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[WHERE TO GET VITAMINS DURING WORLD WAR II] Kak obespechit’ sebia vitaminom A [i.e. How to Provide Yourself with Vitamin A]

Item #1122

Leningrad: [Izd. Nauchno-Issledovatel’skogo instituta kormov], 1942. 8 pp. 13x9,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. Near fine.

First and only edition. One of 10 000 copies.

An extremely rare survival of time and curious brochure on the role of Vitamin A and ways to get it in the wartime conditions. According to the book, contemporary experiments with this vitamin at Moscow University successfully showed its influence on visual acuity and light adaptation. For that time, it was incredibly important for pilots, snipers, et al.

This edition was published in the besieged Leningrad. It wasn’t about how to stay safe and alive, but compilers took care of the population from the very essence of their nutrition. Without access to closed stocks of food, people were forced to obtain nutrients from various wild herbs.

The approach was invented by an Experimental Laboratory of Vitamin Concentrates. They created a recipe for carotene extraction supplementing it with a calculation of how to prepare the extract for a certain number of people. The recipe was based on greens that people were able to find outside. Green parts of legumes were indicated as the most suitable because of a high level of protein. The resulting extract could be processed and preserved for further use. One of the options was drying it and forming tablets. The next year a similar memo was printed on Vitamin C.

No copies are found in Worldcat.

Price: $950.00