Plakat po bezopasnosti truda v SSSR i za granitseii [Posters for occupational safety in the USSR and abroad] by Reitynbarg, D[avid] I[saakovich] and Kaplun, S[ergei] I[l'ich] (editor and introduction)

Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskoe izdatel'stvo, 1931. Octavo (25 × 17.5 cm). Original printed wrappers in the constructivist style; 239, [1] pp. Tables, graphs, and illustrations throughout. Very good. An early comprehensive study of the occupational safety poster, including detailed formal and psychological analysis, illustrated with numerous reproductions of occupational safety posters from the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, South Africa, Germany, and India, among others. The study was published by the State Institute for the Protection of Labor, founded in 1924 by the Soviet hygiene specialist Sergei Kaplun (1897-1943), who also provided the introduction for the present volume. The study offered incisive psychological and formal analysis of safety posters by artists such as Nikolai Troshin, Daniil Moor, Käthe Kollwitz, Ralph Moses, ranging from a discussion of the emotional tone and psychological impact of the posters to specific graphic, font, and color strategies used by the artists to achieve the intended effect. The author, David Reitynbarg (1899-1977), was a psychologist of labor and a specialist in "suggestive psychology". In 1925-1935 he served as an assistant in the psychology of labor division of the Institute, publishing a number of texts on occupational safety including "Socialist competition for reducing industrial accidents" which went through several editions in 1930-1931. Like many cutting-edge Soviet psychologists Reitynbarg was arrested and repressed in 1935 for publishing a study on the language of the soldiers of the Red Army. He was rehabilitated in 1957, with his later work including studies of effectiveness of propaganda.

The striking constructivist-inspired wrappers and layout throughout (based on drawings by Nikolai Troshin and executed by Zoia Deineka) highlight the book's commitment to strong visual communication strategies.

A striking work on the intersection of advertisement psychology, constructivist design, and labor studies. Rare; as of September 2021, KVK, OCLC show only one copy at Geneva.