[Funny Stories: Blackie and the Milkman’s Horse. Binky and His Stripes. The Seagull and the Tortoise]. Zabavnye Istorii: Redzhi i Bleki. Binki i Ego Polosy. Albatros i Cherepakha.

Translation by E. Selezneva.

First Bisset's Russian book. The only edition of these illustrations.

This is Donald Bisset's first book in Russian, which introduced the storyteller to Soviet children. It is believed that Bisset is more famous in Russia than in his home country. Many of his stories were translated and adapted into animated films, including puppet animation. Bisset visited the USSR for the first time in 1969 and participated in the International Conference of Children's Book Writers in Moscow in 1973.

The book was designed by the prominent Russian avant-garde artist Alisa Poret (1902–1984). She studied at VKhUTEIN under K. Petrov-Vodkin and later joined Analytical Art, Pavel Filonov's school, becoming one of his greatest students. From 1928, she worked at Detgiz publishing house and collaborated with the avant-gardist and absurdist poet Daniil Kharms. Poret was accused of formalism and forced to change her unique style in the 1930s to avoid repression. Unfortunately, many of Poret's early works were destroyed during the siege of Leningrad. She also designed the appearance of Winnie the Pooh and his friends for the first Russian edition.

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