Illustrated Collections of Russian Satirical and Political Periodicals, and Music Cover Designs at the Library of Congress: An Overview

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1 Slavic & East European Information Resources ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: Illustrated Collections of Russian Satirical and Political Periodicals, and Music Cover Designs at the Library of Congress: An Overview Harold M. Leich To cite this article: Harold M. Leich (2010) Illustrated Collections of Russian Satirical and Political Periodicals, and Music Cover Designs at the Library of Congress: An Overview, Slavic & East European Information Resources, 11:2-3, , DOI: / To link to this article: Published online: 08 Sep Submit your article to this journal Article views: 313 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

2 Slavic & East European Information Resources, 11: , 2010 ISSN: print/ online DOI: / Illustrated Collections of Russian Satirical and Political Periodicals, and Music Cover Designs at the Library of Congress: An Overview HAROLD M. LEICH Library of Congress, Washington, District of Columbia, USA The article describes a collection of Russian satirical and political periodicals, and the acquisition and availability of the Viktor Kholodkov Collection of Music Cover Designs.Both collections are located in the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress. The majority of the issues in the collection of 221 periodical titles date to the period of the first Russian Revolution, KEYWORDS Russian periodicals, satire, political cartoons, political periodicals, sheet music, graphic design, moderne, constructivism, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Laurence McGilveray, Viktor Kholodkov Collection of Music Cover Designs COLLECTION OF ILLUSTRATED RUSSIAN SATIRICAL AND POLITICAL PERIODICALS Introduction and Background This special collection at the Library of Congress consists of 720 issues of 221 bibliographic titles, almost entirely in Russian, and bound into ten large volumes. Because the issues are heavily illustrated, the collection is located in the Library s Prints & Photographs Division and is available for use in that division s reading room, located in the James Madison Memorial Building, This article is not subject to U.S. copyright law. The author would like to thank Helena Zinkham (Acting Chief, Prints & Photographs Division) and Elisabeth Parker (Prints & Photographs Division) for the opportunity to work on these collections, and Barbara Dash (rare book cataloger and recommending officer for Russian literature, Rare Materials Section, USAN) for supplying the photographs accompanying this article. Address correspondence to Harold M. Leich, MS, MA, Russian Area Specialist, European Division, The Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, DC 20540, USA. hlei@loc.gov 142

3 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals 143 Room The overwhelming majority of materials in the collection are from the years , when official censorship in Russia had been greatly eased as a result of the first Russian Revolution, and numerous new publications, often surviving for only one or at most a few issues, sprang up. The collection also contains some earlier materials (from 1858, 1885, 1890, and ) as well as titles published by Russian émigrés in Western Europe (London, Paris, Geneva), in countries beyond the reach of the Russian censor. Finally, a few issues from 1917 are included in the collection, and on the whole the issues have been bound up somewhat arbitrarily. The first eight volumes contain what are called satirical journals, each with its own mix of cartoons, caricatures, drawings, photographs, and other visuals, as well as poetry, songs, satirical prose, short stories, and political commentary. Contributors include established authors and artists, as well as new voices and talents representing many different points of view. Volumes 1 through 4 contain 404 issues of 115 titles bound into one single alphabetic sequence (in the order of the pre-revolutionary Russian alphabet). Volume 5 contains primarily unnumbered issues of periodical-like publications, most likely sample issues or trial numbers of proposed new publications. Volumes 6, 7, and 8 contain satirical periodicals in a separate Russian alphabetic sequence for each volume. (See Figures 1 12). Volumes 9 and 10 of the set contain forty-nine political periodicals, almost none of which is illustrated. These journals, in contrast to the satirical periodicals, provide more serious political commentary and analyses of the Russian political scene at the time they were published. They include several of the most important Russian-language periodicals published in emigration, in Geneva, London, and Paris. The Library of Congress s collection of Russian satirical and political periodicals, almost all of them from the era of the first Russian revolution, is one of the largest such collections in the United States and compares in size and scope to collections of similar materials at the major libraries in Russia itself. Many of the FIGURE 1 Al manakh [Almanac]. 1906, no. 1. Added title page.

4 144 H. M. Leich FIGURE 2 Argus [Argus]. 1906, no. 9. Front cover. FIGURE 3 Shtyk [Bayonet]. 1906, no. 6. Caricature of Maksim Gor kii. FIGURE 4 Verbnyi bazar [Palm Sunday fair]. 1906, no. 1. Page 5.

5 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals 145 FIGURE 5 Ezh [Hedgehog]. 1907, no. 3. Cover. FIGURE 6 Zritel [Spectator]. 1905, no. 16. Illustration facing page 4. FIGURE 7 Adskaia pochta [Diabolical mail]. 1906, no. 1. Pages 3 4.

6 146 H. M. Leich FIGURE 8 Aksioma [Axiom]. 1906, no. 1. Front cover. FIGURE 9 Bich [Whip]. 1917, no. 13. Page 4. FIGURE 10 Vampir [Vampire]. 1906, no. 1. Cover.

7 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals 147 FIGURE 11 Velikaia Moskva [Great Moscow]. 1905, trial issue. Page 3. FIGURE 12 Volshebnyi fonar [Magic lantern]. 1906, no. 4. periodicals published one or only a few issues in total, so the library s collection of most of these periodicals is, in fact, more complete than might be immediately evident when inspecting the holdings statements for each title. Provenance The provenance of the materials in the ten bound volumes is not known for certain. It is possible that some of the pre-1907 publications came to the Library of Congress with the large Yudin Collection, purchased by the library in November 1906 from Krasnoiarsk book collector Gennadii Vasil evich Yudin ( ). The materials were bound by the library after receipt (in a typical LC red buckram binding, with the Library of Congress logo stamped on the spine). In some cases, additional issues acquired since the majority was bound have been inserted loose into the appropriate places.

8 148 H. M. Leich For a number of years the volumes were shelved in the arrearage area of the library s Slavic Section (now the European Division), and given the Yudin Collection ex libris, most likely because most Russian acquisitions at LC into the late 1920s were considered a continuation of the original Yudin collection and so plated. 2 The volumes were transferred to the Prints & Photographs Division in the early 2000s, the finding aid was produced in 2008, and collection-level cataloging was completed in early Condition of the Collection Many of the materials contained in this collection are in fragile condition, having been printed on highly acidic paper, which has deteriorated over the years. Most materials are still usable, although some pages are very brittle and in almost all cases bound so tightly as to make special care necessary to ensure safe handling. Reference staff in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room will advise users of the collection whether copying individual issues or pages is possible. Using the Collection The ten volumes comprising the collection have been given collection-level cataloging and provided a single call number. 3 A finding aid is available for the contents of each of the ten volumes; this finding aid is linked directly from the bibliographic record. A cumulated title index (in Roman alphabetical order by transliterated Russian title) notifies users in which specific volume a given title may be found. A more detailed list inventories the contents of each volume separately, giving title, specific issue holdings, and city of publication. Bibliographic Coverage In several cases, large Russian libraries have published catalogs and holdings lists of their own collections of this genre of publication. Perhaps the most important of these is a union list published in 1980 by the Lenin Library (now the Russian State Library) in Moscow, which cites thirty-seven libraries as holders of satirical periodicals from the period. 4 A total of 250 titles are listed, with detailed holdings at the issue level given for the reporting libraries. The catalog contains a comprehensive index of personal names associated with the publications (editors, writers, illustrators, etc.); a chronological index; and an index of publishing houses in thirty-three cities throughout the Russian Empire (it should be noted, however, that the overwhelming majority of satirical journals from the era of the first Russian Revolution were published in St. Petersburg). This catalog and its useful indexes should be used

9 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals 149 to supplement the information contained in the finding aids to the Library of Congress s collection. A more general, comprehensive bibliography, the Bibliografiia periodicheskikh izdanii Rossii, [Bibliography of Russian periodical publications, ], lists all known periodical and journal publications issued in Russian in the Russian Empire for the years It is also a major source of information about most of the periodicals in the library s collection of Russian satirical and political journals. Finally, individual libraries with comprehensive collections of the genre of publications represented in the library s collection of satirical and political periodicals have published catalogs of their holdings: including the State Public Historical Library in Moscow; 6 the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk; 7 and the Central Research Library of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev. 8 COLLECTION OF ILLUSTRATED MUSIC COVER DESIGNS Introduction The aim of this brief note is to alert researchers to an interesting acquisition by the Library of Congress, the Viktor Kholodkov Collection of Music Cover Designs. The collector wrote in detail about this collection in the Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, and the wealth of information he provided about many items in the collection will not be repeated here. 9 Rather, the goal of this note is to advise researchers, particularly those interested in Russian graphic arts and design from the 1910s until the 1930s, about the collection s location in the LC Prints & Photographs Division. Several photographs of interesting or significant music cover designs appear at the end of this article (in Figures 13 25), to give readers an indication of the richness of this resource. FIGURE 13 Alfredo Casella, Pupazzetti [Little puppets]. Cover design by M. Larionov

10 150 H. M. Leich FIGURE 14 P. Gross, Tri novykh kek-voks [Three new cake-walks] FIGURE 15 Mikhail Blanter, Glaza Andozii [Eyes of Andosia]. Cover design by the Sternberg Brothers FIGURE 16 J. Engel, Vois la-bas [Look down there]. Cover design by El Lissitzky

11 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals 151 FIGURE 17 E. Pavlov, Vtoraia tetrad liriki dlia fortepiano [Second book of lyrics for piano]. Cover design by Liubov Popova FIGURE 18 A. Drozdov, Svobodnaia muzyka, vakkhicheskii khorovod [Free music, a Bacchic dance]. Cover design by Nikolai Kul bin. [1915]. FIGURE 19 Marsh Dobrolet [The Dobrolet march]. Cover design by Aleksandr Rodchenko. Ca

12 152 H. M. Leich FIGURE 20 Trio Veber [The Weber trio]. [192-?]. FIGURE 21 Artur Lur e, Roial v detskoi [The piano in the children s room]. Cover design by P. V. Miturich. FIGURE 22 Igor Rybal chenko, Pamiati sierago geroia [In memory of the gray hero].

13 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals 153 FIGURE 23 Cliquot, valse [Cliquot, a waltz]. Cover design by O. B. Mai FIGURE 24 Kuba [Cuba]. [192-?]. FIGURE 25 Sergei Orlanskii, Poslednii fokstrott [The last foxtrot]

14 154 H. M. Leich Provenance and Scope of the Collection The collection was assembled over a period of years by Viktor Vital evich Kholodkov, now of San Diego, California, and purchased by the Library of Congress in 1999 via book and art dealer Laurence McGilvery of La Jolla, California. The collection contains close to 2,050 pieces of music (primarily sheet music) with illustrated covers. An additional number, approximately five hundred pieces, of sheet music items that are not illustrated came with the collection as a gift of the dealer, and are housed in the Music Division at the Library. The latter category of materials is not included in the scope of this survey. The Kholodkov collection is particularly rich in art and graphics, done in variations of moderne and constructivist styles, from the early twentieth century. Many prominent and well-known artists are represented, for example, Ivan Bilibin ( ), Nataliia Goncharova ( ), Gustav Klutsis ( ), Mikhail Larionov ( ), Aristarkh Lentulov ( ), El Lissitzky ( ), Kazimir Malevich ( ), Liubov Popova ( ), and Aleksandr Rodchenko ( ), to mention just a few. Readers are referred to Mr. Kholodkov s article for additional detailed information. Accessibility of the Collection The collection is in the care of the Library of Congress s Prints & Photographs Division. Researchers interested in using the collection should make special advance arrangements due to the fragile condition of the music and lack of indexes. 10 Current access relies on browsing through a set of photographic albums containing copies of the covers. A finding aid for the collection will be prepared as resources become available to provide access by the names of cover designers and composers, titles, and publication dates. NOTES 1. Information about the Prints & Photographs Division is available at 2. On the Yudin Collection at the Library of Congress, see Harold M. Leich, So Ample a Collection, So Well Balanced: The Yudin Collection at the Library of Congress, Slavic & East European Information Resources, 9 no. 2 (2008): The bibliographic record in LC s online catalog is The call number for the ten-volume set is: PN5280.S (P&P Case Z). 4. Z. A. Pokrovskaia, Russkaia satiricheskaia periodika, gg.: svodnyi katalog [Russian satirical periodicals, : a union catalog] (Moscow: Gos. biblioteka SSSR im. Lenina, Otdel redkikh knig, 1980). 5. Bibliografiia periodicheskikh izdanii Rossii, [Bibliography of Russian periodical publications, ], 4 vols. (Leningrad: Gos. publichnaia biblioteka im. M. E. Saltykova-Shchedrina, ). 6. Russkie satiricheskie zhurnaly, gg.: katalog kollektsii [Russian satirical journals, ], 2nd ed. (Moscow: Gos. publichnaia istoricheskaia biblioteka, 1980).

15 Illustrated Collections of Russian Periodicals P. T. Rudzinskii, Satiricheskie zhurnaly pervoi russkoi revoliutsii, gg: katalog [Satirical journals from the first Russian revolution, ] (Novosibirsk: Gos. publichnaia nauchnotekhnicheskaia biblioteka Sibirskogo otdeleniia AN SSSR, 1990). 8. E. P. Demchenko, Satiricheskie zhurnaly Rossii perioda revoliutsii gg. [Satirical journals of Russia during the period of revolution, ] (Kiev: Tsentral naia nauchnaia biblioteka, Akademiia nauk USSR, 1976). 9. Viktor Kholodkov, The Art of Music Cover Design, Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 11 (Winter 1989): These guidelines are available at The accession number for the collection, which should be cited by users to facilitate retrieval, is: PR 13 CN 1999:018.