Soviet Postcards

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August 9 is Tove Jansson’s birthday! The first photo here is the first of her books ever published in the Soviet Union (Moomins and the Comet Chase). The second photo shows all of her books published in the USSR. Most of her works were published in 1991-1992 - after the Soviet era.

You can find a comprehensive list of all Jansson’s book published in Russian here.

moomin books soviet ussr russia history photography vintage retro

Vintage Soviet navy-themed books. Love the hand-lettered designs!

It was Navy Day in Russia this past Sunday.

lettering design books soviet ussr russia history photography vintage retro

In my line of work, I get to go through a lot of books every day. Most of them I load off in the local library: endless classical works; books found in every Soviet house that nobody ever read; obsolete novelists; war memoirs etc. But sometimes, sometimes there is a GEM. And this one here is by far the biggest I’ve ever found.

I almost tremble when I touch it! Albeit the poor condition, it’s still magic.

So, let me show you this awesome book of fairy tales by Kornei Chukovsky with illustrations by none other then Vladimir Konashevich. Published in 1935. It has seven full-color plates that even feel different to the touch (almost like they’re real paintings, not prints).

It’s a very rare edition and I should probably stop touching it, but it’s so lovely and amazing! Oh, also fun to find little bits of old grammar, like итти, танцовать.