RUSSIAN - Bloomsbury Auctions

Lot 21
Lot 23
Lot 21. BENOIS, Alexandre
[Aleksandr Nikolaevich Benua] (1870-1960).
Igrushki [Toys]. A collection of 10 postcards of Russian folk toys,
issued to benefit the St. Evgenya Red Cross Society and lithographed
in color by N. Kadushin, St. Petersburg, 1905. Each 140 x 95 mm.
Condition: unused postcards with minor wear and soiling; one
creased slightly.
Among his many other interests, Benois was a passionate collector
of hand-made folk toys. He began buying them in the 1890s and
soon became one of the leading experts in the field. Bakst studied
Benois’ toys when he was working on his costume designs for the
1903 ballet Feya kukol [The Doll Fairy]. (10)
$1200 – $1800
Lot 22. BILIBIN, Ivan Yakovlevich (1876-1942) (illustrator).
Skazki [Fairy Tales]. [St. Petersburg]: Ekspeditsiya zagotovleniya
gosudarstvennykh bumag, 1901-1903. 4 volumes: Skazka ob Ivane
Tsareviche, Zhar-ptitse i o serom volke [The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich, the
Fire Bird and the Grey Wolf]; Tsarevna Lyagushka [The Frog Princess];
Sestritsa Alenushka i bratetse Ivanushka; Belaya utochka [Little Sister
Alena and Little Brother Ivan; and The Little White Duck]; and Marya
Morevna. Chromolithographs after I. Ya. Bilibin. Folio (320 x 255
mm). Two with original decorated wrappers; two bound in one
volume in cloth-backed boards. Condition: discolored, soiled and
some foxing; one book rebacked with pages loose.
I. Ya. Bilibin established his reputation as the greatest illustrator of
Russian fairy tales with this elegant series. The environment he created
for these beautifully printed picture books derived from artist’s vast
knowledge of old provincial Russian architecture and folk arts. (4)
$1000 – $1500
Lot 23. BRODSKY, Joseph
[Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodskii] (1940-1996).
Stikhotvoreniya i poemy [Verses and Poems]. Washington, D.C.: Inter-
Language Literary Associates, 1965. 8vo (195 x 140 mm). Original
gray wrappers. Condition: backstrip lightly faded; minor thumbsoiling
to wrappers with tape residue to front.
the 1987 nobel prize winner’s collection of poems was
published abroad after he was sentenced to five years
of hard labor for “social parasitism” in 1964. This edition
is rumored to have been financed by the CIA. He was exiled from
the Soviet Union in 1972 and was later named poet laureate of the
United States in 1991.
$700 – $1000
Lot 24. BURLIUK, David (1882-1967) [editor].
Color and Rhyme. 38 issues (of 66 published): numbers 17-24, 26, 29-31, 33-53, 55-57, 60 and 66. Various sizes. In Russian and English.
Numbers 31, 33, 34, and 37-41 are bound separately in green cloth and includes a Burliuk letter as a pastedown on front endpaper addressed
to Boris Viktorovich Smerenskii to whom this volume is also inscribed. This volume also includes an original inlaid graphic cover and
booklets for 1930 Burliuk exhibit at the Roerich Museum and a 1933 exhibit at the Academy of Allied Arts, both in New York.
Numbers 49, 55 and 60 inscribed to B. Smerenskii with owner’s bookplates and stamp on front free endpapers; Number 53 with editorial
corrections. Number 66 was the final issue and was “Published in honor of poet-artist David Burliuk by Mary Burliuk” subsequent to his
death in 1967. Numbers 31 and 49 are devoted to articles and reminiscences of Mayakovsky. Condition: covers partially detached on a few
issues, occasional light spotting and thumbsoiling.
an astonishing collection that spans over twenty years (1947-1970) from the perspective of the great ukrainian artist
as an émigré in new york. News clippings, exhibit announcements, letters to the editor, art reviews, travel pieces, editorials, and all manner
of art-related commentary cobbled together in a compelling and engaging fashion. Illustrated throughout.
From 1930 to 1966 Burliuk and his wife, Marussia, published Color & Rhyme, primarily concerned with charting Burliuk’s activities. He was
the co-founder of the Futurist movement in Russia and a founding member in Germany of both Der Blaue Reiter and Der Sturm. He moved
to the United States in 1922, and settled in New York. Besides being her husband’s muse (evidenced by the numerous portraits Burliuk
composed of her), Marussia Burliuk acted as publisher and occasional contributor to this seminal avant-garde arts periodical. (38)
$5000 – $8000
1 Russian Literature & Art Russian Literature & Art 19
Lot 24