Handmade accordion book.

"Russkai︠a︡ narodnai︠a︡ schitalka o Vechno zhivykh pereskazal dli︠a︡ vzroslykh, narisoval i izgotovil v kolichestve 7 ėkzempli︠a︡rov Mikhail Magaril; pechatʹ trafaretnai︠a︡, tempera -- Russian folk counting rhyme about The immortals ad[a]pted for adults. Illustrated, and printed by Mikhail Magaril in the edition of 7 copies. Stencil, tempera... Special thanks to Mark Magaril for his help"--Colophon.

Printed endpapers alternate portraits of Lenin with stylized green or red fir or pine trees. Cover collage melds silhouette of Lenin smoking with that of the rabbit from the rhyme. Illustrations in text incorporate airplanes, cigarette burns, a Russian peasant, Lenin's mausoleum and more silhouettes of Lenin, Stalin and the rabbit.

"The counting rhyme, a traditional Russian eeny meeny moe (still in use), concerns a rabbit spotted by a hunter. Shot dead, [the rabbit] is miraculously resurrected ... In artist's version the hunter is Lenin and he is transformed into Stalin at the end of the rhyme. In fact, the rabbit's immortality is conferred on Lenin the hunter and his successor Stalin. This is of course an allusion to mausoleum that conserved the remains of the "immortals" and also, like most of Magaril's work, a reflection of the pervasive contamination of every aspect of popular culture of childhood by communist iconography"--Artist's prospectus, laid in.

LC has copy number 6 of the limited edition, signed by the artist in Russian and English.

Rhymed text in Russian; English translation appears inside portfolio flap.