Russian dictator (1878-1953). Portrait photograph (vintage). Probably Moscow. Albumen print, 209 x 269 mm, mounted on backing cardboard (298 x 400 mm).
3.500 €
(62240/BN45421)
A large head-and-shoulders portrait of Stalin, shortly before the beginning of the Great Purges. - A few unobtrusive scuff marks; backing cardboard smudged and stained. Russian lab label on reverse: "Foto-Laboratorija, U.P.P. Leningradskogo Otdelenija, Muzfonda SSSR, Leningrad. Lenoblgorlit No. 1094". Rare.
Russian dictator (1878-1953). Autograph letter signed. No place. 18.10.1935. 8vo. 2 ff. on 2 pp. In red crayon.
185.000 €
(72983/BN47228)
In Russian, to his nine-year-old daughter Svetlana: "Hello, little lady of the house! I am sending you pomegranates, tangerines, and candied fruit. Eat - and enjoy, my little lady of the house. There's nothing for Vasja because he is still doing poorly at school and keeps making empty promises. Explain to him that I do not trust long-winded promises and shall believe him only when he really applies himself and delivers a performance that can be called at least middle-rate. I report, dear lady of the house, that I spent a day in Tbilisi.
I was visiting [my] mother and said many greetings from you and from Vasja. She is tolerably well and sends you many kisses. That's all for now. Kisses. I shall be seeing you soon. / Secretary to Svetlana - poor paterfamilias, J. Stalin". Svetlana Iosifovna (Stalina) Alliluyeva, born in Moscow in 1926, died in Richland Center, Wisconsin, USA, in 2011. - Traces of horizontal folds; very well preserved. Includes: portrait photograph of Stalin (vintage). Probably Moscow, ca. 1935. Albumen print, 209 x 269 mm, mounted on backing cardboard (298 x 400 mm). A large head-and-shoulders portrait, likely taken shortly before the beginning of the Great Purges. With a few unobtrusive scuff marks; backing cardboard smudged and stained. Russian lab label on reverse: "Foto-Laboratorija, U.P.P. Leningradskogo Otdelenija, Muzfonda SSSR, Leningrad. Lenoblgorlit No. 1094". Rare..
Russian dictator (1878-1953). Autograph letter signed. No place. 05.02.1939. 8vo. 1 p. in red and blue crayon, with the sketch of a Soviet seal.
95.000 €
(72984/BN47229)
To his thirteen-year-old daughter Svetlana, a letter facetiously couched as a party circular: "Do not copy. [Copies go to:] 1) Stalin, 2) Voroshilov, 3) Zhdanov, 4) Molotov, 5) Kaganovich, 6) Khrushchev. - Brief no. 8: En route to Zubanovo. Leaving you to your own devices. You are instructed not to lose your sense of direction. Chin up! - Signed by all secretaries as indicated above: with submission, poor Stalin / Kaganovich / Khrushchev / Zhdanov / V. Molotov for the Ukraine / Voroshilov". Svetlana Iosifovna (Stalina) Alliluyeva, born in Moscow in 1926, died in Richland Center, Wisconsin, USA, in 2011.
- Weak trace of a horizontal crease; torn from a notepad leaving an irregular upper edge (loss of an additional line referring to the purported "recipients"). Very well preserved document of Stalin's private family life (pervaded by the formulae of party bureaucracy) near the end of the Great Purge..
Russian dictator (1878-1953). Autograph letter signed. No place. 04.03.1937. 8vo. 1 page. In blue and red crayon.
65.000 €
(73283/BN47652)
A humorous correspondence with his daughter Svetlana, giving her the desired permission to invite two classmates for the weekend: "For Secretary Number 1 Mr Stalin / Decree Number 2 / I order you to permit me to invite two boys and a girl from my class this weekend (12/3/37). / Insurgent - Svetlanka Stalina [stamp] / Signed / I submit myself / Secretary to Svetlanka - insurgent / Stalin". Very well preserved document of Stalin's private family life, pervaded by the formulae of party bureaucracy.