Detskii Ostrov (Children's Island)
Berlin & Gdansk: Slovo, 1921. First edition. Hardcover. 159 pages. 31 x 25 cm. Illustrated with lithographs by B. D. Grigoriev. Lithographed title, 19 full-page lithographs, illustrations in text. Grigoriev, a brilliant social cartoonist also exhibited with Mir Iskusstva [The World of Art]. Some of his most delightful pictures appear here. "Line encloses all the weight of form within its angles and dispenses with all the immaterial," he explained. "Line is the creator's swiftest and most immediate method of expression." Like Vladimir Nabokov, Sasha Chorny left for Berlin in 1920 and eventually settled in Paris. The Soviets reprinted Detskii Ostrov in 1928 with new illustrations. Chorny died of a heart attack while helping his neighbors put out a fire. Rats Collection 74; Rossiiskaia Gosudarstvennaia Biblioteka, Klassika, 2006, p.229. Free front endpaper renewed, modest extremity rubbing. Original cloth-backed boards with a hand-colored lithographed label designed by Grigoriev. Top edge dyed yellow. Item #22129
Price: $3,250.00