Maïakovski en français = Маяковский по-французски

Malheureusement, on en sait peu sur le traducteur, Andrey Gippius (1896-1938). Il était vraisemblablement de grande noblesse et partit pour la Première Guerre mondiale dès le début de la guerre. C'était en 1914, quand il avait dix-huit ans. Apparemment, il n'a pas quitté le pays après la révolution. En 1921, il travailla pour le Commissariat du Peuple aux Communications, où son travail était vraisemblablement lié aux chemins de fer. Au cours des années 1930 (débutant en 1932 au plus tôt), il travailla comme traducteur technique pour l’usine d’instruments «Kalibr» de Moscou, où des appareils de mesure de la munition pour l’artillerie de missile étaient produits à l’époque, ainsi que des instruments de calibrage. En 1930, Andrey Gippius aurait de nouveau publié un livre, rendant compte de façon fictive de son expérience de la guerre. À l'apogée de la terreur stalinienne, le 18 janvier 1938, il fut arrêté, accusé de "l'agitation contre-révolutionnaire à tendance terroriste parmi les travailleurs", condamné par la NKVD Troika le 19 février. Andrey Gippius est assassiné une semaine plus tard, le 26 février 1938, et inhumé sur le site de la fosse commune de Butovo, non loin de Moscou.

The cover (in Russian) and text (in French) were handwritten by the translator and lithographed on glass to rectos only. This edition folows the tradition of Russian futurist books - hand-lithographed manuscripts and handwritten hectograph publications. A lot of those were made by Aleksei Kruchionykh (1886-1968), regarded by many as the father of Russian futurism. Unlike the expensive and elevated art books, futurist books were ‘rough, cheap, small, load out and inside’. The only books cheaper than those, produced by futurists, were the pulp fiction series which aimed to reach the broadest readership possible. By such democratic (to say the least) pricing, — 50 kopecks vs ten rubles for a typical livre d’artiste, — futurists were able to build their own audience, albeit consisting mostly of students. Mayakovsky, who was with the futurists, was among the authors of the first futurist manifestos and also took part at some point in the kind of book publishing at issue. This book was published the year Mayakovsky died. 

Unfortunately, little is known about the translator, Andrey Gippius (1896-1938). He was, presumably, of noble birth, went off to World War One as soon as it broke out, —  it was 1914 when he turned eighteen. Apparently, he didn't leave the country after the revolution. In 1921 he worked for the People's Commissariat of Communications, where his job was presumably related to railways. During the 1930s (starting not earlier than 1932) he worked as a technical translator for the Moscow "Kalibr" Instrument Plant, where ordnance measuring devices for missile artillery were produced at the time together with calibrating instruments. In 1930 Andrey Gippius, once again, presumably, published a book, being fictionalized account of his experience during the war. In the heyday of the Stalinist terror, on 18 January 1938, he was arrested,  accused of the "counter-revolutionary agitation with terroristic leaning among workers", sentenced by NKVD Troika on 19 February. Andrey Gippius was murdered a week later, on 26 February 1938 and buried at the mass grave site in Butovo, not far from Moscow.