Two books with covers illustrated by the artist Joseph Chaikov (or Tchaikov, 1888-1979) – Kiev-born Jewish sculptor, graphic artist, painter, educator, and theoretician.
1. In Shṭurem fun Geshikhṭe: Aroysgerisene Bleṭlakh fun Tog-Bukh, 1914-1921 [In the Storm of History, Pages Torn from a Diary, 1914-21], by David Koigen. Translated from German by Zelig Kalmanovitch. Berlin: Yidisher Liṭerarisher Farlag, 1923. Yiddish. Cover design: Joseph Chaikov.
Excerpts from the personal diary of David Koigen, providing eyewitness accounts of historical events in Eastern Europe in the years 1914-21, including the outbreak of World War I, the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, the pogroms targeting Ukrainian Jewry, and the author's personal story of his escape from the Soviet Union following the conquest of Ukraine. The front cover features an illustration by Joseph Chaikov.
247, [1] pp., 18.5 cm. Good condition. Few stains to book block. Stains to cover. Minor tears to cover, professionally restored.
2. Bereshis Aleph [Genesis I] (no additional parts published). Moscow-Leningrad, 1926. Berlin: Gutenberg Press. "Title Page Illustration by Joseph Chaikov. Publisher's Logo by B. Schubin."
Literary anthology including works by Isaac Babel, Yocheved Bat-Miriam, Gershon Hanowitz, and others. Front page illustration by Joseph Chaikov.
The contributing authors were unable to find a printing press in the Soviet Union willing to publish a Hebrew book, and the manuscript was therefore sent to Berlin for printing. Of the copies printed, only a handful were legally allowed to be brought into the Soviet Union.
[1], 199, [5] pp., 23 cm. Good condition. Stains. Minor tears and creases to edges of cover. Inked stamps. Pen inscriptions to several pages. Original cover, partly detached.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Rimon, a Hebrew Magazine for Art and Letters. Editors: Dr. Mark Wischnitzer, Baruch Krupnik, and Moshe Kleinman. Art editor: Rachel Wischnitzer-Bernstein. Berlin, 1922-24. Issues 1-6, bound in one volume. Hebrew.
Six issues of the journal "Rimon" (published in Hebrew, in conjunction with the corresponding Yiddish-language journal "Milgroym"; both names translate as "Pomegranate"). The issues feature works by the finest of artists and authors such as El Lissitzky, Joseph Chaikov, Joseph Budko, Chana Orloff, Hayim Nahman Bialik, Shai Agnon, Shaul Tchernichovsky, Uri Zvi Greenberg, Itzhak Katzenelson, Micha Josef Berdyczewski, and many others.
"Rimon" was the first Hebrew journal to comprehensively deal with the visual arts. It was in publication for only a brief period – from 1922 to early 1924 – at a time when Hebrew publishing houses in Germany were flourishing. Its strikingly colorful issues – like the volumes printed by the book publisher that operated in conjunction with it – were fastidiously created, with painstaking attention devoted to external appearance and printing quality. In the words of Gideon Ofrat (Hebrew), "'Rimon' was not a Zionist periodical. The color reproductions, the large-scale format, the imaginativeness, graphic creativity, taking a stand at the forefront of the zeitgeist – all these [elements] served the interests of a scholarly Jewish culture seeking to be associated with the finest of progressive and cosmopolitan world culture" (excerpted from "HaMahsan shel Gideon Ofrat": "'Rimon' vs. ‘Ost und West'").
One volume, 31 cm. Issue Aleph, 1922: VI, [2], 48 pp., [2] ff. Issue Bet, 1922: VI, [2], 48 pp. Issue Gimel, 1923: [2] ff., 48 pp., [2] ff. Issue Daled, 1923: [2] ff., 48 pp., [2] ff. (several leaves at the beginning and end of the issue are stuck together and are inseparable). Issue Heh, 1924: [2] ff., 40 pp., [2] ff. Issue Vav, 1924: [2] ff., 40 pp. Condition varies. Issue Daled in fair condition (stains, including large dampstains and traces of mold. Open tears, with damage to text. Several leaves stuck together. All other issues in overall good condition: stains, including dampstains. Minor blemishes. Edges of front covers of two issues slightly trimmed, affecting text. New binding.

Br. Grimm maiselakh [Brothers Grimm Tales], translated by N. Luria [Noah Luria]. Illustrations by Joseph Chaikov. [Kiev]: Kultur Lige, [1922]. Yiddish.
Three tales of the Brothers Grimm, translated to Yiddish, with illustrations by Joseph Chaikov. Cover design and headings by Chaikov.
Rare.
47 pp., approx. 17.5 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes. Marginal tear to first leaf (leaf partially detached). Open tear to front cover. Minor tear to spine.

С. Чехонин ["S. Chekhonin"], by Abram Efros and Nikolay Punin. Moscow-Petrograd: Государственное Издательство [State Publisher], [ca. 1924]. Russian.
Two articles by Abram Markovich Efros (1888-1954) and Nikolay Punin (1888-1953) dealing with the life and work of the multi-disciplinary Russian artist and designer Sergey Chekhonin (1878-1936). With 12 plates (on paper of varying thickness; some in color), as well as numerous in-text illustrations, featuring Chekhonin's works: paintings, book illustrations, porcelain plates, stamps, currency bills, bookplates, and more.
Illustrated cover.
In addition to the Russian edition, the book was published in French, German, and English.
See: Nina Gurianova et al., "The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934," exhibition catalogue, MoMA, New York, 2002, Item No. 530.

112, [1] pp. + [12] plates., 29 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains (numerous stains to cover). Notation in pen on front flyleaf. Inked stamps on back flyleaf and back cover. Several leaves partly detached. Closed and open tears edges of cover and several leaves, some restored.

Sergey Chekhonin (Сергей Васильевич Чехонин), influential Soviet Russian graphic artist, painter, and ceramic artist; member of the "Mir Iskusstva" ("Мир искусства": "World of Art") movement. Developed the idea of using porcelain vessels as a medium for disseminating Soviet propaganda. Became politically active following the revolution of 1905, and maintained close ties with revolutionary circles. This involvement was expressed through the political caricatures he created for magazines and the books he illustrated and designed. In the years 1918-23, he became the first artistic director following the October Revolution (1917) of the "State Porcelain Factory" (formerly the "Tsarist Porcelain Factory") that operated under the auspices of the Fine Arts Department of the Narkompros – the People's Commissariat for Education, under the directorship of Anatoly Lunacharsky. Chekhonin adhered to a Constructivist design concept that conformed with the spirit of the times under the dictates of the new ideology. He was at one point replaced by Nikolay Punin, but returned to his position as the institution's artistic director in the years 1925-27. As a graphic designer, he was responsible for the design of currency bills and postage stamps, and was a partner in the design of the flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Left Russia in 1928, and took up residence in France and Germany, where he continued to design ceramic vessels and theater sets and illustrate and design books.