Пѣснь о вѣщемъ Олегѣ [ = Pesn o veshchem Olege] = [Song of Oleg the Wise]

St. Petersburg: Ekspeditsii Zagotovienya Gosudarstvennykh Bumag, 1899. First Edition. First printing with the Vasnetsov illustrations. Quarto (33cm x 23cm ca.); accordion-style binding, opening to an eight-page panorama; printed in black and red throughout, with chromolithographed head- and tail-pieces and four chromolithographed text illustrations. Slight soil and wear; brief splits at folds; internally fresh and unmarked, with the illustrations still fresh and vividly colored; Very Good or better overall.

A lavishly-illustrated work, published to celebrate the centenary of Pushkin's birth. Vasnetsov (1848-1926) was a key figure among Russian (truncated) Silver Age illustrators, a strong influence on such successors as Ivan Bilibin, Boris Zvorikin, and Mikhail Vrubel. The illustrations for this work "...are exemplary for Vasnetsov's intense national style that soon would become visible in the works of Ivan Bilibin and other artist-illustrators...it would be difficult in this period of nationalistic revival to find a more talented and committed artist" (Lemmens p.48). The illustrations, printed at the State Dispatch Office in St. Petersburg, are rendered here in brilliant chromolithography, as are the ornamental initials and head- and tail-pieces by Viktor Zamiraĭlo. A large-paper reissue appeared later (ca. 1914) under the Moscow imprint of A.A. Levenson; all editions are uncommon, especially in such nice condition. LEMMENS pp.47-48 (pictured). (Inventory #: 82637)