1076 - Avant-garde - Russia - Kruchenyh, Aleksey E. Two volumes on Sergei Yesenin. Moscow, self-published, 1926. Illustrated original paperbacks (tarnished due to the paper, slightly stained; one volume with missing pages that have been filled in; slight edge wear).

Avant-garde - Russia - Kruchenyh, Aleksey E. Two volumes on Sergei Yesenin. Moscow, self-published, 1926. Illustrated original paperbacks (tarnished due to the paper, slightly stained; one volume with missing pages that have been filled in; slight edge wear). Contains: I. Chornaya tajna Esenina. (Yesenin’s Dark Secret). Constructivist cover design and featuring a portrait plate by Valentina Kulagina-Klucis. 24 pp., (1 blank leaf). 19 x 13.5 cm. - First edition. - Blyum, 1092. - The 136th “production” according to the author’s count. - Browned due to the nature of the paper. - II. Gibel’ Esenina. Kak Esenin prishel k samoubijstvu. (The Death of Yesenin. How Yesenin Came to Commit Suicide). Constructivist cover design, with a portrait plate. - Second, revised edition (the first was published as “Drama Esenina”). - MoMA, 666. - Blyum, 1088. Production No. 134a according to the author’s count. - Browned due to the paper, with slight brown spots in places, slight transfer marks; the plate has a lead-ink ownership note in the margin. - Includes: I. Grigor’ev, Sergei T. Proroki i predtechi Poslednego zaveta. Imazhinisty Esenin, Kusikov, Mariengof. (Prophets and Forerunners of the Last Testament. The Imaginists Yesenin, Kussikov, Mariengof). Moscow, SAAV, 1921. 45 pp. 24.5 x 19 cm. Original typographic paperback (slightly browned and creased, back cover with edge discoloration). - First edition. - The publisher is actually a self-publishing house (identified by an acronym) and published only this edition. - Untrimmed. - Some crease marks, otherwise in good condition. Included: II. Gumilev, Nikolai S. *Pis’ma o russkoj poezii* (Letters on Russian Poetry). Petrograd, Central Publishing Cooperative *Mysl’*, 1923. 223 pp. 20 x 13 cm. Later imitation leather binding with the original paperback bound inside (paperback slightly stained and browned, back cover stamped twice). - First edition. - The poet was arrested in the year of publication on charges of “counterrevolutionary conspiracy” and shot shortly thereafter; however, his works were not officially banned. This edition was printed at the military printing house of the General Staff of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants. This copy features the rarely preserved cover. - Browned due to the paper. *