KUSIKOV, Aleksandr Borisovich.

Koevangelieran [Ko-gospel-ran].

Moscow, "Imazhinisty", 1920. Large 8vo, pp. 30; lightly browned, title cut out and pasted on to title-page; in the original illustrated wrappers, cover design and illustration in text by B. Erdman, spine repaired, lower outer corner of front wrapper defective. First edition. It is difficult to piece together a cohesive picture of Aleksandr Kusikov. His romanticized self-image was one of a wild mountain-dweller, and the Circassian trappings with which he surrounded himself (he was born in 1896 in Armavir to a large Armenian family called Kusikian) were clearly evident in his poetry, his letters, and his style of dress. This collection of verse was written when Kusikov was working with Shershenevich and Esenin, a prolific time for the young poet. Only a few years later his verse style changed, the once graphic clarity faded, the Eastern flavour soured and dried up. By the beginning of the '30s he had broken with literature altogether; he died in Paris in 1977.Hellyer 268; Tarasenkov p. 203. Not in Kilgour or NUC; OCLC locates 4 copies only (Yale, Amherst College, Columbia, and Cornell).

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