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.

Four books published by Kultur Lige:
1. Fun Mir tsu Dir, Humoreskn [From Me to You, Humoresques], by M. [Moshe] Nadir [Yitzchak Rayz]. Kiev: "Kultur Lige", 1927. Yiddish. Cover design: Mark Epstein.
Back cover missing. Front cover partly detached. Tears and many stains.
2. Ahin un Tsurik [Back and Forth], by L. [Leon (Lev)] Trotzky. Kiev: "Kultur Lige", 1926 (the Russian title page indicates the year as 1925). Yiddish. Publication no. 7 of the series "Shul-un Pionern Biblyotek". Cover designer not indicated.
Tears and open tears. Some sheets are unopened. Detached title page. New card binding (with the original cover).
3. Unter der Brik [Under the bridge], by A.M. [Avraham Moshe] Fuchs. Kiev: "Kultur Lige", 1928. Yiddish. Publication no. 10 of the series "Universale Biblyotek". Cover designer not indicated.
Some tears.
4. Dreytsn Undzere [Thirteen of Ours], children's stories by Menucheh [Menuchah] Bruck, translated into Yiddish by Y. [Yitzchak] Kipnis. Kiev: "Kultur Lige", 1930. Publication no. 42 of the series "Shul-un Pionern Biblyotek". Illustrations by Nathan Altman.
The back cover is missing. Detached leaves. Stamps.
Size and condition vary.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Three issues of Yiddish journals for literature, art and critique. Kharkiv and Vilnius, 1925-1936.
1. Di Roite Velt, politish-gezellshaftlekher literarish-kinstlerisher un visnshaflekher zshurnal ["The Red World", political-social, literary-artistic and scientific journal]. Kharkiv: "Melukhe Farlag fun Ukraine", issue 15, October 1925. Yiddish.
Featuring an article about Nathan Altman's works, with photographs of his works.
128 pp. 24 cm. Fair-good condition. Cover and body in good condition. Minor blemishes. Missing spine. Detached cover and leaves.
2. Proliṭ: liṭerarish-ḳinsṭlerisher, ḳriṭish-bibliografisher kḥoydesh-zshurnal [Prolit (proletariat), literary-artistic, critical-bibliographic journal], the journal of The All-Ukrainian Association of Proletarian Writers ("Al-Ukrainishe Assotziatzie Fun Proliterishe Schreiber – VUSPP") edited by Itzik Feffer. Kharkiv: Ukremeluche-Natzmindfarlag, fifth year, issue 3-4 (double issue), march-April 1932.
[2] ff., 143, [1] pp. 21.5 cm. Fair condition. Tears and creases to edges of cover. Dry and brittle paper. Some unopened pages. Tears to spine. Back cover and last leaf detached.
3. Heftn far Yiddisher Kunst [Booklets for Jewish Art], bi-monthly. Vilnius: Kunstmuzey Beym Yidishen Visnshaftlekher Institut [Art Museum by the Jewish Scientific Institute – YIVO], issue 1, November-December 1936.
The issue features articles on Jewish art, with photographs of Judaica items, letters by Marc Chagall and more. Cover design by the artist Ume Olkenitski (1899-1943). Presumably, no additional issues were printed.
31, [1] pp. 24 cm. Good condition. Some stains (especially to edges of cover). Minor blemishes to cover.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

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.