Mayakovsky, Vladimir [For the Voice]. Dlia Golosa.

Book Constructor El Lissitzky.     

Berlin, Lutz & Vogt G.M.B.H, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo, 1923.
8vo, [2], 61 pp., ill.

In original pictorial wrappers. Illustrations and typographical designs in red and black.
In good condition, rubbing and soiling to wrappers, traces of owner signature to front cover, minor loss to spine, creasing to back cover, rust to staples, owner signature inside front wrapper and first page, small tear to p. 41-42. 

[One of 3 000 copies printed].

One of the finest achievements of Russian avant-garde bookmaking.   

A masterpiece of constructivist book design, this collection of poems by Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was designed by El Lissitzky (1890–1941), a key figure in both the Russian and Western European avant-garde movements. The book was published during the time when both the poet and artist were in Berlin. Lissitzky revolutionized the concept of the printed book, designing Mayakovsky’s poems in the style of an address book, as the poems were meant to be read aloud. To facilitate this, he incorporated a thumb index with titles, allowing readers to quickly locate specific verses.
Lissitzky’s wife, Sophie Lissitzky-Küppers, quoted him as saying: ‘My pages stand in much the same relation to the poems as an accompanying piano to a violin. Just as the poet in his poem unites concept and sound, I have tried to create an equivalent unity using the poem and typography’ (El Lissitzky: Life, Letters, Texts. London, 1980).