Mayakovsky, V. Selected Poems (Izbrannye stikhi). Pyatigorsk, 1940. In Russian.

Владимир Маяковский. Избранные стихи.
Редактор С. П. Бабаевский.
Пятигорск: Орджоникидзевское краевое издательство, 1940.
112 с. Уменьшенный формат. Твердый издательский переплет.
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Vladimir Mayakovsky.
Selected Poems (Izbrannye stikhi).
Edited by S. P. Babayevsky.
Pyatigorsk: Ordzhonikidze Regional Publishing House, 1940.
112 pp. Pocket format. Publisher's hardcover.

This 1940 edition of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s selected verses is a poignant cultural artifact issued exactly ten years after the poet’s tragic death. The text provides a deep dive into the internal logic of the Soviet literary canon, including the arrangement of works that define Mayakovsky’s transition from a rebellious avant-garde futurist to the "best and most talented" poet of the socialist era, a status officially cemented by Stalin’s personal endorsement in the mid-1930s. Published in Pyatigorsk by the Ordzhonikidze Regional Publishing House, this volume is a notable example of pre-war regional Soviet book production, edited by S.P. Babayevsky, who would later become a prominent Stalin Prize-winning novelist. The collection features essential agitational and lyrical poems, reflecting the rigorous ideological selection of the late 1930s intended for mass education.  As a vital primary source, this volume documents the official institutionalization of Mayakovsky’s legacy in the North Caucasus region, illustrating how his "loud-voiced" poetry was disseminated to every corner of the Soviet Union.