[Cuckoo: Northern Tales]. Kukushka: Severnye Skazki.: Translated and edited by M. Voskoboinikov and D. Nagashkin.

First edition of these illustrations.

The book consists of two fairy tales. The first tale is Cuckoo, a Nenets story portraying a mother who transforms into a cuckoo due to her children's neglect. The second tale is Aioga, a Nanai story depicting a beautiful girl who becomes so enamored with her own reflection that she ultimately transforms into a goose.
The translation and editing of Cuckoo were accomplished by Mikhail Voskoboinikov (1912-1979), a folklorist and specialist in Northern Peoples. In 1952, he was arrested and endured two and a half years in a labor camp. Upon his release, Voskoboinikov taught at the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute, translated Russian literature into the Evenki language, and compiled a collection of literature and folklore from Northern peoples in Russian translation. The adaptation of Aioga was skillfully crafted by Dmitry Nagishkin (1909-1961), a renowned writer, journalist, and author known for his specialization in Amur fairy tales.
The illustrations in the book were skillfully crafted by Natalia Basmanova (1906-2000), a talented female book illustrator. She received her artistic education at the Leningrad Art School (Tavricheskaya Art School) and the Leningrad School of Painting. Natalia and her husband, Pavel Basmanov, had a close relationship with Vladimir Sterligov, an avant-garde painter and former student of Kazimir Malevich, who is regarded by art professionals as the last representative of the Soviet Avant-garde movement. Under Sterligov's influence, Basmanova underwent a transformation in her artistic style starting from 1962, adopting his original system. Basmanova also collaborated with her daughter, Marina (Marianna), who is a renowned artist and was the partner of Joseph Brodsky.
In 1962, a second edition of these stories was published, featuring Basmanova's illustrations, albeit with different covers.

OCLC locates one copy of this edition in the USA only: in the Stanford University Library. More copies are in the Monash University Library (Australia) and Schweizerisches Institut für Kinder- und Jugendmedien (Switzerland).