetry in Russia. The democratic and free spirit of his work resonated with the prevailing social spirit in Russia. Translations of separate poems were published in periodicals long before that, but small collections of poems were printed in 1905 and 1907. Translation methodology was a very difficult subject and not only in Russia. Kornei Chukovsky and… Read More

Moscow: 1-ia Obraztsovaia tip., [1929]. 45,5x36,5 cm. Backed with pieces of paper and cloth. Worn, edges of segments chipped, otherwise good. Scale 1:8 500 000. Early Soviet folding map of the European part of RSFSR, Transcaucasian republic, part of Turkmen Republic and part of Kazakh Republic. Boundaries of administrative divisions were based on NKVD data on August 1, 1929. Instead of the Moscow governorate (until January 1929) and the Central industrial region (January-June 1929), the Moscow region was created. Next to it, the map displays the Ivanovo industrial region that was formed on January 14, 1929. Its center still was named Ivanovo-Voznesensk until 1932. The Nizhegorodsky region was formed in Povolzhye in July 1929 - some years later it was renamed after Maxim Gorky. Apart from them, divisions include the Central Volga Oblast in Povolzhye, the Central Black Soil Oblast to the South from Moscow. Also, the map witnessed a decade-long period when the Kola Peninsula was a kind of semi-exclave… Read More

Moscow: Izd-vo MOPR SSSR, 1929. 30, [2] pp. 17x13 cm. In original constructivist wrappers designed by V. Dobrovol'sky. Fine, uncut. Soviet bookshop's stamp and small pen mark on the rear wrapper. Titled ''A Woman Walks'' this book with a fierce woman on the cover includes two short stories about women in proletarian movement by German communist writers, Kurt Klaber and Hans Lorbeer. The book was published by International Red Aid (MOPR) - an international social service organization established by the Communist International. The organization was founded in 1922 to function as an ''international political Red Cross'', providing material and moral aid to radical ''class war'' political prisoners around the world. Needless to say that the printed here stories have pronounced revolutionary tone. No copies found in Worldcat.

St. Petersburg: F. Pavlenkov, 1896. 4, 158, 2 pp. 19,5х13,5 cm. In contemporary half-leather binding with marbled paper boards and gilt-lettering on the spine (the title and owner's initials). Soviet bookshop's stamp on the free back endpaper, slightly rubbed, pencil scribbles on two pages. Otherwise a very good clean copy. First separate edition. Scarce. This is a thorough woman study made by Boris Filippovich Brandt (1860-1907), Russian Jewish economist and writer. In this book he focused on such aspects as marriage, woman's labour and payment, reasons of unequal payment, moral status, women's movement in different countries (Europe); historical development of an American woman and her contemporary characteristics, marriage in America, industrial labour, women's success in high education, American women in liberal professions. Author stated in foreword that between two continents lies a big difference concerning women: Europe concedes to America on matters of legal status, economical well-being,… Read More

Moscow: Kinopechat', 1927. 8 pp.: ill. 17x26 cm. In original photomontage wrappers. Mint, minor tear and crease of upper corner of front cover. A libretto brochure for the silent Uzbek film "The Second Wife" (1927) propagating liberation of Central Asian women. In this picture, Jewish actress Rachel Messerer (1902-1993) starred. It was one of some works Messerer managed to join. In the early 1930s, she turned to family and household. In the late 1930s, she was arrested soon after her spouse, diplomat Mikhail Plisetski. Released from a concentration camp in 1941, she had no chance to join cinematography again and took care of her daughter, ballet dancer Maya Plisetskaya. For this production, Messerer collaborated with screenwriter Lola-Khan Saifullina, director Mikhail Doronin and cameraman Vladimir Dobrzhanskii. Mikhail Doronin (1885-1935) wasn't considered an outstanding director with experimental works. However, he was appreciated by contemporaries for his input into Russian and Soviet theater… Read More

Leningrad: Izd. Otdela Okhrany Materinstva i Mladenchestva N.K.Z., [1925]. 53x69,5 cm. Very good, tears of edges. The poster was released by the Department of the Maternal and Child Health Protection (MCHP). It was founded in 1918, as a part of the People's Commissariat for Health. The Department of the MCHP took up the creation of women's and children's consultants, as well as mass educational institutions, especially in villages where summertime nurseries and children's areas were needed. The organization worked on the prevention of women's diseases, abortion and contraception practices, juridical consulting for mothers, activity against homeless life of orphans, labor exchange for single mothers. Educational editions and prints supplied a woman with a simple scientific account of her condition, mechanics of giving birth and a description of the main ills which accompany pregnancy and how to deal with them. Some of them explained that either an induced miscarriage or surgical abortion are… Read More

Moscow: S. Skirmunt, 1901. Unofficial edition. VI, 264, 499 pp. 13x19.1 cm. In owner's contemporary half-leather binding. General wear and rubbing, pre-revolutionary library stamp ("A Library of the Z. K. ZH. D. Employee Control") on the front endpaper, title-page, p. III, rear endpaper, and the recto of the rear board. Otherwise internally clean copy. Scarce. First unofficial edition. This curious edition offers a rare insight into the history of women's rights in Russia. In the mid-19th century, Tsarist Russia was dominated by a conservative-patriarchal system that limited women (except the upper stratum) to weak social and legal protection, lack of political rights, and inability to actualize professional knowledge. This concept was the basis of legislation, supported by both the highest bodies of state power and significant part of the country's population. Interest in the study of women's rights in Russia emerged at the end of the 19th century, when the share of female labor in factories and… Read More

Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 1945. 240 pp.: ill. 25,5x19 cm. In original full cloth with colored lettering and blind debossed image of the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin. Spine and covers slightly bumped, small stains occasionally. Otherwise very good. Designed by the Soviet artist G. Manuilov. A photo book about 'the Soviet youth army' and its participation in the war effort. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the main characters of this edition were under age 24 and were ready to embrace the Soviet cult of 'fighting heroes'. The 1930s Soviet policy was dominated by the anticipation of war with the West, particularly Germany. This predisposition found its expression in launching general military courses at Osoaviakhim [i.e. The Society for the Assistance of Defense, Aircraft, and Chemical Construction] and establishing special school clubs to train Soviet citizens. 'The entire working and peasant population of our country, all honest and Soviet-minded figures in science, technology, and… Read More