"Childhood, childhood, where have you gone?" — Yura Shatunov endlessly repeats in his song. And what do we remember from childhood? Cycling, drawings on the asphalt, toys, cartoons, games in the yard, funny counting books and, of course, children's books. Do you remember the covers of books that you read as a child? There were so many interesting things in them, with the help of a glance at just one illustration from the cover, you could go into a fabulous fantasy world. In addition, children's books represent a certain cross-section of the cultural characteristics of a particular era in the life of the country.
Where childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's books
Employees of Princeton University for the first time published digitized covers of 159 Soviet pre-war children's books stored in the children's library of the university. All of them were published in the period from 1918 to 1938 and display examples of verbal and visual manners of expressing meaning characteristic of that time. Among the authors of the books are Agnia Barto, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Daniil Kharms. Already interested? A selection of the 50 most striking, unusual and creative covers is just below.
Where childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's books
Is this cover even legal now?
Where childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's booksWhere childhood goes: unknown covers of Soviet children's books