Zabolotskii, Nikolai Alekseevich (1903 - 1958) Vtoraia kniga. Stikhi. L., Gosudarstvennoe izdatel´stvo 'Khudozhestvennia literatura', 1937. 45 p. €1000
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8 vo, publisher´s binding designed by S.M.Pozharskii with three embossed frames and lettering in red and brown.Printed on better pper from Vishera paper mills.VERY GOOD. VERY RARE.

Provenance: Our copy belonged to Konstantin Ivanovich Rudakov (1891-1949), a prominent Russian - Soviet satiric artist and cartoonist. After his death in 1949 the book was sold by his descendants in the middle of 1950s to Leningrad antiquarian book store No.66 for 15 rubles.

It was bought by Leningrad poet AP and stayed in his collection till 1975. After AP´s death the descendants sold the book in July 1975 to antiquarian bookstore No 59 ('Bukinist'), Leningrad. Sold by Natalia Smirnova in Summer 1975 to a bibliophile and a part - time book dealer. Taken to Estonia the same year and sent to the West. Since 2004 became property of Russica Book and Art Shop, Inc., Berlin - New York.
The book became a greater rarity already in late 1940s. The last known copy appeared for sale in Sweden in 1990s. It was sold for 10 000 SK [ca.$1000]

The 'Vtoraia kniga' came out of press in late Summer 1937. This collection showed the subject matter of Zabolotsky's work moving from social concerns to elegies and nature poetry. The book is notable for its inclusion of pantheistic themes.

Amidst Joseph Stalin's increased censorship of the arts, Zabolotsky fell victim to the Soviet government's purges. He was arrested on 19.03 1938 and unsold copies of his book were confiscated from book trade net and sent to furnace. The book was withdrawn from the USSR´s library network as well, including academic llibraries.

Nikolai Alekseevich Zabolotskii was born on May 7, 1903 in Kizicheskaya sloboda (now part of the city of Kazan) In 1928, Zabolotsky founded the avant-garde group Oberiu with Daniil Kharms and Alexander Vvedensky. The group's acronym stood for 'The Association of Real Art' ( Объединение реального искусства). During this period, Zabolotsky began to be published. His first book of poetry, Columns (Столбцы, 1929), was a series of grotesque vignettes on the life that Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) had created. It included the poem 'The Signs of the Zodiac Fade' , an absurdist lullaby that, 67 years later, in 1996, provided the words for a Russian pop hit.

The literature of his post-exile years experienced drastic stylistic changes. His poetry began to take a more traditional, conservative form and was often compared to the work of Tyutchev.The last few years of Zabolotsky's life were beset by illness. He suffered a debilitating heart attack and, from 1956 onward, spent much of his time in the town of Tarusa. A second heart attack claimed his life on October 14, 1958 in Moscow.