Lot 1067: ERMOLAEVA, VERA MIKHAILOVNA, illustrator.- WHITMAN, WALT.- Pionery [Oh Pioneers!]. Petrograd: Segodnya, 1918.

WHITMAN, WALT. Pionery [Oh Pioneers!]. Petrograd: Segodnya, 1918. 8vo. 8pp. Linoleum cuts. Original decorated wrappers. Pages restored. One of 1,000 copies. Early Russian translation of the famous Walt Whitman poem from Leaves of Grass (1866) presented as a picture book. The aftermath of the Russian Revolution gave new meaning to the words: Come my tan-faced children, Follow well in order, get your weapons ready, Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes? Pioneers! O pioneers! The Segodnya cooperative was the first but short-lived publisher of Russian Avant-Garde children's books written by many of the best poets and artists of the period.