Three children's books by the writer and illustrator Ber Sorin. Vilna: U. Margolis i S. Klaczko, 1937. Yiddish.
Three rhyming children's books in Yiddish, with color illustrations by the author (from a series of eight book):
1. A mayse ṿegn mayzelekh ṿayse (A tale of little white mice).
[4] ff. 16 cm. Stains. Worming, slightly affecting illustrations. Holes from staples (staples removed). Inked stamps (including stamp of the Jewish school in Riga). Pen inscription on front wrapper. New binding (bound with original wrappers).
2. Dem feṭer Mikhls bikhl (Uncle Mikhl's book).
[4] ff. 17 cm. Good condition. Stains (dark stains to original wrappers). Inked stamps. Abrasions to spine.
3. Makhn mir a menṭsh fun shney (We're making a snowman).
[4] ff. 16 cm. Stains. Worming, slightly affecting illustrations. Holes from staples (staples removed). Inked stamps (including faded stamp of the Jewish school in Riga). New binding (bound with original wrappers).

Ber Sorin is the pen name of Moyshe Levin (1907-1942), Jewish-Lithuanian writer and illustrator. Levin taught in the CYSHO (Central Yiddish School Organization) network of schools and was a member of the literary group Yung-Vilne. He single-handedly wrote, illustrated, printed and distributed his children's book. Some of his other works were published in Yiddish periodicals, and some were lost. Levin was a member of the resistance oragnization in the Minsk ghetto, where he was murdered together with his family.

Elefandl ["The Elephant's Child"], by Rudyard Kipling. Illustrations by "Kraft" [El Lissitzky]. Berlin: Schweln, 1922. Yiddish.
Yiddish translation of the famous children's story "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling (1856-1936), from the collection entitled "Just So Stories." Illustrations by the Russian-Jewish avant-garde artist El Lissitzky (under the pen name "Kraft).
14, [2] pp., 28 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor creases. Minor tears to edges of leaves, restored. Spine restored. Edges of cover slightly trimmed.

El (Eliezer Lazar Markovich) Lissitzky (1890-1941), a Jewish-Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer and architect, a prominent and important member of Russian avant-garde.
Lissitzky, an architect by training, contributed much, together with his teacher and friend Kazimir Malevich, to the conceptualization and development of the Supremacist movement – the abstract art focused on geometric forms. He also designed numerous books and journals, exhibitions, and propaganda posters for the communist regime in Russia and influenced the Bauhaus and Constructivist movements in Europe. In his early days, Lissitzky showed much interest in Jewish culture and many of his works integrated Jewish motifs (during the years 1915-1916, he took part in the ethnographic expedition headed by Shlomo An-ski to the Pale of Settlement). Wanting to promote Jewish culture in Russia after the revolution, he became engaged in designing and illustrating Yiddish children's books, creating several children's books which are considered pioneering masterpieces due to their graphics and typography. However, several years later, he abandoned the Jewish motifs in favor of developing a more abstract and universal artistic language.
In 1921, Lissitzky moved to Germany, where he served as the Russian cultural ambassador, engaged in forming connections between Russian and German artists and continued to design books and journals. Lissitzky, who perceived books as immortal artifacts, "monuments of the future" by his definition, used the medium as a tool for spreading the messages of avant-garde and his artistic perception, as indicated by the variety of books in whose design, production or illustration he took part – from children's books and poetry books and to catalogs, guidebooks and academic publications.
Lissitzky died in Moscow at the age of 51. In his final years, his artistic work was dedicated mainly to soviet propaganda; yet it seems that the same worldview accompanied his works throughout his life – the belief in goal-oriented creation (Zielbewußte Schaffen, the German term he coined) and the power of art to influence and bring about change.

Freyd ["Joy"], an illustrated monthly for children. 2nd year, issue no. 8. Kiev: Kultur Lige, July 1923. Cover designed by Mark Epstein; in-text illustrations by Epstein.
Eighth issue of the children's monthly "Freyd" (published between the years 1922-1925). The issue features articles on various subjects, stories and poems, and is accompanied by pictures and illustrations. On p. 24, a tipped-in picture from an exhibition held in memory of the Yiddish poet Asher Schwarzman in the children's colony of Malakhovka, located in the outskirts of Moscow (a Yiddish-Soviet orphanage that operated during the years 1919-1938; among the educators working in the institution were Mark Chagall, Der Nister, Joel Engel, and others). The issue features a number of illustrations by Mark Epstein, who also designed the cover.

35, [1] pp., 27.5 cm. Good condition. Browning; brittle paper. Closed and open tears to edges (not affecting text). Pencil inscriptions. Tears to lengh of spine (front and back cover partially detached). 

Mark Epshtein (1897-1949), born in Bobruisk, was a graphic designer, painter, sculptor and set designer. He was educated in a traditional cheder, and later studied at the Kiev Art Institute and (in 1918) under artist Alexandra Ekster. That same year he exhibited his work in an exhibition dedicated to Jewish artists and took part in founding the art department within the Kultur Lige. His style was largely influenced by modernist Jewish authors and poets active in the same artistic circles as himself in Kiev, such as Der Nister (Pinchas Kahanovich), David Bergelson and Yekhezkl Dobrushin. Epshtein remained active in Kiev even after the Ukraine SSR was established and the Kultur Lige was taken over by the communist authorities, although most of his fellow artists opted to leave town. Between 1923 and 1931 Epshtein headed the Kiev Jewish School of Industrial Art (the former Kultur Lige art department, nationalized by the communist government), and designed stage sets and costumes for theaters in Kiev and Kharkiv.
In 1932, after the school as well as other remaining Kultur Lige institutions were shut down, he had to leave Kiev for Moscow. No work of his was exhibited during his later years.