The Alphabet. Stories from the Alphabet

In 1872, the first edition of "The Alphabet" by L. N. Tolstoy was published, which the great classic created with particular care and the dream that Russian children "would learn from this Alphabet... and receive their first poetic impressions from... it". The illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov (1900-1973), which made up this edition, were created a century later; the artist himself selected the stories and the so-called pages from "The Alphabet": "I wanted to put into the drawings of this book all the beauty that has remained in my soul and in my memory about the wonderful period of my barefoot peasant childhood, which coincided with the last years of L. N. Tolstoy's life". The appearance and clothing of people, household items, the decor of a peasant house - all of this was familiar to A. F. Pakhomov not by hearsay, and today his charming images of peasant children continue to introduce both large and small readers to the past of the Russian people. "Everything must be beautiful, short, simple, and, most importantly, clear," - this principle was the foundation of Lev Tolstoy's "Alphabet". The stories that make up this collection range from the simplest miniatures to such independent works as "The Little Bone", "The Lion and the Puppy", "Philipok" and others, which have become children's classics for all time.