ZHAR-PTITSA [JAR PTITZA], Paris, Berlin: Izdatel`stvo `Russkoye Iskusstvo`, August 1921 - January 1926. Sizes vary, largest issue No 14: 4to (325 x 250 mm). A complete set of fourteen published issues in 13 parts (all published). Illustrated throughout, including copious color plates mounted on leaves with printed captions. Wrappers restored, some replaced (back cover of Issue No 1; front cover of Issue No 3). Some pages restored, some replaced with facsimile copies (first two pages of Issue No 1; a page featuring Shukhaev`s Bathers in Issue No 6; two pages with color plates featuring the works by Bakst and Kustodiev in Issue No 9). Some issues also trimmed.

FIRST EDITIONS. A COMPLETE SET IN THE THE ORIGINAL PARTS. Zhar Ptistsa was extremely influential in its day, containing contributions from such luminaries such as Somov, Benois, Grigoriev, Bakst, Goncharova, Bilibin, Shukhaev, and all the the members of the Mir Iskusstva, or "World of Art Group". As Fekula noted, Zhar Ptitsa is 'perhaps the most famous of post-revolutionary art journals, whose contributors threw new light on the development of Russian art at the beginning of the twentieth century.' Likewise, Vengerov stated about the journal, 'Even separate issues of the magazine, let alone complete sets of its issues, are a great bibliographic rarity.' A complete set is an invaluable reference tool. Fekula 5742; Vengerov, Staraia Russkaia Kniga, 105.