USSR. An Album Illustrating the State Organization and National Economy...

1939. LISSITZKY, El. USSR. An Album Illustrating the State Organization and National Economy of the U.S.S.R. Edited by Ivan V. Sautin and Ivan P. Ivanitsky. 150 pp., illustrated throughout. Oblong 4to, 242 x 345 mm., bound in original flexible boards, in a new folding box. [Moscow]: Scientific Publishing Institute of Pictorial Statistics, [1939]. A fine copy of this rare and little-known spectacular example of Lissitzky's brilliance as a book designer, which was published for distribution at the 1939 World's fair. The book is packed with a vast number of brilliantly coloured charts demonstrating the kind of imaginative use of colour and layout first encountered in the legendary Pickering edition of Euclid published in 1847. It is hard to imagine a more dramatic juxtaposition than the vivid contrast between the dry Soviet statistics on such subjects as sanatoriums and rest homes, and Lissitzky's dramatically imaginative graphics. Now scarce. Karasik and Heiting, The Soviet Photobook 1920-1940, p 258-259. (Inventory #: 170383)