La-Sevivon (For the Dreidel/ To the Dreidel)
Moscow/Odessa: Omanut, [ca.1920]. First edition. Softcover. Large quarto. Unpaginated (8 double-sided leaves, + front and back wrappers, printed on both sides). Stiff tan paper wrappers, with beautiful chromolithographic illustrations in hues of green, blue, red and gold. Issued by the pioneering Hebrew-language published house Omanut.
This lavishly illustrated work contains the Hanukkah poem "For the Dreidel", written by acclaimed Hebrew-language poet Zalman Shneour (1887-1959), although the author is uncredited here. The text is accompanied throughout by 8 large and vibrant chromolithographic images (including the front and back wrappers), many with over-painting in lustrous metallic hues of silver and gold. Whenever the Dreidel appears it is in silver. The illustrations are credited collectively to "Havurat Tsayarim" (The Group of Painters), a group of four young artists from the Odessa Art Academy who illustrated works for Omanut during the period, comprised of Yakov Apter (1899-1941), Moses Mutselmakher (1900-1961), Aaron Keravatsov (1896-1942), and Efim Khiger (1899-1955).
This work is part of the Gamliel Library series of beautiful picture books for children introduced by Omanut co-founder Shoshana Zlatopolsky Persitz, and named after her son Gamliel. Persitz took inspiration from the rich tradition of Russian children's literature lavishly illustrated in chromolithographs produced by the likes of Ivan Bilibin and the publishing house of Iosif Knebel, to create some of the earliest examples of comparable works in Hebrew. No publication date is given, but the fact that this is one of a smaller number of earlier titles issued before the move of the publisher Omanut to Frankfurt, points to the fact it could not have been published after 1921.
Text throughout in Hebrew.
Front wrapper foxed and lightly water-stained, with some additional minor staining to the back wrappers. Light rubbing, chipping, and/or creasing to extremities. Leaves disbound. Interior images and text overall still quite clean and vibrant, with a few minor to light stains and/or smudges along the bottom margins of a few leaves. Ex-library ink stamps at the bottom of the first and last text pages, as well as the back wrapper. Wrappers in good-, interior in very good condition overall. g- to vg. Item #52932
Hebrew title: לסביבון
Author/contributor(s): חבורת-צירים (אפטר, מוצלמכר, קרבצוב, חגר), [זלמן שניאור]
Publication: מוסקבה-אודיסה ,הוצאת אמנות
Series title: ספריה גמליאל
Alternate transliteration: L'Sevivon
This first edition is quite scarce, with OCLC listing only two holdings worldwide. A slightly more common second edition of the work was published in 1922, after Omanut had moved to Frankfurt.
Bibliographic reference: Ayala Gordon, Hebrew Illustrations (2005, p.89-116).
Price: $2,500.00