Children's Books: "Let Us Take the New Rifles"


This edition
of Vladimir Mayakovsky's (1893-1930) poem "Возьмем винтовки новые" ("Let Us Take the New Rifles") was published in 1982. The fact that it clearly states that it is meant for pre-school kids along with the militaristic content makes it both fascinating and horrifying. On the other hand, the outer qualities of the illustrations by Veniamin Losin can hardly be denied.

See all the pages here:
«Маяковский "Возьмем винтовки новые"» uploaded by Sidr1977

...or here at LiveJournal - KidPix.

If anyone has a translation of the poem, information about the illustrator or other comments. Please, don't be a stranger.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's detailed information illustrator only in Russian. Full name is Вениамин Николаевич Лосин Veniamin Nikolaevich Losin. The children's books illustrator of Soviet and nowadays. Information about him in Russian: http://www.bibliogid.ru/authors/hud/vernisazh/losin-hud
His illustrations and design for Alexander Pushkin's Song on Wizard Oleg:
http://www.childhoodbooks.ru/gallery/ill/P/puskn_voleg.htm

Mayakovsky's verses for kids haven't been translated, as I know.

Anonymous said...

I've fogotten - Losin also illustrated arkadiy Gaidar's Tale of Malchish Kibalchish
http://rot.ems.ru/mk/mk.html

Martin Klasch said...

korob-kov: Thanks for your information! Appreciated!
Merry Chistmas!