Lebedenko, A[leksandr], A[vgusta] Rashkovskaia, and Georgii Fitingof, artist.

[WESTERN MODELS FOR SOVIET ARCHITECTURE] Sovremennaia Amerika [Contemporary America].

Leningrad: "Vokrug sveta" [Krasnaia gazeta], 1929. Octavo (17 × 12.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 100 pp. Illustrations throughout. Professional restoration to wrapper edges and spine; toned due to stock; owner signature to title and some chapter headings; internally about very good. Item #54624

A volume about contemporary America for broad Soviet audiences, co-written by the literary critic and journalist Avgusta Rashkovskaia (1898–1988) and writer and journalist Aleksandr Lebedenko (1892–1975), with constructivist-inspired wrapper design by the Soviet graphic artist and illustrator Georgii Fitingof (1905–1975). Published as part of the popular series Vokrug sveta (Around the world), the volume presents America as a land of technical progress, especially as regards large scale construction, engineering, and architecture, that is however beset by social problems. Numerous illustrations include photographs of skyscraper skylines, car-filled city streets, women workers in aircraft factories, as well as curiosities such as mobile church buses and the enormous size of advertising projectors. These images of “progress” are contrasted with photos of crowds of unemployed, streets filled with striking workers, demonstrations in support of the USSR, and a demonstration in support of Sacco and Vanzetti among others. Rashkovskaia and Lebedenko published a similar volume, titled “Contemporary England”, in 1928, with this their second collaboration. Publisher advertising to rear wrapper.

As of June 2025, KVK, OCLC show two copies worldwide and only one in North America.

Price: €450.00

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