- Original Cover
“Troyer” [“Mourning”], by David Hofstein [Dovid Hofshteyn]. Kyiv: “Kultur Lige, ” 1922. Yiddish. Illustrations by Marc Chagall.
Anthology of poems by David Hofstein (Dovid Hofshteyn) on the subject of the pogroms against the Jews of Ukraine in the years 1917–20; accompanied by a series of illustrations by Marc Chagall. The anthology was published with the support of the “Jewish Public Committee for Assistance to Victims of War, Pogroms, and Natural Calamities” along with a note stating that proceeds from its sales would be donated to “the starving Jewish colonies.”
Illustrating Hofstein’s anthology was one of the last projects Marc Chagall undertook before leaving Russia. In addition to portraying the sense of destruction and bereavement that pervaded Hofstein’s poetry, to some extent, the Modernist illustrations Chagall created here reflect the upheavals in his own personal life, specifically his forced resignation as principal of the art school he established in Vitebsk.

XXIII, [1] pages + [4] plates. Approx. 35.5 cm. Good condition. Brittle paper. Tears, incl. open tears, mostly small, professionally mended, to leaves, to cover, and to length of spine. Leaves and plates detached from one another and from cover. Plates attached to one another in two pairs, with acid–free adhesive tape.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, No. ALE.8.