Sovetskaya Azbuka [The Soviet Alphabet] (Facsimile edition)

Mayakovsky V.V. The Soviet Alphabet. Moscow, 1919 (facsimile edition).

In Russian literature, it is difficult to name a writer who took such an active part in the publication of his works as Mayakovsky. In many cases, he not only created the idea of the future book, but also directly embodied it, acting as a publisher, designer and printer. Therefore, the history of the publication of the poet's works is, in the true sense of the word, part of his human and creative biography. Among the books of the poet of the first years of the revolution, as well as among the pre-revolutionary ones, there is an edition published not by the publishing house, but by himself. The experience of working on the poster and the desire to make the poetic word more accessible to a new reader - Red Army soldier - prompted the poet to act as an illustrator of his own works. Moreover, in this case, the style of Mayakovsky's drawings was distinguished by the desire for novelty, the use of original pictorial solutions, and a return to the origins of folk splint. In October 1919, the alphabet was published in a separate edition, without the author's name, with drawings lithographed by Mayakovsky himself for each letter. It was reset with an unstitched notebook. Part of the print run was hand-painted. Original copies of this Alphabet are extremely rare. A limited facsimile edition is offered.