[Milne, А.А. Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees. Little Bear Winnie-the-Pooh]. First Russian translation of Winnie-the-Pooh.

[Milne, А.А. Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees. Little Bear Winnie-the-Pooh]. / Murzilka magazine (1939): #1, #9. 

Moscow: Detizdat, 1939. 20 p, illustrated.

#1. January, 1939. In original illustrated double wrappers; rubbed, dusted; first wrapper torn at the spine; second wrapper is well-preserved. Overall in good condition.

#9. In original illustrated wrapper; lightly rubbed. Wrappers glued to the book block; small tears at the spine. Owner’s marginalia.

Two issues of popular Soviet children’s magazine Murzilka which include first Russian translations of two Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A. A. Milne, which were referred to as English Tales at the time and not credited to the author.

Issue #1/1939 includes the first ever translation and publication of Winnie-the-Pooh stories in Russian print: O medvede Vinni Pu i pcholah [Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees]. The translation was made by A. Koltynina and O. Galanina, both best-known for their work on this story; and illustrated by Alexey Laptev (1905-1965), a poet and an illustrator.

In issue #9/1939 the story of Winnie-the-Pooh continues with another translation, titled simply Medvezhonok Vinni Pu [Little Bear Winnie-the-Pooh], which would later become the basis for the overwhelmingly popular Soviet cartoon Vinnie Pukh idet v gosti [Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit].

The second issue was illustrated by Mikhail Khrapkovsky (1905-1959), who at the time worked as military correspondent on the Karelian Isthmus; in 1941 he was sentenced to eight years in a labor camp on false charges of collaborating with German intelligence.

The stories included in the issues were the first and only publications of both the translations, and the illustrations.