Our Notes & References

First edition of this unusual publication, a collection of children’s writings and drawings selected by the famous futurist poet. A very good copy of this fragile production, fresh internally.

A pioneer of the ‘transrational’ poetic language ‘zaum’ and a prominent figure in the Futurist movement, Aleksei Kruchenykh (1886-1968) was fascinated by the invention, spontaneity and purity of juvenilia; he drew inspiration from children’s art, occasionally publishing their works alongside his own.

Printed by his own publishing company “EUY” in 1913, the present publication consists of works attributed to children and are structured in two parts: the first features 15 lithographs of drawings and one handwritten text on orange paper, including the drawing that portrays stereotypical faces of various nationalities, such as a Russian, Ukrainian, Jew, Frenchman, and an Englishman, by an 8-year old girl. The second part consists of printed “Poems, stories, fairy tales” on green paper. The two largest texts, by Zina V. (11 years old) and Tania (7 years old), are labelled “recorded from dictation” and “recorded from memory” respectively, and some other stories resemble Kruchenykh’s own ‘transrational’ opuses. Other authors include Nina Kovenchuk-Kulbina, daughter of the artist and musician Nikolai Kulbin, who later in her life became a theatre artist and sculptor, and Marianna Erlikh (1906 – after 1930), daughter of the architect Aleksandr Markovich Erlikh.

Princeton’s catalogue entry states however “Probably not the work of children, but original work of avant-garde poet, Kruchenykh”.

In 1923, Kruchenykh issued another edition, Actual Stories, Poems and Songs by Children, this time without lithographs.

WorldCat locates 9 copies, including 7 in the US (Getty, Harvard, J. Hopkins, Iowa, Princeton, UCLA and Yale), to which we can add MoMA’s example.

Provenance

Unidentified Russian owner (small name to inside upper cover, dated [19]39); AV…[?] and Knizhn. lavka pisatelei (two Soviet shops; purple ink stamps to rear cover).

Bibliography

MoMA 96 and illustration p. 71; Hellyer 502; Russkie sovetskie pisateli: poėty, v. 11, p. 383.