Rubinshtein, Lev [Kinko and Hiroshi: The Little Japanese]. Kinko i Khirosi: Malenʹkie yapontsy.

Series Tvoi Sverstniki.
Illustrations by V. Lazarevskaya.

Moskva, Izdatel'stvo Detskiy mir,1962.
8vo,16, [4] pp., ill.

In original illustrated wrappers.
In good condition, wear to spine and edges, small cracks on edges, small tears on cover, small owner's mark on front cover.

First and only edition.

This book tells the story of a little girl named Kinko Hayashi and her friend, a boy named Hiroshi from Kyoto. One day, Miss Cassady, an American visitor, comes to Kinko's house and pressures her mother to sell some rare dolls that Kinko's grandfathers had made. However, her mother's colleagues from the tram depot and neighbors stand up against Miss Cassady.
The author of the book is Lev Rubinshtein (1905-1995), a Far East historian, translator, and war correspondent who participated in OBERIU (The Union of Real Art) meetings in the late 1920s and was close to avant-garde poets Daniil Kharms and Nikita Oleynikov. Rubinshtein had dreamed of visiting Japan but ended up in the hospital on the eve of his departure. Despite this setback, he wrote the story with great knowledge of Japan. In 1981, he emigrated to the USA.
The book was illustrated by Valentina Lazarevskaya (1910-1973), a female graphic artist who studied under Ely Bielutin, the founder of The New Reality artistic academy.
This book was part of the children's collection of Inna Shmeleva (1929-2020), an artist who also studied under Bielutin. In 1962, Shmeleva participated in the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists at the Central Exhibition Hall (Manège), which was severely criticized by Nikita Khrushchev. This event marked the end of the period known as the Khrushchev Thaw.

OCLC locates one copy of this edition in the US only: in the Stanford University Library. Second copy locates in the Main Library of the Siedlce University in Siedlce (Poland).