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[ZIELONY KLIN AUTHOR] Kazka pro dyvnoho zmiia. Obrazky vykonav Petro Andrusiv [A Tale of a Miraculous Serpent. Illustrations by Petro Andrusiv]

Donchak, T[ykhon]

Item #2618

Lviv: Drukarnia OO. Vasyliian u Zhovkvi for Vydavnytstvo “Svit Dytyny”, 1932. 16.5 x 12 cm. 44 pp, ills. in text. Publisher’s illustrated wrappers. In Ukrainian. Overall very good condition. Inner front wrapper, title and a few subsequent leaves exhibit a 2 cm grease stain. The rear wrapper bears numeric pencil annotation. Minor spotting of the title. Numbers in walnut ink and a rubber stamp reading Narodnii Bazar. Ukrainska knyharnia on title. The block exhibits characteristic age-toning, fragility; but good & sound.

Cover art in striking, sharp black and red, heightened with decorative typeface used for the edition’s title. Illustrations in style of folkloric modernism throughout the text, all by Petro Andrusiv (1906–1981).

Andrusiv’s prolific, fruitful career was launched by a serendipitous encounter. Herbert Clark Hoover, the future 31st President of the United States, was visiting Poland and became rather impressed by the drawings of a 13-year-old artist. Hoover arranged the boy’s continuous tuition at an art school. Later, enjoying the Interwar Galician bookpublishing boom, Andrusiv created dozens of book designs, some complete with cover, outlay and illustrations — and became a brand of his own. The cover of Kazka pro dyvnoho zmiia signals a skilled artist using what seems to be a zincographic deception of a daemon sitting on a globe: an image originally encompassing elements of art nouveau and constructivism. One of Andrusiv’ long-lasting clients was Vydavnytstvo “Svit Dytyny”, responsible for the present edition. It strived to fill the void of children’s literature in the national—vernacular Ukrainian—language. Set up and run for two decades by Mykhailo Taranko (1888–1956), the printing house focused on adventurous stories, like Andersen fables and shortened adaptations of J. Swift’s novels. Striving to balance Western fiction and national material, Taranko also managed to publish some local writers.

Kazka pro dyvnoho zmiia is authored by Tykhon Donchak. Sources (e.g. Drozdovska, 2017) indicates that Donchak was a political and educational figure, active from the 1910s while in Khabarovsk, during the noted Zielony Klin immigration movement. Donchak held administrative posts within the Ukrainians community and even represented the migrants in the city’s parliament. The story is a typical coming-of-age novel, with a regional twist. The story revolves around a family of three: tireless mother, her good-meaning daughter and her lazy brother Petrus. The mother tries to discipline Petrus with some beatings; Petrus runs away and gets in the captivity of a terrifying serpent. But instead of eating the human child, this serpent forces the boy into learning the value of labour, field work and attentive housecare. A number of years pass and Petrus learns what it is to be a man and one’s own master. Petrus returns home and swiftly becomes the pillar of the local society.

Extremely scarce. Not in KVK. Not in WorldCat. According to Ilnytska, a single copy is held at the National Library of Ukraine.

Price: $750.00