Beginner's Russian Reader - 1963 3rd Edition + Ephemera

Hardcover in original light-green cloth, with black lettering to the front board and spine. Copyright page records 1948, 1957, and 1963; the title page expressly identifies this as the Third Edition. Includes Russian-language reading selections, conversational exercises, English translations, vocabulary, poetry and songs, historical and geographical material, illustrations, a map, and a Russian-English glossary. Prepared by Lila Pargment, then Assistant Professor of Russian at the University of Michigan, this instructional reader combines practical language acquisition with an introduction to Russian literature and Soviet-era culture. Selections include material associated with Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, together with historical sketches, musical notation, and contemporary Soviet subjects. Two separate, period typewritten sheets of song lyrics are laid in, featuring English, Spanish, and French material, including Blue Moon, Perfidia, Exodus, and Blowin' in the Wind. The front free endpaper bears an unusual previous-owner identification label combining embossed Braille and handwritten identification. Condition: Very Good overall. Binding firm, with no tears or rips found. Original green cloth exhibits scattered surface rubbing, pale scuffs, moderate spine discoloration, and wear to corners and spine extremities. Pages remain generally clean and legible, with light age-toning and scattered, mostly light pencil annotations reflecting prior language study. Previous-owner label affixed to front free endpaper; small ink mark visible on rear endpaper. The two laid-in lyric sheets show age-related handling wear and folds. No dust jacket present, likely as issued for this instructional copy. A further bibliographical detail: the 1963 third edition is independently documented in contemporary language-teaching bibliographies, including a U.S. educational reference listing it at 220 pages and $4.00 originally. A historical Russian-teaching resource also describes Pargment's reader favorably for its questions, exercises, and vocabulary.…