USSR Soviet Union | PY Rare Books

The Nobel Prize's first book - inscribed

U voiny ne zhenskoe litso [The Unwomanly Face of War]

Mastatskaia litaratura, Minsk, 1985. £6,250

First edition, first issue, an inscribed copy, of Aleksievich's important first book. She would go on and win the Nobel Prize of LIterature 30 years later, in 2015.

Image for VONZBLEIN & SHAMANOVA. Legkaia Atletika dlia zhenshchin. First edition. Moscow-St Petersburg, 1930. #2

The beginning of Soviet female champions

VONZBLEIN, Iu. and M. SHAMANOVA

Legkaia atletika dlia zheshchin [Athletics for Women]

Fizkultura i Sport, Moskva, Skt. Peterburg, 1930. £375

Lovely booklet on Soviet female athletes, written by a 22-y old champion, the first Soviet woman to obtain international success. Very rare first edition, with no copies traced in the Americas nor Europe.

Image for LISSITZKY. USSR in Construction. The Arctic issue. Moscow, 1933. #2

"The five-year plan for mastering the Arctic" (page 1)

LISSITZKY, El [Lazar Markovich] (designer)

USSR in Construction. The Arctic Issue (1933 No. 9)

The State Publishing Union of RSFSR, Moscow, 1933. £1,150

The famous Arctic issue of the main propaganda magazine from Soviet Union, designed by Lissitzky. A superb production, here in its English version and in fresh condition.

Image for V. EROFEEV. Moskva-Petushki. First edition. Paris, 1977. #2

"One of the major achievements of Russian prose of the 20th century" (Oborin)

EROFEEV, Venedikt

Moskva-Petushki [Moscow-Petushki, also translated as Moscow to the End of the Line]

Floch, Mayenne, for YMCA-PRESS, Paris, 1977. £2,750

First book edition of one of the most famous Russian novels of the last century and a celebrated 'tamizdat'. Uncommon on the market, here in attractive condition.

Image for IVANOV. USSR Literacy poster. Petrograd, 1920. #1

"The book is the light of communism"

I[VANOV, Sergei] (artist)

Kniga nichto inoe kak chelovek govoriashchii publichno [A Book Is Nothing Else but an Individual Speaking out Loud]

Gosudarstvennoye Izdatelstvo, Peterburg [Petrograd], 1920. £1,950

A fine, large book-themed poster from the young USSR, with slogans such as "Reading is needed to know how to beat the ennemies of the working class". In superb condition.

Image for M. BULGAKOV. Master & Margarita. Complete, uncensored text. Second edition, Frankfurt, 1971. #2

The complete, uncensored text - with the striking dust-jacket

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Master i Margarita [Master and Margarita]

Possev-Verlag, Frankfurt/M., 1971. £1,750

Bulgakov's masterpiece in its entirety, complete with the famous dust-jacket. A very good copy, fresh internally. This is the 1971 second printing.

Image for BRODSKY. A Stop in the Desert. Poster signed by the author. First edition thus, Ardis, 1972. #2

Poetry on the wall - signed by the poet

BRODSKY, Iosif [Joseph BRODSKII] and Jamie FULLER (translator)

A Stop in a Desert

[Ardis, Ann Arbor, 1972]. £950

One of the earliest US publications by Brodsky and one of the first collaborations between him and Ardis, initiating a long-lasting and fruitful publishing history. Scarce poetical poster, with Brodsky's original signature.

Image for EVANGULOV & others. Koster. First edition, inscribed. Vladikavkaz, 1920. #2

Very rare poetry in Civil War – twice inscribed

EVANGULOV, Gerogii, G. A[STAKHOV], Liudmila BERIDZE, Riurik IVNEV, Konst. IUST, and Ivan IVANOV (artist)

Koster. Stikhi [Bonfire. Poems]

Vladikavkaz, Terkavtsentropechat, 1920. £2,250

Extremely rare provincial publication in the aftermath of the Civil War - a choice copy with the striking cover coloured and a double inscription to its artist.

Image for SHANKOVSKY, L. Istoriia UPA. Ukraine, early 1990s. #2

Pre-Soviet nationalists in post-Soviet Ukraine

[SHANKOVSKY, Lev]

Istoriia UPA [History of the UPA]

[Ukrainian SSR or Ukraine, early 1990s]. £475

Rare 'publication' -or samizdat- focusing on the history of its now famous Ukrainian resistance group. No other copy traced outside Ukraine.

Image for VIAZMENSKII, P. Propaganda postcard. 1930s. #2

A great Constructivist postcard by a victim of the Purges

VIAZMENSKII, Lev

Malo vypolnit promfinplan, Nado perevypolnit [The Working-Plan Must Not Only Be Carried Out, but Surpassed].

Leningrad, Izogiz - Tip. Ivana Fedorova, [1930s]. £500

Great design for a postcard of typical economic propaganda, by a Communist enthusiast and victim of Stalin.

Image for Rakhil KOFF-LAIF. English penmanship. Rotaprint based on the first edition. Ukraine, 1960s. #2

Very rare production of a Ukrainian rotaprint

KOFF-LAIF, Rakhil Iosifovna

English penmanship. Angliiskaia kalligrafiia

Moskva, 1959, but Ukr. zaochnyi industrialn. tekhnikum, [Ukr. SSR, early 1960s]. £750

How to write English in the USSR, by a Jewish American teacher, produced in Ukraine and very rare such.

Image for [USSR: SIBERIA & FAR EAST]. Group of Four Unpublished Intelligence Reports. UK/USA, 1960s. #2

From a missile site and political discussions to the coldest city in the world and "a little alcohol"

A Group of Four Confidential Reports of British, American and Australian Diplomats in Siberia and the Russian Far East

, July 21-27, 1960; February 12-22, 1962; August 29 - September 9 [c. 1965]; August 8-12 [c. 1965-67]. £1,250

About 40 pp. of fantastic and confidential reading giving a detailed and open description of Siberia during the USSR, to Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and Yakutsk. A rare find, apparently unpublished.

Image for J. BRODSKY. Two volumes of poetry. First editions, inscribed. Ann Arbor, 1977. #2

Nobel-Prize winning poetry pre- and post-emigration - "avec best pozhelaniiami"

BRODSKII, Iosif [also Joseph BRODSKY]

Konets prekrasnoi epokhi. Stikhotvoreniia 1964-1971 [with] Chast rechi. Stikhotvoreniia 1972-1976 [The End of a Beautiful Era. Poems 1964-1971 [with] Part of Speech. Poems 1972-1976].

Ardis, Ann Arbor, 1977. £7,750

Great gathering of both volumes, in first editions, both inscribed to Vandelos-Legkaia, a figure of the Russian community in the USA.

Image for MEKSIN et al. Exhibition of Japanese Children Books and Art Work. First edition of the booklet, in original Russian. Moscow, 1928. #2

Japanese children books in the young USSR

MEKSIN, Iakov, Nina SAKULINA, and Aleksandr MOGILEVSKII (artist)

Vystavka detskoi knigi i detskogo tvorchestva Iaponii [An Exhibition of Japanese Children Books and Art Work]

VOKS i GAKhN, Moskva, 1928. £395

Uncommon booklet presenting a very early cultural exchange between Japan and the USSR, centred on children books. A lovely item, here in very good condition in spite of its fragility.

Image for S. DOVLATOV. Nashi [Ours]. First edition, inscribed. Ann Arbor, 1983. #2

"One only wants to be like Chekhov"

DOVLATOV, Sergei

Nashi [Ours]

Ardis, Ann Arbor, 1983. £2,500

First edition of this collection of short stories by the famous Russian author. An appealing example, inscribed by Dovlatov to a figure of the US Russian emigration.

Image for S. DOVLATOV. Zona. First edition, inscribed. Ann Arbor, 1982. #2

His "most important book" - inscribed

DOVLATOV, Sergei

Zona: zapiski nadziratelia [The Zone: A Prison Camp Guard's Story]

Ermitazh, Ann Arbor, 1982. £3,000

First edition Dovlatov's famous work, inscribed to a figure of the Russian emigration in the US.

Image for GENKEL & SUETIN. Ford and Fordism. First edition, Leningrad, 1925. #2

Ford's influence in the early USSR

GENKEL, German and Nikolai SUETIN (artist)

Ford i fordizm: vpechatleniia [Ford and Fordism: Impressions]

Kubuch, Leningrad, 1925. £1,750

Fine cover for one of the great Russian books on the influential American industrialist. Uncommon, and here in a pleasant example.

"It never belonged to Russia" and it was nice to be Polish

[UKRAINE – POLAND]

Lwów and the Lwów Region

Barnard and Westwood Ltd., London, for Polish Ministry of Preparatory Work Concerning the Peace Conference, May 1945. £1,450

May 1945: World War II comes to an end, the Soviet are in Poland and Ukraine. It is time for the anti-Soviet Polish exiled to lobby the world's powers to restructure Poland as they wish to - that is including all its former regions, such as Eastern Galicia and Lvyv... This booklet is their detailed argumentation, with a wealth of explanations and statistics, and three maps. A fascinating read. Scarce: only 3 copies traced in the US.

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