Bookvica

[56 FUN ACTIVITIES FOR ALL AGES] Tovaryski zabavy ta ihry [i.e. Social fun and games]

[Zaklynskyi, Bohdan (ed), Zabudko, D.(ed)]

Item #2325

Part of the series: Vydavnytstvo “Knyzhky dlia vsikh”. Lviv: Drukarnia Stavropyhiiskoho Instytuta pid upravoiu Yu. Sydoraka for U.S.S. Ivana Maievskoho, 1917. 55, [1] pp. 13,5 x 10 cm. Publisher’s paper cover. In Ukrainian. Overall good condition. The brochure underwent minor restoration. Cover stained and creased. Cover and some pages skillfully restored with tissue paper. Foxing. Faint rubber stamp of owner’s library on the title. Addresses and names in pen on the inside of the front cover. Illegible owner’s
inscription in walnut ink on pp. 3, 35. A couple of pen marks inside.

According to a short introductory note, this collection of 56 fun activities and games was intended for both children, adolescents and adults. Due to wartime struggles, the handbook received little attention but was reviewed in a contemporary bibliographical bulletin (Knyhar. Kiev, 1918, an issue from May 9th, col. 533). The reviewer mentions that the book is printed on “high quality paper”, expresses hope that it will be useful for the audience of any age and will help the people to stay away from heinous card games.

The man behind this collection is Bohdan Zaklynskyi (1886—1946). Zaklynskyi continued his dynastic educational activities, following the steps of his father Roman who was a folklorist close to Ivan Franko and an active Prosvita member. During World War I, five out of nine children of Roman Zaklynskyi joined the Ukrainian Rifleman Union, including Bohdan: the service forged the nationalist mindset of the family. After the army, Bohdan joined the Pan-Ukrainian Cultural Council headquartered in Vienna. In this new position he focused on teaching, enlightenment and folklore history. He authored at least 7 books under his name, mostly aimed at children and fulfilling the needs of primary education: primers, introductory homeland geography textbooks, historical essays, guides for Plast, a Ukrainian paramilitary scout union. We assume that all 8 books mentioned on the inside of the back cover were authored or edited by Zaklynskyi. The brochure provides fun acts intended for laugh and social ease. Fun acts were ranged fromdrinking a glass of water without using hands, reproducing animal voices in a choir, fantasy sketching. The games go from as simple ones as kissing own reflection in the mirror to divinations.

Also, competitive games and intellectual contests are described. Players are expected to guess a specific poet by his date of birth or tell facts on a Ukrainian city. The intellectual fun focuses on developing cultural and national self-awareness, learning the country or at least the Ukrainian alphabet and basic local peculiarities.

Rare. Not in WorldCat. Not in KVK. Aforementioned bibliographies find only one copy in Ukraine, at the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv.

Price: $450.00