Russian folk tales. Comp. Fedorov-Davydav A.A.

Tales in this book are collected by a wonderful writer and translator Alexander Alexandrovich Fedorov-Davydov (1873-1936). In childhood, his grandfather, academician and dean of the historical and philological department of the philosophy of Moscow University, Ivan Ivanovich Davydov, had a noticeable influence on the future writer. The father of the young man was a teacher, Alexander inherited the desire for education. In adulthood, Fedorov-Davydov was not only published in various magazines, but also devoted a lot of time to publishing.

Before the revolution, he was the editor and publisher of several children's magazines at once, on the pages of which the works of Mamin-Sibiryak, Nemirovich-Danchenko, Chekhov and other leading Russian writers were printed; Many materials were devoted to native nature. In Soviet times, Fedorov-Davydov became one of the founders of the popular Soviet children's magazine Murzilka. Over his life, Alexander Alexandrovich wrote more than a hundred books for children, as well as notes, articles and essays. Once he noticed that "we do not know many folk Russian fairy tales." Indeed, almost all the tales collected and published by him will seem completely unfamiliar to modern readers.

Illustrations for fairy tales in the publication are made by Alexander Petrovich Apsit (1880-1944). The future artist was born in Riga in the working family of a blacksmith and laundresses. When Alexander was fourteen, his parents moved to St. Petersburg. The architecture and the very atmosphere of the great city made a strong impression on the young man, and he began to be interested in art, felt a craving for drawing. Alexander began to copy pictures of famous masters and visit the “Workshop for Students” by academician Lev Evgrafovich Dmitriev-Caucasus. In this studio, the abilities of APSIT were fully revealed, and after a few years he began to perform illustrations for the Niva magazine and cooperate with the famous Publishing House Sytin.

Talent of Alexander Petrovich allowed him to work quickly and easily in a wide variety of in a wide variety of areas of fine creativity. He performed wall murals in the Athos Monastery, made a magnificent series of illustrations for Tolstoy’s “War and the World” and for the fairy tales “Thousands of and One Night”. At the same time, APVIS painted advertising posters, labels, Easter cards and film Afisha in the Art Nouveau style. Drawings for Russian fairy tales in this edition demonstrate only one of the numerous faces of the talent of A.P. Apsita.

These days, the work of this artist regularly appears at international auctions.