Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

M. Gor'kii. Rasskazy "Mal'va" T. III-II [Cyrillic Micrographic script portrait of Maxim Gorky]

Khazin, S. B. (Engraver); Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev (Photographer)

Kiev: NP, 1903. First edition. Hardcover. Folio. Size approx. 28 x 20 inches (50 x 70 cm). Rare micrographic portrait of Maxim Gorky composed from the letters of his short story Malva. The portrait was engraved by S. B. Khazin based on a photograph of the famous Russian author taken in Nizhny Novgorod by the Russian photographer Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev and printed by S. V. Kul'zhenko. Portrait passed by the censor in Kiev, 23 February 1903. The technique of portraiture using words and letters first appears in Russia in 1900 with Khazin's portrait of Count Leo Tolstoy which used 4700 characters to form the work. His second portrait in this style was the present work, that of Gorky, which used the approximately 82,000 characters of the story to form the hair, clothing, and chair on which Gorky is sitting. Though Malva was first published in 1897, Khazin used the latest edition which appeared in 1903 as the second piece in the third volume of Gorky's story, as identified in the title. Little is known of Khazin except that he was mostly likely born near the town of Yarysheva Mogilev-Podolsk in the Ukraine, and that he had his portraits printed in Kiev. His technique consisted of using a well-known photograph, leaving the face untouched but washing away everything else except for an outline of the original. He then drew the portrait using the handwritten text, with the individual letters usually less than a millimeter in height, all of which needed to be engraved in mirror image so that it could be read once the print was struck. Not found in OCLC or any major European libraries. There is a copy at Centraljnaya Gorodskaya Biblioteka im. A.M. Gorjkogo, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Sporadic and minor closed tears along edges (not affecting portrait). Moderate age-toning along edges (not affecting image). Print in overall very good condition. vg. Item #33059

Price: $4,500.00