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[SOVIET CHILDREN’S PHOTO BOOK ABOUT SEMYON BUDYONNY] Khutorskaya komanda: [Povest' o Budennom]: Dlya mladshego [i srednego] vozrasta [i.e. The Farm Team: [The Tale of Budyonny]: For Younger and Middle Ages]]

Vsevolozhsky, I.

Item #2541

Moscow; Leningrad: Detizdat, 1938. 224 pp.: black-and-white ill. 22,5x17,4 cm. In original publisher’s cloth binding with a black-and-white illustration mounted on the front board. Binding slightly worn, but otherwise near fine.

Scarce. First edition. Text in Russian. The second, third, and fourth editions printed in 1940, 1958, and 1965, respectively. Unlike later editions, the first edition features approximately 27 black-and-white photographs by N. Kononov, who appears to have been the chief photographer for the 1938 film Childhood of the Marshal, adapted from the novel.
An interesting Soviet photobook and the first edition of the well-known children’s novel about Semyon Budyonny (1883-1973), the Soviet cavalryman and a close political ally of Joseph Stalin. The novel was written in 1937 by Soviet author and playwright Igor Vsevolozhsky (1903–1967). The following year, it was adapted into the feature film Childhood of the Marshal, directed by Nikolai Lebedev (1897–1989) at the Lenfilm Studios. This first edition of the book incorporates photographs from the film set, logically woven into the narrative.
The novel recounts the childhood of Semyon Budyonny in a small Cossack hamlet of the Don Host Region. Despite working as a farmhand for the wealthy Cossack Gerasimov, young Semyon emerges as the leader of the “hamlet team.” Under his guidance, the boys defeat gymnasium student Apollon Gerasimov and other kulak sons. Semyon also proves his skill in traditional youth horse races, taking first place. His greatest challenge comes when he and his friends help the blacksmith Vasily escape from police custody. Before leaving, Vasily promises the boys that they will meet again in the revolutionary future.
The author, Igor Vsevolozhsky, was a Soviet writer known for adventure, historical, and naval prose. He gained recognition with books about Marshal Semyon Budyonny (Khutorskaya komanda, Vosem smelykh budennovtsev, Otryady v stepi), General Oka Gorodovikov (V boyakh i pokhodakh), and a series of novels about sailors (Ukhozim zavtra v more, V moryakh tvoi dorogi, Baltiyskie vetry, Raskinulos’ more shiroko, Plenniki morya, Neulovimyy monitor, Zolotaya baltiyskaya osen’). He also wrote science-fiction adventures, including Sud’ba prozorlivtsa (1948) and Peshchera kapitana Nemo (1946). As a teenager, Vsevolozhsky took part in the Russian Civil War, and during the Great Patriotic War he served in the Black Sea Fleet.
Worldcat shows 3 copies of the edition at the Indiana University, Stanford University, and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Price: $1,250.00