Bookvica

[PHOTOMONTAGE AND PUSHKIN] Pushkin v Tsarskom Sele (Literaturnaia progulka po Detskomu selu) [i.e. Pushkin in Tsarskoye Selo (Literary Walk across the Detskoe Selo)]

Antsiferov, N.

Leningrad: Izd. Ekskursionno-lektorskoi bazy OBLONO, 1929. Item #1470

55 pp.: ill., 4 ills. 17,5x12,5 cm. In original wrappers with the organization’s mark and lettering reproducing handwritten title. In very good condition, pale water stains on covers, rubbed, 1920s stamps of the Central bureau of local lore.

First edition. One of 2000 copies. Rare.
The book features an interesting example of a photomontage organization’s mark on the front cover. It presented an excursion bureau of the OBLONO [i.e. the Provincial Department of People’s Education]. The mark included a sloped photo of the Peter and Paul Fortress superimposed on hammer of socialist symbol while metal structures were placed around; a worker turning a gear was drawn under them. We couldn’t find any reference about this mark.
The author of this book, Nikolai Antsiferov (1889-1958) was a historian, scholar of culture and local lore. He gave lectures, led excursions in Saint Petersburg and suburbs, wrote a large number of guides for mass education programs. He was first arrested in 1925. In the following fifteen years, Soviet authorities blamed, arrested and sentenced him several times for counter-revolutionary activity. He survived prison, exile, Solovki camp, Belbaltlag camp, Bamlag camp. Yet, Antsiferov did return to peaceful life in 1939.
His guides were published and spread, despite the hardships of his lifetime. This one contains a route across Tsarskoe Selo that was named Detskoe Selo in 1918-1937. The Imperial Lyceum opened in 1811 and primarily became known as an educational institution where young Alexander Pushkin studied. In 1918, the Lyceum was closed by a resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars. The Proletarian Polytechnic was located in the vacated building instead. The guide overviewed buildings, structures and sculptures remarkable for the area. It also includes a plan for the excursion, questions and literature about. At the end of the book, a plan of the whole territory is printed indicating all places of the route. The book contains four inserts with a portrait of young Pushkin, photographs of sculptures of him and the Liceum.

Worldcat shows copies in Princeton, Stanford, Michigan, North Carolina, Cornell, Brown Universities.

Price: $350.00