Zubal, Iaroslav (Jaroslaw Zubal)

[SIGNED] Myslyvski spohady = Memories of a Hunter

Wallingford–Philadelphia: Nakladom avtora [Self-published], 1971. Item #1577

147 pp: illustrations. 21 cm. Original publisher’s green cloth boards with gilt-stamped title and vignette of a stag on the front cover. Cover design by Vasyl Doroshenko. Illustrated by the artist-painter William (Viliiam) Kuchler. Edition limited to 500 copies. Ukrainian language.

Original cloth binding with light shelf wear and minor rubbing at extremities; gilt title and vignette remain bright. Interior clean with light age toning to margins. Signed and inscribed by the author on the title page and front free endpaper, including a dated inscription (1971) and a separate English-language dedication dated 1972. Binding sound.

A scarce émigré Ukrainian sporting memoir by the forester and engineer Iaroslav Zubal, recounting his experiences as a hunter in the forests of the Sandomierz region prior to the Second World War. Written as a series of reflective sketches, the work evokes the culture and traditions of Central European hunting while also presenting a nostalgic portrait of the natural landscape and wildlife of the former Polish–Ukrainian borderlands. The author emphasizes the ethical and aesthetic dimensions of hunting, describing encounters with deer, wild boar, foxes, hares, and numerous species of birds, as well as the seasonal rhythms of the hunt. In the preface, Roman Kobrynskyi situates the book within the small body of Ukrainian hunting literature, noting that few such works existed either in prewar Galicia or in the postwar diaspora. Published in a small print run of 500 copies and issued by the author in the Ukrainian émigré community in the United States, the volume represents a distinctive example of diaspora memoir literature combining natural history, cultural memory, and the traditions of European hunting culture. Signed copies are uncommon in the trade.

Price: $200.00