Ekimtsev, A. Bryansk Forest: A Poem (Bryanskii les. Poema). Illustrated by A. Tambovkin, 1975. In Russian.

Екимцев, Александр Ефимович.
Брянский лес : поэма / художник А. Тамбовкин.
Москва : «Детская литература», 1975. 23 страницы, иллюстрации ; энциклопедический формат (60 х 90/8).
В издательской обложке. Тираж 450 000 экземпляров. Для младшего школьного возраста.
Состояние хорошее: лёгкая потёртость краёв и уголков обложки, мелкие пятна на задней обложке; блок чистый.
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Ekimtsev, Aleksandr Efimovich. Bryansk Forest: A Poem / illustrated by A. Tambovkin.
Moscow : Detskaya Literatura Publishing House, 1975. 23 pp., illustrated ; encyclopedic format (60 x 90/8).
Paper wrappers. Print run of 450,000 copies. For primary school age.
Condition good: light rubbing to edges and corners of wrappers, small spots to rear wrapper; text block clean.

Aleksandr Ekimtsev (1929-1992) was born in a village of the Bryansk region and moved later to Stavropol. He wrote poetry for young readers, 25 of his 29 collections being for children. The poem Bryansk Forest tells of the Bryansk partisans in the Second World War, a region that was the largest centre of partisan resistance in the occupied Soviet Union. Its distinctive idea is that the forest itself fights. Pines, spruce, oaks, an owl, a raven, a bear cub and even a hedgehog bush rise against the invaders, and the Germans decide to destroy the forest with artillery, mortars and flamethrowers. Biographical sources report that Ekimtsev received an all-union literary prize in 1972 for the poem, which means this 1975 printing is not the earliest appearance of the text. The illustrations are by A. Tambovkin, probably Arnold Tambovkin (1933-1998), who worked chiefly for the Detskaya Literatura publishing house and was known for getting the effect of full colour out of two or three printing inks. Here the dark blue-grey and coral cover and the pencil-and-charcoal drawings inside give the poem a heavy, wartime mood. The book is a mass publication with 450,000 copies printed, so it is not scarce as a title. Thin stitched booklets of this kind survive in clean condition far less often than their print run suggests. This copy carries a school presentation inscription of 24 May 1975, a pleasing provenance that comes from the Soviet tradition of giving books on school occasions. It will appeal to collectors of Soviet children's illustration, of Second World War literature for young readers and of Bryansk and partisan history.