Rodchenko, Aleksandr (designer).

[SOVIET AVANT-GARDE] Katalog agitatsionno-propagandistskoi literatury [A catalog of agitational and propagandistic literature].

Moscow, Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo, Torgovyi sektor [Trade sector], November 1, 1925. Octavo (22.8 × 15.2 cm). Original pictorial wrappers by Aleksandr Rodchenko; 100, [4] pp. Barely noticable professional restoration to spine; else very good. Item #54652

A catalog of propagandistic literature for 1925 compiled by Gosizdat (the Soviet State Publisher), with Constructivist wrappers by the artist and photographer Aleksandr Rodchenko (1891–1956). The catalog includes titles on a great range of topics, from the cooperative movement, religion, literature, cinema, and worker clubs, to Soviet law, economics, politics, Leninism, and critical works on Trotskyism, with the latter two subjects including numerous titles by Stalin. A list of political posters and broadsides as well as publisher advertising concludes the catalog. Rodchenko’s use of opposing diagonals for the wrappers of this volume is iconic for this period, and is similar to the contemporaneous designs he created for Transpechat publications as shown in nos. 174–179 in Dabrowski, et.al. ed. "Aleksandr Rodchenko: Painting, Drawing, Collage, Design, Photography, 1998". His full signature to front wrapper would change to the acronym “AR” in later years. Likely because of the Stalin titles listed in this catalog, the volume was included in the 1961 “Consolidated list of books to be removed from libraries and bookseller’s networks” produced as part of the de-Stalinization effort during the Thaw. Despite its relatively large print run of 30000 copies, and likely because of the inclusion in the 1961 de-Stalinization list, the catalog is thus very rare.

As of February 2025, KVK, OCLC only trace a single copy worldwide, at Harvard.

Price: €2,500.00

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