About the Silly Little Mouse

This little children's book has turned 90 years old. An instructive story about a capricious little mouse, created by great masters — writer S. Ya. Marshak and artist V. V. Lebedev, was published in 1925. The book was published 12... times until 1945. Another reissue took place in 1982, in the series «Artists for Children». However, the illustrations in all these books, although similar to the originals created by the artist, look more conditional and poster-like. It is known that in printing houses until the 90s, the drawings were heavily retouched and simplified to fit the existing capabilities of printing. Apparently, Lebedev's illustrations underwent the same procedure — they were translated from tone to line art.
The new reissue of the tale «About the Silly Little Mouse», prepared by the publishing house «Melik-Pashaev», was printed from the original drawings of V.V. Lebedev, stored in the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg). For the first time, fans and connoisseurs of book graphics can see the illustrations as they really are — with halftones, subtle color transitions, and fine details.