“Thought After Thought”, an exquisitely designed diary published in Saint Petersburg in 1885.
This blog is about old postcards, book illustration and all kinds of paper whimsy from the Soviet Union. I'm a long time collector, and this blog is 7 years old. I have an etsy shop for cards, books, pins and vintage finds from Russia.
Kokovar. The purest butter for eating. (Advertising postcard, early 20th century.)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Russia, 1892)
Art Nouveau book covers from Russia.
Poems of S. Nadson (1909)
Bakhchisarai Fountain, Alexander Pushkin (1892)
Essays of the Newest History, I. Grigorovich (c. 1900)
T. Passek’s Memoirs (1905)
Encyclopaedia of Butterflies (1897)
Illustrations from “Siberian Flora”, book published in St Petersburg in 1749.
Duchess Maria Trubetskaya reading. Photograph by Karl Bulla (1914)
January 25 - , widely celebrated in Russia as the Students Day.
Congratulations to all Tatyanas and students :)
Mikhail Bulgakov in his study in Kiev (1913)
С Рождеством!
Въ метель по лѣсу шёлъ лѣсникъ,
Къ себѣ въ сторожку поспѣшая,
Гдѣ съ нетерпѣньемъ, каждый мигъ
Ждала его семья родная.
Тамъ такъ тепло… Огни горятъ,
Тамъ ёлка —дѣтская утѣха!..
И стѣны домика дрожатъ
Отъ крика громкаго и смѣха…
И бодро онъ скорѣй идётъ,
И трудъ тяжёлый, рядъ заботъ
Въ родной семьѣ онъ позабудетъ,
И, видя радостныхъ дѣтей,
Глаза ихъ — солнышка яснѣй, —
Онъ счастьемъ ихъ самъ счастливь будетъ!
(А. Доровъ, Светлячок, 1902 г., №24)
Christmas verse by A. Dorov as published in the Firefly children’s magazine in 1902 (written using the old Russian grammar). Illustration by A. Kucherenko.
(via Russian State Children’s Library)
One of Orthodox Christmas traditions is koledari - a kind of Christmas caroling. One of Russian names for Christmas eve is коляда, and koledari is called similarly–колядки.
Here are some 19 century postcards depicting koledari.
January 6 is Orthodox Christmas Eve. Here are some antique (pre-Soviet) postcards that celebrate Christmas.
(from Yuri Kombolin’s collection)
Antique Christmas postcards (1907-1913). Although these are in Russian, we can easily guess that they were published in Germany. Pigs are a symbol of prosperity and luck in Germany (along with toadstools, chimney sweeps, four leaf clover and mistletoe). These postcards are packed! :)
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Lights. Christmas almanac for children. Russia, 1912
Саша Чёрный. Два желания.
I
Жить на вершине голой,
Писать простые сонеты…
И брать от людей из дола
Хлеб вино и котлеты.
II
Сжечь корабли и впереди, и сзади,
Лечь на кровать, не глядя ни на что,
Уснуть без снов и, любопытства ради,
Проснуться лет чрез сто.
<1909>
(1880-1932)
Two Wishes
1.
To live on an exposed peak,
To write uncomplicated sonnets…
Being sustained by the peasants
With bread, wine, and cutlets.
2.
To burn my ships, those behind and ahead,
To lie down, looking at nothing, in bed.
Drift into dreamless sleep and, for ken’s sake,
Some one hundred years or so hence, awake.
(1909)