Kysilevska Olena.Switzerland.Kolomyia, 1933

“I decided to introduce our citizens to this beautiful, interesting country.”

Olena Kisilevska. Switzerland / dust jacket by V. Dyadynyuk.

Kolomyia: privately published, 1933. — 213, [1] pp., [30] plates. — approx. 21 × 15 cm. — Printed by the Vasylian Brothers Press in Zhovkva. Print run not stated. The front cover bears different publication details — “Lviv 1932”; the title page and copyright line — Kolomyia, 1933.

The work features an illustrated dust jacket by Vasyl Dyadynyuk: a black silhouette of a mountaineer against a mountain landscape, red fields and a shield with the Swiss cross, with the title printed at the bottom. The dust jacket is soiled and worn, with frayed edges and bumped corners; there is a loss of about 1.5 cm in the upper part of the front cover; the top and bottom edges of the text block are torn. The text block is loose, with the sheets detached at the top and bottom edges, and the inner edges of the final gatherings frayed. The paper shows natural yellowing, with occasional foxing and brown water stains along the edges of individual sheets, notably on p. 7. The title page bears two ink stamps: a square one with a monogram on the left and a shaped one on the right, reading “From the library of Petro Lysyi.” Condition: fair.

Published during the author’s lifetime. The book has historical and cultural value, while Vasyl Dyadynyuk’s dust jacket is of independent artistic interest.

INFORMATION

Switzerland is described here not as a landscape, but as an example: a small country, “no greater in size or population than Eastern Galicia,” that managed to maintain its independence, unite four peoples, and avoid the minority question. For a Galician reader in 1933, the comparison was obvious. Following the introductory “Brief General Remarks,” there is a historical account of the union of three communities in the Ritli Valley in 1291, followed by sections on the democratic system, industry (watches, cheese, lace, machinery), and travel impressions: Lucerne, Interlaken, and the Jungfrau cog railway. A contemporary review stated that the book should be in every school library.

Olena Kisilevska (1869–1956), née Symenovych, was a writer, journalist, and women’s rights activist. From 1912, she edited a women’s page in Dil, and in 1925–1939 published and edited the Kolomyia-based women’s journal Zhinoche Dolia. In 1928–1935, she served as a senator in the Polish parliament representing the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance. She traveled through Europe, North Africa, Canada, and the United States; her books from these travels include Impressions from the Road (1910), Journey to Africa (1937), and Letters from Beyond the Black Sea (1939). From 1948, she headed the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations; she died in Ottawa.

The book was published at the author’s own expense by the Vasylian Brothers Press in Zhovkva — the largest Ukrainian church press in Galicia. The copyright line is in Latin script: “Copyright 1933 by O. Kisilevska, Kolomea,” which was unusual for a Galician publication and indicates that it was intended for American and Canadian audiences. The dust jacket was designed by Vasyl Dyadynyuk (1900–1944), a soldier in the Ukrainian People’s Army, later a student at Oleks Novakovskyi’s art school, a monumental artist and graphic artist, and creator of the portrait series The Rulers of Ukraine. He died in Vienna; in 1952, about ten of his works were destroyed at the National Museum in Lviv, so Dyadynyuk’s book illustrations are rare.