Lenin, V.I. [On Electrification]. Ob Elektrifikatsii.

Book design by N. Sedel'nikov.

Moskva, Partizdat TSK VKP(b), 1936.
8vo, 215 pp., portrait, folded plates.

In publisher blue cloth.
Near very good condition, lightly rubbed, small spots to front cover.

This book was published for the fifteenth anniversary of the GOELRO plan (State Commission for Electrification of Russia), which was initiated and supervised by Vladimir Lenin. The plan included the construction of a network of 30 regional power plants, including ten large hydroelectric power plants, and numerous large electric-powered industrial enterprises.
It's important to note that the construction of Lenin's cult of personality began while he was still alive. By 1931, however, the focus shifted to building Stalin's cult of personality. As a result, any book dedicated to Lenin also needed to highlight Stalin's significant role.
This shift led to the production of numerous 'parade' editions designed to construct the image of the USSR and support Stalin's cult of personality. These propaganda books were produced with high-quality materials and designed by the most important artists of the time.
This particular book was designed by Nikolai Sedel'nikov (1905-1994), one of the principal book and graphic designers in Soviet Russia. He studied at VKhUTEMAS, where he was a pupil of Rodchenko, Lissitzky, and Tatlin, and worked with Gustav Klutsis and Solomon Telingater. Sedel'nikov was one of the pioneers of new typography in Soviet Russia, winning the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937 and the Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in New York in 1939 for the design of the book 'USSR Constitution', together with S. Telingater and I. Rerberg.
After de-Stalinization, such books were censored; portraits of Stalin and other attributes of his cult were removed.

OCLC locates three copies of this edition: in the British Library, the University of Kansas and the National Library of Israel.