[UKRAINE – CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE PENCIL] Olyvets': narys z istorii kul'tury [The graphite pencil: a culture-historical essay].
Kyiv: Vydannia Dniprovs'k. soiuzu spozhyvchykh soiuziv Ukrainy, [1919]. Octavo (17.5 × 12.5 cm). Original staple-stitched pictorial wrappers; 16 pp. About very good; light overall creasing and toning; small ink number to rear wrapper. Item #54431
A curious cultural history of the pencil, published as the first volume of the series "Populiarno-Naukova biblioteka" (Popular scientific library), edited by the consumer cooperative Dniprosoiuz, which was founded in Kyiv in 1917. "Dniprosoiuz published a large number of Ukrainian books, particularly textbooks, and a periodical, Kooperatyvna zoria. It organized libraries, reading rooms, and drama groups. In 1920 the Soviets abolished Dniprosoiuz and replaced it with the All-Ukrainian Association of Consumer Co-operative Organizations in Kharkiv. During its existence Dniprosoiuz was headed by Dmytro Koliukh" (Online Encyclopedia of Ukraine, entry on Dniprosoiuz).
Wrappers by Okhrim Sudomora, an artist who worked as an illustrator in Lviv and Kharkiv until World War II, but about whom little else is known. He illustrated the book "Fun Work, a Folk Song" (Krakow and L'viv, 1944) and may have been involved with a series of powerful anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi propaganda produced by Ukrainian nationalists in post-war Germany. In 1949, he was arrested for anti-Soviet activities in 1949 and received a twenty-five-year sentence, later living in poverty and obscurity.
As of May 2026, not traced via KVK, OCLC.
Price: €250.00