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[FIRST WORLD WAR AND UKRAINE] Bryzky krovi na prydorozhn’omu kameni [i.e. Splashes of Blood on a Roadside Stone]

Lisovy, P.

Kharkiv: Rukh, 1931. Item #1565

145, [1] pp. 18.5x13.4 cm. In original publisher’s illustrated wrappers by FM. Rubbed, tear of the wrappers. Otherwise good.

Scarce. First edition. 1 of 4,000 copies. An important book written by one of the most famous Ukrainian journalists of the 1920s and a victim of Soviet repressions Petr Lisov.

Printed in 1931, the novel “Splashes of Blood” (1931) describes Petr Lisov’s (Petr Svashenko) (1891-1937) experience in WWI. According to the author, the stories narrated in the book originated from a notebook he found in a trench during the warfare. The horrors of the war inspired Petr Lisov to create this novel, which was first published in 1931.The book went down in history as one of the first Ukrainian works describing the events that took place on the territories of Ukraine (Stryi, Zhuravno, Mariyampil, etc.) during the WWI.

Shortly after the end of the warfare, in March 1919, Petr settled in Uman and started his journalistic career. For half a year, he was the editor of the newspaper «Rural Poor», an organ of the Uman District Party Committee of the CP(B)U. From January 1920, he was the editor of the newspaper «Visti», an organ of the Uman Revokom. In June, Petr was appointed the secretary of the city party committee for a few months, and from September he was the secretary of the “Red Fighter” editorial office, which was published by the Revolutionary Military Council of the Sixth Army. In the mid-1920s, Lisov moved to Kharkiv and began working in the press department of the Central Committee of the CP(b)U - first as an instructor, then as the head of the newspaper sub-department. In 1924, Lisov published two collections of short stories “Rural” and “In the Fog”, soon followed by the book of essays «Dychavyna» and the collection of prose «In Revolution». On April 25, 1935, Lisov was arrested on the charges of anti-revolutionary activity and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in labor camps and three years’ deprivation of rights after the main punishment. According to the directory «Memorial Lists of Karelia, 1937–1938», on September 20, 1937, after signing a false statement, Lisov was sentenced to be shot.

Wrapper design by Frans Masereel (1889-1972), a noted Flemish painter and graphic artist, known primarily for his woodcuts on political and social issues. At the age of 18, Masereel began studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in the class of Jean Delvin. In 1909, he embarked upon a trip to England and Germany, which inspired him to make his first etchings and woodcuts. Two years later, Frans moved to Paris and then emigrated to Switzerland, where he worked as a graphic artist for journals and magazines, including the Belgian magazine Lumière. In 1921, Masereel returned to Paris, where he painted his famous street scenes, the Montmartre paintings. Between 1949 and 1968, he published several series of woodcuts that differed from his earlier «novels in picture’» in comprising variations on a subject instead of a narrative.

No copies found in Worldcat.

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