LISSITZKY, El [Eliezer Lazar Markovich] (artist) and Peter Ben Zion RASKIN
Der Ber [The Bear]
A scarce Yiddish children's book by a major figure of the Russian and Jewish avant-garde: an early Kiev production of the important Kultur Lige, illustrated on every page by Lissitzky.
PLATON [Petr LEVSHIN, later Metropolitan of Moscow]
Pravoslavnoe uchenie ili sokhrashchennaia khristianskaia bogosloviia, dlia Ego Imperatorskago Vysochestva … Tsesarevicha i Velikago Kniazia Pavla Petrovich.. [Orthodox Teaching, or Christian Theology Abridged, for His Imperial Highness…the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich].
First edition of this Catechism for Tsarevich Pavel, the "first textbook of Orthodox theology in Russia" by an important religious figure of 18th-c. Russia, whom Voltaire called "the Russian Plato". Very rare: no copy at auction and only 3 copies in libraries outside Russia.
IAZVINSKII, Aleksandr [actually Anton] Feliksovich
Sinkhronicheskiie tablitsy vseobshchei istorii, ukrashennyie 1500 portretami, sniatymi s medalei, sluzhashchiie k Khronograficheskomu atlasu A. Iazvinskogo [Synchronous Tables of the World History, decorated with 1,500 portraits copied from medals. A supplement to the chronographic atlas by A.Iazvinskii]
Very rare 'atlas' teaching world history without words, purely with images and visual memory: a very innovative teaching method in 19th-c. Russia, Poland, and Europe.
First edition of this compendium of more than 14,000 Ukrainian proverbs, sayings and riddles - published in Russia before the Ukrainian language was partly banned. Censored again in Soviet Union.
CHEKHONIN, S. (artist) and M. MORAVSKAIA
Apelsinnye korki. Stikhi dlia detei [Orange Peels. Poems for Children]
Scarce émigré edition illustrated by one of the most famous Russian book illustrators and designers of the early 20th century. With an attractive cover design.
Six languages with 5 different fonts: a rare introduction to biblical story for children, printed on blue paper a lovely copy.
Charming early Soviet ABC by a noted artist of natural history, in excellent condition and very rare: we could trace only one copy at auction (in Russia) and one in a public library (in Russia too).