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[RODCHENKO] No. S Novye Stikhi [i.e. No. S. New Poems]

Mayakovsky, V.

Item #2449

Moscow: Federatsiya, 1928. 108 pp., 1 portrait. 18x13,5 cm. In original publisher’s constructivist wrappers by Alexander Rodchenko. Minor tears and spots. Minor restoration. Previous owner’s signature on the title-page (1924). Otherwise very good.

First edition. 1 of 3,000 copies. With Mayakovsky’s photographic portrait. Constructivist wrapper design by one of the founders of Constructivism and Russian design Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956).

A classic example of Mayakovsky-Rodchenko’s revolutionary collaboration that inspired the book and advertising industry in the 1920s Soviet Union.
Published in 1928, this book features 23 poems written by Mayakovsky in the period from 1927 to 1928. The edition came out 2 years before the poet’s suicide, becoming one of the author’s last works. At the time the book was published, Mayakovsky’s disillusionment both in the Soviet Union and his affair with Lilya Brik had reached their peaks. Although the poems featured in the collection stand aloof from both of the topics, still, they subtly reveal tragic motifs that began to appear in Mayakovsky’s oeuvre in the late 1920s. Importantly, in the New Poems, the author reflects on his tense relationship with editors and critics, who rejected his works under the claims of being incomprehensible: “Between the writer and the reader there are intermediaries, and the taste of the intermediary is the most mediocre.”
Mayakovsky’s inner experiences that revolved around his disenchantment with the Soviet regime, the essence of poetry, and love, culminated two years later, ending the life of one of the greatest Soviet poets.

Price: $2,500.00