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[WARTIME CHILDREN’S BOOK] Timur i ego komanda [i.e. Timur and His Squad]

Gaidar, A.

Sverdlovsk: 1942. Item #1034

28, 31-80 pp. 17x13 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Complete edition with printer’s error of page numbering, oversized cut of p. 33-40, some black typographic stains. In a very good condition, a couple of tears around staple.

Extremely rare edition printed in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) during the German occupation of the European part of Russia. The edition was prepared by the evacuated OGIZ (the State Publishers) and the local branch of Moscow-based typography ‘1ya obraztsovaya tipografiya’.
The children’s novel ‘Timur and His Squad’ was released a year before the USSR joined the war actions. The story was written by Arkady Gaidar (1904-1941) in 1940, and it quickly gained popularity. The war and the following years of reconstruction influenced a lot the unprecedented spreading of the Timurite movement.
The printing of this book was finished on the 21st of May, 1942. It lacks illustrations - the front cover features the only monochrome picture of characters, the book has narrow margins and some of them were cut untidy. In general, Soviet wartime books for children were small, thin, poorly colored brochures. The number of titles issued was reduced by more than half in 1941-1943, but the average printrun increased.
This story was published more than 200 times throughout the Soviet period and was translated into different languages. Gaidar was the only Soviet writer who originated a powerful social movement gaining young people.

Worldcat doesn’t track this edition.

Price: $350.00