USSR Soviet Union | PY Rare Books

Image for SARYKULOVA. Grafika Kazakhstana. First edition, Antoshchenko-Olenev's copy. Alma-Ata, 1967. #2

Kazakh art by a woman art historian - with provenance

Grafika Kazakhstana [Graphic art of Kazakhstan]

Izd. 'Nauka' Kaz. SSR ['Nauka' publishing house of the Kazakh SSR], Alma-Ata, 1967. £1,750

A groundbreaking work on art from Kazakhstan, written by a major female figure of Kazakh art history - this copy with great artistic provenance. First edition, uncommon, a choice copy.

Image for A. AKHMATOVA. 50 Stikhotvorenii [50 Poems]. Paris, 1963. In fine condition. #2

Unauthorised edition

AKHMATOVA, Anna

50 stikhotvorenii [50 poems]

Paris, YMCA-Press, 1963. £650

Fine copy, in its original printed wrappers, of this large-format edition of some of the poems of Russia's great poetess. Printed with a mimeograph machine.

Image for KOTLIAREVSKY & BAZYLEVYCH. Eneida. Kyiv, 1971. #2

"The most popular edition [...] by the outstanding Ukrainian artist" (Lebedeva)

KOTLIAREVSKII, Ivan, Anatolii BAZYLEVYCH (artist)

Eneida [Aeneid]

Mystetstvo, Kyiv, 1971. £195

"The father of modern Ukrainian literature" in a very visual interpretation during Soviet times, by an important Ukrainian artist. Very rare in the West.

Image for POTOTSKII-SHAPOVALENKO. Guide for the Propagandist of the People's Monarchy. First edition, in Russian. Argentine, 1954. #2

Propaganda against propaganda

POTOTSKII, N[ikolai] [pseud. for Nikolai SHAPOVALENKO]

Sputnik propagandista narodnoi monarkhii. Monarquia democrática: Guida del propagandista [Democratic Monarchy: The Propagandist's Guide]

Nasha strana, Buenos Aires, 1954. £195

First edition of this anti-USSR and anti-communist work, focusing on the right speech to have to spread monarchist views for Russia. An uncommon South-American imprint.

Image for NASH VESTNIK. Manuscript magazine, unique copy. Soviet Union, 1921-23. #2

Fun, absurd, art and sport in the first years of the URSS

BABKIN K., M. NEKRASOV, A. ALEKSANDROV, V. SVETLISHIN and others

Nash Vestnik. Literaturno-sportivnyi zhurnal Kruzhka Fizicheskogo Razvitiia KFR [Our Newsletter. Literary and Sports Magazine of the Physical Development Club]

Vyshnii Volochek, Kruzhok Fizicheskogo Razvitiia KFR, 1921-23. £13,500

Exceptional manuscript describing sporting and other recreative activities in a small town of Russia immediately after the Civil War. A very entertaining read, mixing much information with humour and many illustrations.

Image for AKHMATOVA, A. U samogo moria. First edition, 1921. #2

A Black Sea youth

AKHMATOVA, Anna

U samogo moria [At the Edge of the Sea]

Alkonost, Skt. Peterburg, 1921. £750

The first edition of this important autobiographical poem by one of the best Russian poets, and a victim of Soviet censorship.

Image for SHULGIN, V. On Antisemitism in Russia; first edition, Paris, 1929. #2

Ethnic responsibility?

SHULGIN, Vasilii

'Chto nam v nikh ne nravitsia...' Ob Antisemitizme v Rossii ['What We Do Not Like About Them...' On the Antisemitism in Russia]

Russia Minor, Parizh, 1929. £375

"Political anti-Semitism', to be distinguished from a racial one: first edition of this scarce work, which also gives an account of the situation of the Jews in Russia.

Image for DEMIDOV V. Russkaia zhizn. First edition, New York, 1942. #2

'Russophobic' Western propaganda during WWII

Protoierei V. DEMIDOV

Russkaia zhizn v krivom zerkale inostrantsev [Russian Life in the Crooked Mirror of Foreigners]

National Printing & Publishing Co., Niu-Iork, 1942. £95

Against Western - but also Soviet - anti-Russian propaganda. By a military priest who first emigrated to Kharbin before the USA.

Image for VERBITSKYI, M. on Holodomor.First edition, London, 1952. #2

Famine? Which famine?

VERBYTSKYI, M

Naibilshyi zlochyn Kremlia: zaplianovanyi shtuchnyi holod v Ukraini 1932-1933 rokiv [The Kremlin's Greatest Crime: the Planned Artificial Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933]

DOBRUS, London, 1952. £450

A striking cover for a striking book: the first extensive study of the 1930s Great Famine in Ukraine. First edition, published in London.

Image for LINSKII, DRIZO, AVERCHENKO... Bich - Bitche. Complete set, first edition. Paris, 1920. #2

Colourful satire by Odessans in Paris

LINSKII, Mikhail, Mikhail DRIZO (pseud. MAD), Arkadii AVERCHENKO and others

Bich. Bitche [Whip]

Paris, Rirachovsky, 1920. £2,250

Complete set of this scarce satirical periodical of the Russophone community in Paris. With a wealth of caricatural drawings and wide-ranging texts.

Image for CHEKHONIN - EFROS & PUNIN. First edition in English. 1923. #2

Propaganda's beauty

[CHEKHONIN] – EPHROS, Abram and Nikolai PUNIN

S. Chekhonin. A Master of the Soviet Empire Style [and] On the Art of Chekhonin

State press, Moscow and Leningrad, 1923. £1,450

Avant-garde and propaganda's early days: the English version of this celebration of one of most striking Russian artists and designers.

Image for RIVIERA, Diego. Fortune Magazine issue on Russia & Soviet Union. 1932 #2

Striking cover drawn by Diego Riviera – and extensive, fascinating content

RIVERA, Diego (artist)

Fortune, March 1932, Volume V, Number 3

Time Inc., New York, 1932. £450

A superb cover for a richly illustrated and interesting content: the Fortune Magazine issue focusing on the 'Soviet miracle'.

One of the famous covers of the Avant-Garde

ALTMAN, Natan

Lenin. Risunki Natana Altmana [Lenin. Sketches by Natan Altman]

Nar. Kom. po Prosveshcheniiu, Peterburg, 1921. £1,250

A pleasant example of this work, with its famous avant-garde cover design by Altman.

Image for SOLZHENITSYN, A. Odin den Ivana Denisovicha. First edition, Flegon, London, 1962. #1

With the rarest cover variant

SOLZHENITSYN, Aleksandr Isaevich

Odin den Ivana Denisovicha [One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]

Flegon Press, London, [1962]. £4,750

First edition of Solzhenitsyn's first book - here with the very rare variant of the cover showing a watchtower. A fine example of this great novel.

Image for SHALAMOV, V. Kolymskie rasskazy. First edition, in the original Russian, 1978. #1

With provenance

SHALAMOV, Varlam Tikhonovich

Kolymskie rasskazy [Kolyma Stories]

London, Overseas Publications Interchange, 1978. £1,250

First edition of this classic of "GULAG literature", with literary provenance.

Image for BOURKE-WHITE, Meet Some of the Soviet People. First edition, c.1941 #2

By the first American woman war photojournalist

BOURKE-WHITE, Margaret

Meet Some of the Soviet People

Russian War Relief, Inc., New York, [1941?]. £800

The variety of peoples of the USSR in fine photographic portraits by a great photographer, possibly the most significant woman photographer of her time.

Image for M. BULGAKOV. Heart of a Dog, first Russian book edition. Paris, YMCA, 1969. #2

U-u-u-u-u-u... in first edition

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Sobache serdtse [Heart of a Dog]

Beresniak for YMCA, Paris, 1969. £1,450

Uncommon first book edition in Russian of Bulgakov's suppressed satirical masterpiece. A lovely copy in its original wrappers by Annenkov.

Image for Akhmatova, Brodsky and others, Important poems and other texts, incl. Poem bez geroia [Poem Without a Hero], first editions. #1

The Pantheon of the Silver Age - a complete set

AKHMATOVA, Anna, Isaac BABEL, Iosif BRODSKII, Osip MANDELSHTAM, Vladimir NABOKOV, Boris PASTERNAK, Marina TSVETAEVA et al

Vozdushnye Puti [Airways. Almanach. Vols I-V]

New York, 1960-67. £1,500

The first publication of Akhmatova's 'Poem Without a Hero' [Poem bez geroia] - as well as many other works by some of the best Russian poets and authors of the 20th century: a complete set of this important literary almanac, rare so.

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