La-Tset Yede ha-Kol (To Please Everyone)
Moscow/Odessa: Omanut, [ca.1920]. First edition. Softcover. Oblong octavo. 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, black and brown. Issued by the pioneering Hebrew-language published house Omanut.
This lavishly illustrated work is a version of the Aesop's fable often known as "The Miller, His Son and the Donkey" in a version said to have been adapted by Leo Tolstoy, with Hebrew translation attributed to the acclaimed Hebrew-language writer and essayist Ahad Ha-Am (Asher Zvi Ginsberg, 1856-1957), although the work is completely uncredited. Here the work's title has been humorously translated into Hebrew as "To Please Everyone". The text is accompanied throughout by 8 large and vibrant chromolithographic images (including the front and back wrappers). 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.
Wrappers with some foxing and staining. Some rubbing and creasing to extremities. Back cover lightly soiled, with a light vertical crease in the center. The binding has been re-cased, with a sting-binding along the spine to secure the book block. Water staining and light foxing to pages throughout, predominantly in the margins. Images still vibrant. Wrappers in good-, interior in good condition overall. Quite scarce. g- to g. Item #52940
Hebrew title: לצאת ידי הכל
Author/contributor(s): חבורת-צירים (אפטר, מוצלמכר, קרבצוב, חגר), [איזופוס] ,[לב טולסטוי], [אחד העם]
Publication: מוסקבה-אודיסה ,הוצאת אמנות
Series title: ספריה גמליאל
Alternate transliteration: La'tset Yede Ha'kol.
Price: $2,250.00