Bookvica

[ARCTIC FISHING INDUSTRY IN THE USSR] Rybnyi Murman : Sbornik rasskazov i ocherkov Murmanskikh moriakov [i.e. Fishy Murmansk : Collection of Stories and Essays by Murmansk Fishermen]

Item #1532

[Moscow]: Snabtekhizdat, 1933. XXIV, 398, [1] pp.: ill. 17,5x13 cm. In
original cloth with bronze lettering on front cover and spine, in original
constructivist dust jacket. Dust wrappers rubbed and chipped, with tear
of front cover flap, rusty staples, some stains occasionally, otherwise
very good.
First and only edition. One of 7150 copies. Very rare.
Cover and dust jacket design by D. Bogomolov. The image
includes a picture of a dark ship with sea splashes; the ensign of the
USSR is drawn and the title is made of lines of various designs.
This edition showcases an interesting experience of organizing
a literary club for fishermen and supervising the creation of stories
about their craft.
Murmansk is the world’s most-populated settlement north of
the Arctic Circle and a port with generally ice-free waters around it.
Its essential industries have always been connected with fishing. The
introduction presents some statistics of the industry during the first
five-year plan. In 1930, Soviet trawler construction had been launched
in Leningrad and import of the vessels ceased. Fishing kolkhozes and
cooperatives were founded. Shock-workers turned up among fishermen
and the production was significantly increased. In the early 1930s, a
group of journalists led by R. Lipets (who later became an editor of this book) were sent to Murmansk to outline the life of these fishy lands,
both for socialist workers and indigenous Saami people. Instead, they
taught the fishermen how to write essays. Twenty six representatives
of the Murmansk fishing industry were engaged, including workers
of fishing vessels and local kolkhozes, employees of organizations
‘Murgosrybtrest’ (Murmansk State Fishing Trest) and ‘Sevtraltrest’ (North
Trawling Trest).
In total, the edition contains 36 works, including prose and
poetry, about fishing along the Kola Peninsula in the pre-revolutionary
and Soviet periods. The authors chronicled their input in socialist
construction and competition, details of their craft, but also cultural
and social life in the place. Texts are illustrated with 49 photographs
showcasing the construction of a ship, fisher employees, settlements
Teriberka and Suma, reindeer sleigh, a wooden dwelling, a warehouse,
children’s activities, adult labor in fish harvesting and processing,
pictures from Soviet trawler, kolkhoz and dock, reproduction of a local
wall newspaper ‘Krab’ (Crab).
All texts were written by the workers themselves, so stories presented specialized vocabulary that was explained in a “Dictionary of
Fishermen’s and Local Words” printed at the end of the book.

The paper copies
are located in LoC
and University of
Michigan.

Price: $950.00