Alphabet in Pictures

This spectacular children’s book, an ‘Alphabet in Pictures’ illustrated by Alexander Benois, was published in St Petersburg in 1904, and displays the letters of the Russian alphabet in 35 full page chromolithographs that are rich in detail. Each cyrillic letter is portrayed in a colourful scene, taking themes from myriad sources including Russian folklore (Baba Yaga), popular fairy tales (Hansel and Gretel) and the Bible (Jonah and the Whale). 


The scenes are theatrical in their manner, (‘T’ even illustrates a theatre, while others scenes display a magician performing with jesters, or theatrical motifs such as swans swimming on a lake.) Benois (1870-1960) was an acclaimed artist and stage designer, who was appointed scenic director at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre in 1904 where he served as the first artistic director of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, famously designing sets and costumes for Diaghilev’s Petrouchka in 1911).


The aristocratic childhood portrayed in these images, in all of its ornamental decadence, is from a bygone era – a world that met its end in the Revolution of 1917.