Ageev, Boris.

[SOVIET BODYBUILDING SAMIZDAT] Sekrety krasoty tela chelovecheskogo: rukopisnyi spravochnik [Beauty secrets of the human body: a handwritten reference guide].

USSR: self-published, 1963–1966. Hand-crafted volume bound with five metal rings, measuring 15 × 19 cm; 38 leaves of coated card stock, of which 23 with hand-lettered texts, collages, and hand-drawn illustrations and charts, in ink and felt tip pen to rectos and versos. Light soil to a few leaves; some leaves slightly warped due to the acidity of the glue; overall very good. Item #55740

A unique copy of a stylishly designed and illustrated self-published work on bodybuilding ("kul’turizm"), a practice that was intermittently outlawed, legalized, and outlawed again in the Soviet Union in the post-WWII period. The album includes instructions for exercises, weight charts, dietary advice, instructions on measuring biceps circumference, as well as a model diary to be copied out and used for personal development by aspiring bodybuilders. In contrast to weightlifting, an Olympic sport which was seen as productive for building strength and resilience, the primarily aesthetic goals of bodybuilding were seen as features of Western decadence by Soviet authorities. A possible decoy, the opening pages of this volume feature aerobic exercises for women, including detailed instructions and illustrations cut out of women’s magazines, presented under the slogan “A beautiful figure cannot be made at a beauty salon!” The majority of the volume however is dedicated to male bodybuilding, celebrating such personalities as the US weightlifting and bodybuilding champion Tommy Kono, the Polish bodybuilder Mieczysław Krydziński, and the Soviet weightlifting legend Vladimir Stogov among others. Judging by the illustrations and the presented information, the collection was compiled from magazines of the Warsaw Pact countries where policies toward bodybuilding were more liberal. Unlike most samizdat publications, this album is entirely hand-written by the author in “print-like” script, with italicized or underlined passages, artistically designed titles, section openings, and endings.

Nothing is known of the author, Boris Vladimirovich Ageev, whose name appears on the inside of the front wrapper. The date of creation of the text, indicated as 1963–1966, is significant for preceding the first officially published Soviet manuals on bodybuilding. In 1968, Georgii Tenno's “Athleticism” and Boris Pustovoi’s “Exercises with dumbbells, shock absorbers, kettlebells, and barbells”, were published nearly simultaneously, making a samizdat publication like this somewhat absolete. Another anti-bodybuilding campaign appeared in the Soviet press in the early 1970s, forcing the sport into semi-underground until the mid-1980s.

Price: €950.00

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