Rare first edition. This booklet without words and only with illustrations resembling Paleolithic cave paintings has been called by scholars “the chef-d’oeuvre of a master” and “the testimony of his [Lebedev’s] artistic maturity” [Fomin, “Novaia estetika detskoi knigi,” p. 12]. The second edition appeared more than forty years later and was accompanied by an art historical commentary that praised the book as one of the most remarkable examples of Russian avant-garde graphic art.  

*Ella Gankina, Russkie khudozhniki detskoy knigi [Russian Children’s Book Illustrators] (Moscow 1963), p. 230; Polly and Irving Allen Collection of Early 20th Century Books Illustrated by Russian Artists at Amherst, PG 3476 .L446 O44 1925; Historical Children's Literature Collection at University of Washington [Online Database]; Dmitriy Fomin, “Novaia estetika detskoi knigi,” in Kniga dlia detei 1881–1939, ed. by Vladimir Semenikhin, vol. 2 (2009).