BOBROVA, Ella Ivanovna

A Tale of How Brave Snowflakes Helped Little Girl Marinka [Skazka o tom, kak smelye snezhinki pomogli devochke Marinke]

Item #1648

Illustrated by A. Reimer. Toronto: Izdatel'stvo Leonella [Printed by Chabane Printers], 1961. First edition. One of 500 copies. 8 pp., illustrated throughout with decorated historiated initial letters, cover art, and vignettes by A. Reimer. Original publisher's tan printed paper wrappers with black cloth spine strip. A fine copy of a fragile émigré children's publication.

A charming and exceptionally scarce postwar Russian émigré children's verse tale written by the poet, literary scholar, and educator Ella Bobrova (1911–2012). Born in Russia and educated in Kharkiv, Bobrova survived World War II as a Displaced Person in Germany before emigrating to Canada in 1947, where she became a prominent figure in Toronto's Russian cultural life and taught Russian language and literature. Published under her private "Leonella" imprint in a limited edition of only 500 copies, this fairy tale tells the story of brave snowflakes who come to the aid of a young girl named Marinka and help free captive fathers so they can return home for Christmas. The volume is attractively illustrated throughout by artist A. Reimer with decorated initial letters and seasonal vignettes.

Price: $200.00