Item #1623 [A WELL-ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLAX IN THE USSR] L’novodsto v SSSR [i.e. Flax Growing in the USSR]
[A WELL-ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLAX IN THE USSR] L’novodsto v SSSR [i.e. Flax Growing in the USSR]
[A WELL-ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLAX IN THE USSR] L’novodsto v SSSR [i.e. Flax Growing in the USSR]
[A WELL-ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLAX IN THE USSR] L’novodsto v SSSR [i.e. Flax Growing in the USSR]
[A WELL-ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLAX IN THE USSR] L’novodsto v SSSR [i.e. Flax Growing in the USSR]

[A WELL-ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLAX IN THE USSR] L’novodsto v SSSR [i.e. Flax Growing in the USSR]

Moscow: Izd. Narkomsema SSSR, 1940. Item #1623

88 pp., 39 ills., diagrams. 25,5x35,5 cm. In original full cloth with colored lettering and blind debossed image of flax sheaves of flax; illustrated endpapers. Rubbed, some foxing and soiling occasionally. Otherwise very good.
First and only edition. One of 10,500 copies.
Published in 1940, this album documents the achievements of the Soviet Union in flax production.
The edition opens with the section ‘Flax in People’s Economy of the USSR’ with colored maps of flax growing in the Russian Empire/the Soviet Union and illustrated statistics on the increase in the share of collective farming in the 1930s.
The second section, ‘Biology, Flax Breeding, and Seed Production’, houses photographs of field works and instructions (drawn) for breeding and cultivation. Diagrams about harvest are stylized under a pyramid of seed bags and a long fiber bundle. The section also features a photomontage of kolkhoz foremen who managed to increase the cultivation of flax.
‘Agricultural Technics and Mechanization of Flax Growing’ includes portraits of female leaders involved in the cultivation of flax and diagrams of the flax harvest. Photographs of seed processing are printed next to the diagrams of the fertilizers used. This section also shows signs of seed infection, common weeds, and a widely applied seed germination method using indigo carmine as a dye. There are also photographs of machinery and data on the mechanization of seeding and harvesting.
The next section, ‘Major Diseases, Pests, and Methods to Fight Them’, is published with an illustrated half-title like the previous sections. This chapter features colourful images of flax insect pests and a photograph of three workers spraying chemicals.
‘Primary Seed Processing’ chronicles the process and different stages of harvesting. This section contains photographs of advanced machinery used in state farms and related constructions. There is also a photomontage of shock workers, a beautiful chart drawn above the photograph of female workers watering flax plants (and columns of data as well), and another chart of kolkhoz bonuses drawn above smiling female workers.
The last section is dedicated to the presentation of flax cultivation at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in 1939. At the exhibition, this branch of Soviet agriculture was represented by the special pavilion ‘Flax and Cannabis’; the flax also appeared in individual pavilions of the flax-growing Union Republics.
No copies found in Wordlcat.

Status: On Hold