1693 - 1734 RUSSIAN BOOKS. (AVANT GARDE) ART, LITERATURE and FINE PRINTING
- Bookblock loose(ning). Wrappers vertically cracked and sl. worn along edges.
- Erased stamp and a few annots. in pen on title-p.; sm. numb. in pen on final plate; traces of bookplate on upper pastedown. Binding partly sl. discoloured and w. traces of ticket on frontcover. Otherwise a good/ fine copy.
= Rare. Rowell/ Wye 1022 and p.227 (illustration); Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Book 1917-34, p.142f: "(...) an amazing compendium of one hundred and one coloured inventions which still excite the imagination today (...). The verdict must surely be that Chernikhov's almost unlimited imagination for architectural forms provides a pattern book for modernist architecture, rather than a repertoire of viable designs". SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LI.
- Hinges weak; owner's entry on first free endpaper. = Study of modern architecture in fascist Italy.
- Frontwr. trifle foxed and sl. dustsoiled along upper edge. = Very rare Russian émigré edition.
- Bookblock warped. Covers yellowed; joints and spine-ends worn/ splitting. = Rowell/ Wye 921.
= The Burliuk family publishing house, run by David's wife Mary. Between 1931 and 1970 they published the periodical Color and Rhyme, devoted to the Russian avant-garde. David Davidovich Burliuk has been described as "the father of Russian Futurism."
WITH: 9 photographs, mainly col. snapshots (3x black and white), ±9x9 to 9x13 cm., all w. (sm.) annot./ identification in blue ballpoint on verso.
= I.a. "Burliuk + Joe Hampton Bays 1954", "Burliuk begins to paint Herbert Marchall 1965/66 jan (...) mrs Burliuk corrects position of models's hands", "Burliuk Jan. 1966 photo by H. Marchall" and "Mrs and Mr Burliuk in his Studio 3-4 october 1966 (Flowers on easel sold. 1000 doll)" [photo w. cut through image]".
AND 6 col. picture postcards of works by Burliuk (1x also showing the artist and his wife). - ADDED: Jerkovic, D. 333. Poema ljubavi (Love poem). Belgrade, n.publ., n.d. (1926), (3),8,(5)p., orig. wr., folio.
- Sl. creased and fingersoiled.
= With AUTOGRAPH SIGNED DEDICATION on title-p. The title refers to the number of lines in the poem.
- Occas. trifle foxed; dedication on title-p. Spine and portion of frontwr. restored.
- Vol. 6 sl. worn, occas. stained/ soiled, w. a few scattered stamps and annots. and final quire misbound (after p.32); vol. 7/ 8 occas. trifle foxed and w. dedication (by ?) on title-p.
= Rare literary and artistic émigré periodical published between 1930 and 1934, w. contributions by i.a. Zinaida Gippius and Dmitry Merezhkovsky.
= Rowell/ Wye 385. Early (first?) Russian monograph on Edgar Degas.
- Sm. owner's entry and annots. on front- and backwr.; spine-ends sl. dam.
- Sl. yellowed and frayed. Backstrip dam. and worn.
= Rowell/ Wye 337; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34 p.106: "The cover and vignettes of Tairov's Notes of a Director were drawn by Aleksandra Ekster in a strongly Expressionist vein, echoing the artist's designs for the Kamerny's most recent production, Shakespeare's Romea and Juliet - a spectacular event of 1921." SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LI.
- Spine splitting at foot; wr. sl. yellowed. = Lemmens/ Stommels, Russian Book Art 1904-2005, p.88.
- Owner's entry on title-p. Wrappers sl. creased and frayed; lacks large portion of backstrip.
- A few plates reattached/ loosening; final 2 text lvs. bound in between plates.
- Wrappers and backstrip sl. creased.
= Rowell/ Wye 401; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34, p.52: "The year 1922 saw increasing exchange of information about avant-garde art between the Soviet Union and Western Europe. Publications printed in Berlin brought up-to-date news to artists in a language they could understand. Thus the writer Ilia Ehrenburg's book - with a striking cover by Fernand Léger composed from stencilled letters and machine-like forms - included information about the pricipal European avant-garde journals (...)". SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LII.
- Covers sl. scratched and soiled; lower corners bumped/ sl. dam.
= A report on the USSR's first Five Year Plan and one of the first projects Lissitzky worked on (alongside the propagandist periodical USSR in Construction) after signing a contract with state publishing house Izogis. Lissitzky-Küppers p.96; El Lissitzky, Retrospektive 247; Rowell/ Wye 996; Parr/ Badger, The Photobook I, p.155: "(...) the pace and rhythm of his [Lissitzky's] layouts show both a cinematic influence and a master graphic designer at work (...)". SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LII.
- A few lvs. margins restored; one leaf w. professionally closed tear; first leaf lower corner restored. Spine strengthened; wr. trifle stained; backwr. lacks tiny chip in upper margin.
= Rowell/ Wye 410 and p.196; Compton, Russian Avant-Garde Books 1917-34, p52 and passim; Lissitzky-Küppers p.24: "At the beginning of 1922, Lissitzky collaborated with Ehrenburg in producing the first pro-Soviet periodical, Veshch ('Objet'), published by the Skythen-Verlag. Here Lissitzky could make his new typographical ideas become concrete facts - thanks to highly-developed printing techniques. (...) The pages of the journal were architectonically arranged, and all the resources of the type-case were employed to catch the reader's eye and to give emphasis to the contents. The striking effect made by the typographic composition of the cover (a floating Proun in red) is created by the colossal tension in which the letters are held counterpoised on the coloured background. Few cover designs produced since then bear comparison with these first fruits of Lissitzky's typographical genius." Bolliger III, 242: "Zeitschrift der russischen und europäischen avantgarde, die sich zur Aufgabe setzte: "Die in Russland Schaffenden mit der neuesten westeuropäischen Kunst bekanntzumachen und 2. Westeuropa über die russische Kunst und Literatur zu informieren"." Only 2 issues were published (no.1/2 and 3), although a fourth and a fifth were announced. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LII.
- Sl. foxed/ waterst. and occas. trifle mouldy. Backstrip strengthened w. paper; backwr. w. some closed tears and dam. spots.
= Beautifully illustrated somewhat in the style of Ivan Bilibin. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LIII.