Bookvica

[PHOTOMONTAGE] 10 let bez Lenina [i.e. Ten Years Without Lenin]

Pindrik, Z., Tiul’panov, S.

Leningrad: Lenpartizdat, 1934. Item #1582

95 pp.: ill. 22,5x15,5 cm. In original oversized blank wrappers and photomontage dust jacket. Edges of dust wrappers restored, some stains of correction fluid on first and last pages, minor spot on t.p., otherwise very good.

First and only edition. Rare.
Photomontage design of dust jacket and layout were created by graphic artist Mikhail Razulevich (1904-1993). He was engaged in the design of Soviet children’s and nonfiction books in the 1930s. His montages were applied for holiday decorations as well. Another highly evaluated book is ‘The Story of the Five-Year Plan’ reprinted and redesigned by Razulevich several times. Art historian Mikhail Karasik called Razulevich “Lissitzky of children’s books”.
In the dust jacket design, a large figure of the former party leader stands among industrial structures built in the early 1930s, machinery, an airship and airplanes launched. Razulevich combined them as objects of an expanded paper model observed by Lenin. Crowds of people were included in the model as well.
This propaganda edition came out by the 10th anniversary of Lenin’s death and showed off achievements the USSR reached during this period. It is imbued with pathos of socialist construction and a rhythm of industrialization in the USSR. The book is about achievements in industry, national policy, a campaign against kulaks, construction of White Sea-Baltic Canal, etc.

The only copy is found in MoMA.

Price: $850.00