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[SOVIET ORATORY] Masterstvo chtetsa: Teoriia i metodika khudozhestvennogo chteniia [i.e. Craft of Reciter: Theory and Methods of Reciting]

Serezhnikov, V.

Moscow: Teakinopechat’, 1930. Item #892

222, [2] pp. 1 ill. was probably printed separately and loosely inserted. 17,5x13 cm. In original oversized wrappers with letterpress design. Rubbed, otherwise very good.

First and only edition. One of 6000 copies.
An interesting work by the theorist of reciting and founder of the first courses and Institute of this art, Vasilii Serezhnikov (1885-1952). After the institute was closed in 1922, Serezhnikov, together with his students and followers, created Moscow Wandering Reciting Theater that worked until the late 1930s. He had written a range of works for actors-reciters from the 1910s to 1930.

This book crowns his pedagogy. Earlier works sometimes included quotes on the oratory and readers met them with a positive reaction. This became a motive for compiling this book, the first manual to reciting methods. It comprises advice of well-known people (among them Soviet actors, theater directors and Serezhnikov himself) and tips that the author brings to anybody who wants to comprehend the craft of reciter.

Finally, the edition includes a curious separate leaf with two tables of nine drawings. These tables supplemented the text on p. 125-126 where the author explains the role of hand gestures and position of the legs during reciting, according to Delsarte’s study.

Only copy located in University of Chicago, according to the Worldcat.

Price: $400.00