Estonia from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

First and only edition. Small quarto 24x17 cm., original pictorial wrappers, 48 pp. Very small edition, under 150. The Title translates as Day and Night, or Around the Clock. Woodcut cover and five full-page woodcuts by Aleksander Bergmann, the lifelong pseudonym of Aleksander Vardi (1901-1983). Vardi achieved renown in Estonia for his Impressionist and color-saturated landscapes in… Read more about this item

Tartu: Loodus, 1926 Octavo, wrappers, 155pp. “Time Grimaces,” a novel in serial parts, here complete in book form while Gailit worked as a freelance writer in Tartu. He exiled with his family to Sweden where he continued to work and publish. Fine cover design by Jaan Vahtra. Worldcat locates no library holdings.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1934 Small quarto, 1-2 cloth, 345pp. Cover design by Ernst Kollom. Jakobson (1904-1963) was a novelist and playwright who held high positions under the Soviets; indeed, he was the only playwright whose works were not banned during their era and his work was translated and published throughout the USSR. This work (The Conquerors) is part of a… Read more about this item

Tartu: Kiri ja Kunst, 1927 Octavo, wrappers, 164pp. „The Red Lily,“ a novel by Jaan Pert (1899-1953). Pert was a novelist, playwright, journalist and art critic. This is his first published novel. Pert relocated to Sweden in 1944. where he continued writing and promoting Estonian art. Unattributed abstract cover design, suggesting the hand of Peet Aren. No library copies found… Read more about this item

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1937 Large quarto, wrappers, 395pp. Illustrations and cover by Ernst Kollom (1908-1974), master graphic artist who studied in Moscow and was influenced by the Bauhaus. Aadu or Adolf Hint (1910-1989) was a writer who focused on life in the seacoast. He later became a public figure, sitting on the Estonian SSR Council. „Golden Gate“ is his third… Read more about this item

Tartu: Kirjastus Sonavara, 1928 Octavo, wrappers, 96pp. “Whistle of the Wanderer,” a collection of poems by Kärner (1891-1958), espousing nature poet, novelist, editor. A good deal of his poetry was set to music by contemporary composers. A Marxist, he emigrated to the USSR with the German occupation and returned with the Russian one in 1944. Shortly thereafter he descended into… Read more about this item

Tartu: Odamees, 1919 Published in 12 numbers from 1919-1921. Large octavos, 34 to 68pp. each, Nos. 1-12 (all published), bound in ½-calf. Each issue contains full-page illustrations, with many original graphics. Complete issues are bound here without covers. Each issue showcases graphic work of a single artist. Among them are August Roosileht (Nos 1, 9), Jaan Vahtra (no.3), Paul Liivak… Read more about this item

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1924 Octavo, wrappers, 231pp. Unattributed, notable cover design. „Purple Death,“ is a novel by August Gailit (1891-1960), novelist and journalist who covered the political dynamics that played out in interwar Estonia and abroad. He fled Estonia to Sweden in 1944. No copies of this first edition found by worldcat.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1931 Octavo, boards, 253pp. Karl Aben translated this collection of contemporaneous avant-garde Latvian literature, with work by Jaunsudrabins, Akuraters and Pavils Rozits, with a prefatory chapter for each author. This was the first of what would have been a series of translations from new Latvian literature. Cover design by Richard Kivit. These works signal the end of… Read more about this item

Tartu: Eesti Kirjansikkude Liidu, 1937 Octavo 20 x 13.5 cm, wrappers, 96pp. Valmar Adams (1899-1993) was an Estonian author and literary scholar often working under different names. His literary output in the 1920s had a great effect on Estonian literature. The present work, Burning Bush, shows a strong influence of Russian poetic tradition, which provided a lifelong source for his… Read more about this item

Tartu: Laakman, 1928 Quarto 23.5x17cm., wrappers, 171pp. First issue (all published) A journal launched to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Estonian Republic. Translated as „Cultural Notes. Thoughts About the Struggle for the Republic:“ Highly critical essays, poems and statements in this commemorative journal. It provoked such a strong reaction that it was shut down by the authorities and confiscated… Read more about this item

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1931 Large octavo 20.5x13.5 cm., wrappers, 132pp. Cover design by Peet Aren. Raudsepp (1883-1952) was a prolific playwright who was also prominent as a journalist and critic in the new Estonian Republic. He perished in Siberian labor camp. This work a comedy in three acts. Abstract cover with metallic inks by Aren is perhaps the artist’s most… Read more about this item

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1920 Large octavo, wrappers, 170pp. Oskar Luts (1887-1953) was a writer and playwright, whose works have been translated in many languages. The present work SOO (Swamp) comes from after the success of his earlier, optimistic work dating before WWI. Cover design by August Roosileht. No library holdings in North America.

Tartu: Arlekiin, 1920 Octavo, wrappers, 20pp. Fine abstract cover design by unattributed artist., a two-color linocut. The first appearance of Kulbin s work on cubism (1915) in Estonian, and probably a seminal work influencing the course of modernism in Estonia for the coming decade, especially in Tartu where abstraction was championed in the early years of the Pallas Art School.… Read more about this item

Tartu: Loodus, 1928 Large octavo, wrappers, 184(2)pp. „Peace of Mind,“ is the debut novel by Krusten (1897-1987). The author would achieve fame in his postwar fiction in exile, winning the Visnapuu Award for Literature in 1958. The book has a brilliant cover design by Jaan Vahtra. No library copies found in worldcat

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1927 Octavo, wrappers, 266pp. Cover design by Peet Arenilt. Vallak was the pseudonym for Peeter Pedaias (1893-1959) initially studied painting but moved to fiction as a means to combine realism of the commoner with fantasy in expressionist novels of the 1920s. Later conformed to the dictates of the day. No copies of this first edition found in… Read more about this item

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1928 Octavo, wrappers, 360pp. “Race-War” is a memoir depicting the relentlessness of destruction and death, from the author’s experience on the ground. Striking cover design by Peet Aren. Rare, no copies found in North American libraries.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus, 1932 Octavo, wrappers, 77pp. Raudsepp wrote plays with grotesque caricatures of human folly and weakness common to all of humanity which achieved great popularity. Vedelvorst (“Idler”) is one of Raudsepp’s plays set in village life. Cover design by Edouard Ole. One North American library holding found by worldcat.

Tartu: Noor-Eesti Kirjastus Octavo, wrappers, 143pp. Roht (1891-1950) wrote children’s novels, but also ventured into studies of psychological states. “Freedom & Prison” is of the latter ilk. Cover design by Peet Aren. No library holdings found in worldcat.

Tartu: noo, 1920 Octavo, wrappers, 145pp. Novelist, playwright and politician August Mälk (1900-1987) authored the present work, „The Living Dead,“ is an eary work preceding the fame he would achieve in the trilogy Õitsev meri in 1935. He fled to Sweden in 1944 and served as the chariman of the Estonian Writers Union Abroad from 1945 to 1982. His work… Read more about this item