[Shaginian, Marietta] Jim Dollar, pseud. and Aleksandr Rodchenko.

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Description

Mess-Mend ili Yanki v Petrograde. Roman [Mess Mend or A Yankee in Petrograd. A novel], nos 3, 5, 9. Moscow: Gosizdat, 1924

3 volumes, 8vo (180 x 125mm.), typographic designs in text by Rodchenko, original wrappers with photomontage designs and Constructivist typography by Rodchenko, wrappers slightly worn, lower cover of no. 3 torn with slight loss at lower egde and frayed, no. 5 with short tears repaired at backstrip and corners, no. 9 with lower cover replaced

Literature

Hellyer 472 (all 10 volumes); Ex-Libris 431; The Russian Avant-Garde Book 548

Catalogue Note

Jim Dollar was the pseudonym for Marietta Shaginian and this saga was the equivalent of an American ‘dime-store novel’. The exciting detective series of ten volumes is a satire aimed at American capitalism and its bourgeois society. Number 3 seems to take further Mayakovsky’s anti-American stance as seen in his work 150,000,000 (see lot 40). The photomontage designs by Rodchenko are some of the earliest such examples of a vogue which came to be seen later as a powerful tool. Rodchenko was heavily influenced by the early Soviet Avant-Garde film makers but incorporated Constructivist elements into the cover designs which have an overall uniform design with changeable elements for each issue. The print-run was large, approximately 25,000 copies per issue; however copies were generally discarded and are today relatively scarce.