Lot 11A email save

BENOIS, Alexandre [Aleksandr Nikolaevich Benua] (1

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St. Petersberg: Izdanie Ekspeditsii Zagotovleniya Gosudarstvennykh Bumag, 1904. 36 pp., large 4to (317 x 250 mm). Letterpress and chromolthographic title, heightened with gilt, 34 full-page chromolithographic and letterpress illustrations, some heightened with gilt or silver, all after Benois. Original cloth-backed boards, decorated in colors to a design by Benois. Condition: light spotting to first and last few leaves; covers lightly soiled, small neat areas of restoration to corners, upper joint and inner hinges; pencilled signature on front free endpaper. one of the masterworks of the silver age and one of the most beautiful alphabets ever published. Benois, as a founder of the Mir iskusstva [World of Art] group and the Ballets Russes, was one of the most influential Russian artists of his day. He was perhaps best known for his costume and set designs for the the theater, opera and ballet. He was also a skillful journalist, scholar and critic. His Azbuka is one of his most ambitious works of illustration. He fills its pages with often witty references to fairy tales, toys, the theater and Russian and other art. "B" is for the witch Baba-Yaga; Hansel and Gretel appear before the famous Gingerbread House in "S" for "Slasti" ["Sweets"]; novels by James Fenimore Cooper and Mayne-Reid adorn the border of the Indian attack in "N" for "Napadenie" ["Attack"]; and Benois' famous collection of dolls show up in "I" for "Igrushki" ["Toys"]. He also mentions other children's books that inspired him (such as Heinrich Hoffmann's Der Struwwelpeter, Wilhelm Busch's Max und Moritz and Bilibin's Skazki) on the front cover. Fekula 4539.

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