Loznevoi, Aleksandr [The Black Bird: Chukchi Tales]. Chernaia Ptitsa: Chukotskie Skazki. 

Illustrations by P. Ostrovskii. 

Cheliabinsk, Iuzhno-Uralskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo, 1978.
8vo, 38 pp.incl.wr., ill.

In original pictorial wrappers and modern paper folder. Signed and inscribed inside front wrapper. Issued without title page.
In good condition, light wear to wrappers and spine fold, minor losses to spine.

Rare provincial edition. Only edition with these illustrations. Signed and inscribed by the author:'Dorogomu Vasiliu / Dmitrievichu Sokolovu - / zamechatelnomu pisatelu, / ostro mysliashchemu cheloveku, / frontoviku, na plechi / kotorogo legla novaia / tiazhest – voskresit obraz / velikogo stratega nashego / vremeni marshala / Zhukova / ALoznevoi 78 g. / P.S. Skazki, konechno, / tebe v etom ne / pomogut, no ty / ikh prochitai' [To dear Vasily Dmitrievich Sokolov, an outstanding writer, a sharp-minded individual, a veteran, on whose shoulders a new burden has fallen—to revive the image of the great strategist of our time, Marshal Zhukov. A. Loznevoi, 1978. P.S. Of course, fairy tales won't help you in this, but you should read them].

This collection of Chukchi fairy tales was compiled by Alexander Loznevoy (1911–2005), a poet, writer, and journalist. After World War II, he worked for newspapers in Chukotka, where he diligently collected and adapted numerous local tales into Russian. These stories formed the basis of ‘Chukchi Tales’, first published in 1956 in Minsk and Vladivostok, with slight variations in content between the editions. Over time, the collection expanded and was republished multiple times.
This Chelyabinsk edition features 14 tales, including ‘The Black Bird’, ‘The All-Powerful Katgyrgyn’, ‘The Bear and the Wind’, ‘How the Crow Outwitted the Fox’, ‘The Reindeer and the Giant Goby’, ‘Ugly Fame’, ‘The Fox and the Bear’, ‘The Tale of Boy Gat, The Wicked Stepmother and the Overseas Spider’, ‘The Tail’, ‘How the Crows Wanted to Kill the Seagull’, ‘Memyl’ and Kele’, ‘Land and Water’, ‘Umka and the Lion’, and ‘Eskimo and Chukcha’.  It is likely that four of these tales were published here for the first time.
The illustrations were created by Petr Ostrovskii (1910–1990), a renowned artist best known for his caricatures. Interestingly, he also illustrated the earlier Minsk edition of ‘Chukchi Tales’, but for this 1978 edition, he created an entirely new set of drawings. Notably, all full-page illustrations in this book are placed on the left-hand side, which is unusual, as they are typically published on the right.
This book was signed to Vasily Sokolov (1919–1990), a writer specializing in the Great Patriotic War. He had personal connections with Soviet Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Konstantin Rokossovsky. In 1988, Sokolov published ‘Marshal Zhukov: How We Remember Him’.

We couldn’t trace any copy of this edition in the USA or European libraries via OCLC.