Kube, A. N. History of Faience (Istoriya fayansa). Cover by I. Mozalevsky. Berlin, 1923. In Russian.

Кубе, А. Н. История фаянса / обложка работы И. Мозалевского.
Берлин : Р.С.Ф.С.Р. Государственное издательство (напечатано по договору с Издательством З. И. Гржебина), 1923. 122, [6] с., 24 л. ил.
Мягкая издательская иллюстрированная обложка. Формат: 24,5 х 17,3 см.
На переднем пустом листе присутствует частная дарственная надпись (Киев, 1930 г.), на заднем — владельческий штамп («Гиголов») и карандашная помета.
Состояние хорошее: обложка с естественным возрастным потемнением, потертостями, небольшими заломами и надрывами по краям и на корешке; книжный блок крепкий, страницы светлые и чистые, без фоксингов.
***
Kube, A. N. [Alfred Nikolaevich]. History of Faience [Istoriya fayansa] / cover design by I. Mozalevsky.
Berlin : R.S.F.S.R. State Publishing House (printed by agreement with Z. I. Grzhebin Publishing), 1923. 122, [6] pp., 24 leaves of plates.
Original publisher's illustrated softcover. Format: 24.5 x 17.3 cm.
The front blank leaf bears a private gift inscription in ink (Kiev, 1930), and the rear blank features a previous owner's stamp ("Gigolov") alongside a brief pencil note.
Condition good: wrappers show natural age-toning, edge wear, minor creasing, and chipping along the spine; text block is firm, pages are clean, bright, and entirely free of foxing.

A classic, foundational work on the history of ceramics, faience, and majolica by Alfred Kube (1886-1942), a prominent Russian art historian and long-time curator of Renaissance applied arts at the State Hermitage Museum. The book provides a detailed chronological and geographical survey of faience production, from early Islamic and Near Eastern ceramics to major European centers up to the 18th century. Notably, this edition was printed in Berlin in 1923 under a special agreement between the Soviet State Publishing House (Gosizdat) and the émigré enterprise of Zinoviy Grzhebin—a hallmark of the brief but highly fruitful period of Soviet-German publishing cooperation in the early 1920s. The striking front cover was designed by Ivan Mozalevsky (1890-1959), a talented Russian graphic artist associated with the "Mir Iskusstva" (World of Art) movement, who was living in Berlin during this period. Complete with 24 pages of high-quality photographic plates printed by Dr. Selle & Co., this volume is a valuable asset for collectors of applied arts literature and early 1920s Russian-Berlin imprints.