Kharms, D. [Mysterious Pictures: Poems and Prose]. Zagadochnye Kartinki: Stikhi i proza.

Illustrations by Alisa Poret.

Moskva, Malysh, 1980.
8vo, [16] pp., ill.

In original pictorial wrappers.
Near very good condition, minor soiling.

The only edition.

This collection features works by Daniil Kharms (1905–1942), one of Russia's most prominent avant-garde and absurdist poets and writers, and the founder of the avant-garde collective Oberiu.
The book is illustrated by his friend and unrequited love, the notable Russian avant-garde artist Alisa Poret (1902–1984). She studied at VKhUTEIN under Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and later joined Analytical Art, Pavel Filonov’s school, where she became one of his most distinguished students. Beginning in 1928, she worked for the publisher Detgiz, but accusations of formalism in the 1930s forced her to modify her unique style to avoid repression. Tragically, many of Poret’s early works were lost during the siege of Leningrad. She also created the character designs for 'Winnie the Pooh and His Friends' in the first Russian edition.
'Mysterious Pictures' is the only book by Kharms that she illustrated. It also includes a brief preface by Poret about Kharms, in which she mentions the poet's favorite game, ‘Facial Features’. She concludes with a portrait of Kharms and a note that ‘he liked to walk with an umbrella even in good weather’.

We couldn't trace any copy of this issue in the USA. OCLC locates three copies of this edition (one in the UK and two in continental Europe): in the Birmingham University Library, the Utrecht University Library and the University Library of Giessen.