Bookvica

[SINGAPORE] Puteshestvie v zharkie strany [i.e. Journey to Hot Countries]

Polyanovsky, M.

Item #2869

Moscow; Leningrad: Detizdat, 1937. 138, [2] pp., plus one folding map. 23x18 cm. Illustrated throughout. Original publisher’s cloth binding designed by L. Litvak. Binding slightly rubbed, routes on the map are captioned in contemporary Georgian; otherwise in very good condition.

First and only edition. Extensively illustrated throughout with photographs, taken by the author. Folding map at the end (33x33 cm), whooping the route of the ship, is designed by Sergei Rastorguev.

The volume tells the story of the trip, undertaken by a steamship ’Sergo Ordzhonikidze’ from Sebastopol (Crimea) to Vladivostok, with four stops on the way: Istanbul, Colombo, Singapore and Manilla. The author, Maks Leonidovich Polyanovsky (1901–1977), was hired as a sailor on the boat: the book was planned as a result of his trip.

Pages 74-114 are dedicated to ship’s stay in Singapore, where it was repaired and ended up spending the winter. The author starts with describing the navigation to the harbour, continuing to describing the city: the trolley buses and street car impresses him, as well as the fact that the windows don’t have glass in them. The tradition of rickshaw has offended him (how can one ride a cart, that is harnessed with a human?), one of them were called up to the ship and asked to join the crew for supper. Author was very interested in the state of living of the lower classes in the city: spent a night on the plantation, talked to the rubber sellers, records his conversations with the indigenous population. The interactions with English engineers, who visited the ship, are also recorded, as well as the visit of the Chinese oil baron, to whom the book ’USSR is building socialism’ was presented (1935 publication, designed by El Lissitzky). To the crew of the Italian ship, that stayed nearby, the nearly-released movie ‘Chelyuskin, Heroes of the Arctic (1934)’ was shown. The factory, where ’Sergo’ was being restored, is also described, as well as the Chinese vendors outside of it, overall the Chinese population of the city is described in the last pages of the chapter.

Sergei Nikolaevich Rastorguev (1895–1943) was a Soviet painter, landscape artist, and graphic designer. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture between 1914 and 1918. Rastorguev worked as an illustrator for the newspaper Gudok (1922–1930) and later for the publishing house Molodaia Gvardiia during the 1930s. He was a member of the Association of Graphic Artists at the House of Printing (1927–1928) and the artistic group 13 (1929–1930). His works were exhibited at the Fifth Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Painters and Graphic Artists in Feodosia (1929), the Second Traveling Exhibition (1930), and Soviet art exhibitions in London, Berlin, and Stockholm (all 1930). Today his works are held in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery and other museums.

Price: $950.00