Gypsy Tales

Based on folklore records, the book "Gypsy Tales" by the famous historian, writer, and educator Nikolai Albertovich Kun was first published in 1922. Since then, it has not been reissued and has become a bibliographic rarity. This edition includes both parts: "The Beliefs of the Gypsies" and "Gypsy Tales". The text is preceded by a small introduction "An Evening in the Gypsy Camp". The book reproduces the illustrations by L. M. Alekseevskaya that adorned the 1922 edition.

In 1903, a new teacher appeared at the women's teacher training seminary in Tver. A stately handsome man with a high forehead and chiseled profile told future teachers about ancient history, the gods of Olympus, and the heroes of Troy. He told it so passionately, as if he himself had sat in a Greek amphitheater more than once, catching every word of another tragedy by Euripides. It seemed that Nikolai Albertovich Kun lived not at the beginning of the 20th century but during the time when the Pythia of the Delphic oracle predicted the heroes' futures. The historian's granddaughter recalled that in her grandfather's apartment, all the walls were covered with images of ancient gods and heroes. For Kun, they were not shadows that had sunk into the past but bright living characters, existing somewhere nearby. Telling his contemporaries about them was the main purpose of Nikolai Albertovich's life.

The future educator and writer was born in 1877 in Moscow. His mother, Antonina Nikolaevna, was a pianist, a student of Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky; his father, Albert Frantsevich, had a wonderful library. In 1903, Kun graduated with honors from the Historical and Philological Faculty of Moscow University, and he was offered to stay and teach. Kun's love for freedom got in the way—he participated in student protests, and that was enough for the doors of the capital university to close before him.

After working in Tver, Nikolai Albertovich returned to Moscow, where he began to lecture at various educational institutions. From 1911 to 1912, he conducted classes on the history of ancient art for future Russian teachers abroad—in Roman museums. Soon after the revolution, Kun began teaching the history of culture at the First Moscow Pedagogical Institute. He could have lectured on astronomy as well—Kun knew the starry sky perfectly. From 1935 until the end of his life, Nikolai Albertovich was a professor at the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History.