A fine copy of a scarce avant-garde work published by the 'Segodnia' [Today] group who were hugely important in the trajectory of Futurist book design and production. By 1918 the Revolution and Civil War had created a severe paper shortage and essentially brought publishing to a halt. As a result, a number of prominent artists, led by Vera Ermolaeva founded an 'Artel' (a kind of creative collective) under the name 'Segodnia'. The aim was to continue to produce ground breaking works using the limited resources available to them at the time, meaning that all of the group's works are illustrated with linoleum cuts. The harsh conditions limited the format and edition size but in turn generated a new wave of handmade books whose 'Neo-primitive' style was in one way a continuation of traditional folk art forms and in another a bold revision of graphic language.

The Kharkiv journal Tvorchestvo wrote of the group, 'The destruction of the printing business gave birth to a new kind of "artisanal" art publishing. An artel has appeared in Petrograd where the poets and artists make and print the engravings themselves. One can find a certain consolation in the fact that the modern crisis forces us to return to the old yet beautiful handcrafted methods'. Of all of Segodnia's publications, Annenkov's 1/4 Deviatogo is particularly striking and decidedly rare. It is also the first of Annenkov's books where he wrote the text as well as providing the illustrations.

First edition, small 8vo (20.4 x 15 cm); 4pp., illustrated with linoleum cut illustrations after Annenkov; original printed wrappers, slightly faded wrapper otherwise a very good and fresh example.

Rowell 216.