“What Is Air Fleet?” book by N. Anoschenko. Cover design by I. Meisner. Published in 1923.
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.
“A Jolly Bee” by N. Pavlovich, book published in 1930.
Russian traditional nursery rhymes illustrated by Yury Vasnetsov. Book from 1982 ()
First edition cover of Samuil Marshak’s “Yesterday and Today”, illustrated by Vladimir Lebedev (1925)
“Bicycle Is Your Friend” by P. Ippolitov, vintage Soviet book published in 1929
Child Nutrition, vintage cookbook 1963 ()
I love all the little illustrations! (I posted some of them here, including the infamous eggs with jam.)
“Tea”, vintage book designed by D. Shterenberg (1931)
Here’s something great for you. A very rare first edition of Eduard Uspensky’s book “Gena the Crocodile and His Friends” illustrated by V. Alfeyevsky (published in 1966). It’s the very first presentation of Cheburashka and he looks very different to how we know him now.
In the book Cheburashka was originally described as an “animal unknown to science”, with a body resembling that of a cub, puppy, rabbit or even “the Australian kangaroo”.
More pictures .
“First Autumn” by Osip Kolychev, book published in 1931
“March in the Forest” by Ivan Sokolov-Mikitov, illustrated by P. Bagin, 1988 ()
The Wooden Eagle, vintage book illustrated by Leonid Vladimirsky. Published in 1987 ()
Cover of The Forest Apothecary, vintage book by N. Verzilin (1943)
Swans - vintage Soviet book by N. Ledentsov, illustrated by A. Vazhova, 1988 ()
September 26 is Viktor Chizhikov’s birthday! He was born in 1935. He’s a very well-known Russian children’s book illustrator, and he’s the one who created Mishka, the mascot of 1980′s Olympic Games in Moscow.
He illustrated over 100 books. Here are some of his covers.
Konstantin Ushinsky “The Four Wishes” illustrated by Nikolai Ustinov (vintage book, 1987)