![ERENBURG, Il'ia Grigor'evich (1891-1967) and Diego RIVERA (1886-1957, illustrator). O zhilete Semena Drozda. Molitva. [About Semen Drozd's waistcoat. A Prayer]. Paris: Rirachovsky, 1917. [Offered with:] BELYI, Andrei, (1880-1934). Peterburg. [Petersburg]. St Petersburg: Stasjulevich, 1916. [And with:] BULGAKOV, Mikhail Afanasyevich (1891-1940). Dyavolnada: rasskazy. [Diaboliad. Tales]. Moscow: Nedra, 1925. [And with:] KLIUEV, Nikolai Alekseevich (1884-1937). Sosen perezvon. [The Ringing of Pines]. Moscow: V.I. Znamenskii, 1912. [And with:] PLATONOV, Andrei (1899-1951). Reka Potudan' [Potudan River]. Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel', 1937. [And with:] CHORNY, Sasha (Aleksandr Mikhailovich Glikberg, 1880-1932). Satiry. [Satire]. St Petersburg: Kornfeld, 1910.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_18466_0097_000(erenburg_ilia_grigorevich_and_diego_rivera_o_zhilete_semena_drozda_mol121134).jpg?w=1)
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ERENBURG, Il'ia Grigor'evich (1891-1967) and Diego RIVERA (1886-1957, illustrator). O zhilete Semena Drozda. Molitva. [About Semen Drozd's waistcoat. A Prayer]. Paris: Rirachovsky, 1917. [Offered with:] BELYI, Andrei, (1880-1934). Peterburg. [Petersburg]. St Petersburg: Stasjulevich, 1916. [And with:] BULGAKOV, Mikhail Afanasyevich (1891-1940). Dyavolnada: rasskazy. [Diaboliad. Tales]. Moscow: Nedra, 1925. [And with:] KLIUEV, Nikolai Alekseevich (1884-1937). Sosen perezvon. [The Ringing of Pines]. Moscow: V.I. Znamenskii, 1912. [And with:] PLATONOV, Andrei (1899-1951). Reka Potudan' [Potudan River]. Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel', 1937. [And with:] CHORNY, Sasha (Aleksandr Mikhailovich Glikberg, 1880-1932). Satiry. [Satire]. St Petersburg: Kornfeld, 1910.
A group of six first editions, including two presentation copies (Erenburg, Platonov). I. Presentation copy from writer to artist, very rare (100 copies printed), one of Rivera’s earliest book illustrations, a rare occurrence in the cubist style. Writer and artist became acquainted (indeed friends) in Paris, where the young Erenburg took refuge. Montparnasse’s artistic scene, including Rivera, Picasso and Modigliani, soon exerted a more potent attraction than the exiles’ Bolshevik organization. Not in Kilgour. II: First edition in book form, rare. Bely’s masterpiece appeared first in 1913-1914 in Sirin. A daring piece of experimental literature, the novel is imbued with synesthetic renderings of colours and sounds, in a most evocative depiction of St Petersburg during the 1905 Revolution. Kilgour 183; Lesman 245. III: First edition. In August 1923 Bulgakov wrote to the writer Y. Slezki, ‘I finished the Diaboliad, but it is unlikely to go anywhere. Lezhnev [editor of Rossiya] has rejected it’. IV: Kliuv’s first book. The leader of the so-called ‘peasant poets’, Kliuev debuts with blending symbolism, natural imagery and Russian folklore. V: Presentation copy of a rare book, affectionately inscribed by the author ‘To Andrei Nikitich Novikov, a longtime friend, this work is small and weak’. VI: First edition of the second book of verse by ‘one of the most active political satirists in St Petersburg’ (Terras). The author may have been encouraged by the success of his pieces in the popular magazine Satirikon, acclaim which Korney Chukovsky summed up ‘When somebody gets an issue of the magazine, the first things he looks for are the Sasha Chorny poems. There isn't a student, physician, or lawyer that does not know Chorny's verses by heart’.
Octavo. I: (160 x 120mm). Lithographed frontispiece by Diego Rivera. Stitched as issued. Provenance: Il'ia Grigor'evich Erenburg (inscribed to:) – Diego Rivera (1886-1957, artist; inscription dated 1 December 1916 ‘A mi amigo Diego Rivera’). II: Three parts in on vol.(235 x 165mm). (Very minor staining to lower outer corner in first 2 leaves.) Original grey printed wrappers (foot of spine a little worn with two small tears). III: (236 x157 mm). (Mild uniform browning.) Original wrappers printed in red and black (spine and lower edges restored); in a cloth box. IV: (200 x 130mm). With the final advertisements (uniform slight browning, few upper edges unopened). In the original publisher’s boards (scattered spots). V: (169 x 119mm). (Title skilfully repaired at gutter, light browning). Original cloth stamped in blind, silver and blue (spine discoloured, somewhat worn); in a card box. Provenance: Andrei Platonov (inscription to: ) – A. N. Novikov. VI: (207 x 143mm). Illustrations by Dobuzhinsky (title page repaired at gutter, occasional potting, mild browning). Contemporary quarter calf, spine filleted and lettered in gilt with gilt monogram E. P. at foot (hinges reinforced, spine ends and edges rubbed, corners bumped). Provenance: small bookseller stamp to rear pastedown.
A group of six first editions, including two presentation copies (Erenburg, Platonov). I. Presentation copy from writer to artist, very rare (100 copies printed), one of Rivera’s earliest book illustrations, a rare occurrence in the cubist style. Writer and artist became acquainted (indeed friends) in Paris, where the young Erenburg took refuge. Montparnasse’s artistic scene, including Rivera, Picasso and Modigliani, soon exerted a more potent attraction than the exiles’ Bolshevik organization. Not in Kilgour. II: First edition in book form, rare. Bely’s masterpiece appeared first in 1913-1914 in Sirin. A daring piece of experimental literature, the novel is imbued with synesthetic renderings of colours and sounds, in a most evocative depiction of St Petersburg during the 1905 Revolution. Kilgour 183; Lesman 245. III: First edition. In August 1923 Bulgakov wrote to the writer Y. Slezki, ‘I finished the Diaboliad, but it is unlikely to go anywhere. Lezhnev [editor of Rossiya] has rejected it’. IV: Kliuv’s first book. The leader of the so-called ‘peasant poets’, Kliuev debuts with blending symbolism, natural imagery and Russian folklore. V: Presentation copy of a rare book, affectionately inscribed by the author ‘To Andrei Nikitich Novikov, a longtime friend, this work is small and weak’. VI: First edition of the second book of verse by ‘one of the most active political satirists in St Petersburg’ (Terras). The author may have been encouraged by the success of his pieces in the popular magazine Satirikon, acclaim which Korney Chukovsky summed up ‘When somebody gets an issue of the magazine, the first things he looks for are the Sasha Chorny poems. There isn't a student, physician, or lawyer that does not know Chorny's verses by heart’.
Octavo. I: (160 x 120mm). Lithographed frontispiece by Diego Rivera. Stitched as issued. Provenance: Il'ia Grigor'evich Erenburg (inscribed to:) – Diego Rivera (1886-1957, artist; inscription dated 1 December 1916 ‘A mi amigo Diego Rivera’). II: Three parts in on vol.(235 x 165mm). (Very minor staining to lower outer corner in first 2 leaves.) Original grey printed wrappers (foot of spine a little worn with two small tears). III: (236 x157 mm). (Mild uniform browning.) Original wrappers printed in red and black (spine and lower edges restored); in a cloth box. IV: (200 x 130mm). With the final advertisements (uniform slight browning, few upper edges unopened). In the original publisher’s boards (scattered spots). V: (169 x 119mm). (Title skilfully repaired at gutter, light browning). Original cloth stamped in blind, silver and blue (spine discoloured, somewhat worn); in a card box. Provenance: Andrei Platonov (inscription to: ) – A. N. Novikov. VI: (207 x 143mm). Illustrations by Dobuzhinsky (title page repaired at gutter, occasional potting, mild browning). Contemporary quarter calf, spine filleted and lettered in gilt with gilt monogram E. P. at foot (hinges reinforced, spine ends and edges rubbed, corners bumped). Provenance: small bookseller stamp to rear pastedown.
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