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[SUKHAREV TOWER AND MOSCOW STREET LIFE] Abdulka

Shul’gin, A.

Item #1315

Moscow: Novaia Moskva, 1924. 48 pp. 18,5x14 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Pale water stains, minor tears of oversized covers, otherwise very good.
Signed by the author on the title page. First and only edition. One of 8000 copies. Very rare.
Cover design was created by Galina Chichagova (1891-1967), famous Russian artist and book designer, who studied at VKHUTEMAS under Rodchenko and where she together with her sister Olga formed their own constructivist style. Olga and Galina Chichagovs were associated with creative but also friendly relations with Rodchenko’s workshop and his course “Graphic Construction on a Plane”. Together with others, they were members of the First Working Group of Constructivists where they discussed projects for a work suit, street trade equipment and book design. They contributed to editions of Gosizdat, ‘Molodaia gvardiia’, ‘Novaia Moskva’, ‘ZiF’. As they considered, they succeeded in creating a “productive children’s book”. Among their editions were «Why there Were No Bagels», «Everyone Does their Own Thing», «Children about Newspaper», etc. The collaboration lasted through their entire careers and most designs are attributed to both. The monograph on this cover indicates the younger sister. The cover of this book features a laconic black and white image of Sukharev Tower.
It was built in 1695 and was demolished in 1934 during the large-scale reconstruction of Moscow. The tower is regarded as a symbol of destroyed, pre-reconstructed Moscow. Since the late 18th century, a street market had been established next to the tower and operated as one of the main street trading places. ‘Sukharevka’ was a crowded market of various items, including antiquarian books. Circumstances of the Civil war and the war communism changed the nature of the trade, turning it into a flea market with a rapidly growing criminal business. This particular novel by writer Adrian Shulgin (1897-1941) was dedicated to the street illegal culture surrounding Sukharev Tower.

Not found in Worldcat.

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