The tomes measure 9" x 6", 446 pp. in vol.1, 399 pp. in vol.2. Part 1 has hard cover laminated in plain paper with pre-printed front cover. Part 2 has cloth-wrapped hard cover with front page graphic and verbiage embossed. Part 1 is 14th edition (1950), Part 2 is 13th edition (1949). Both parts are compiled by the same two persons, both volumes are published by UCHPEDGIZ (Soviet abbreviation for Educational Pedagogical State Publishers). These are not textbooks but the government-approved collection of literary works, most of them abridged (for 9th grade!), and not only to fit the volume into the available time but for content. All to leave ample time and make it easier to present them from the Communist viewpoint and help with the process of indoctrination. Of note is that at least one of Lenin's articles is squeezed in there too, right between revolutionary Chernyshevsky and Bulgarian communist Dimitrov. How either Lenin or Dimitrov are related to literature is anyone's guess, but - there you are!

Both volumes are in very good condition. Both show minor edge and corner bumps to the cover, Part 1 more than Part 2 with its more high-end cloth wrapping. The schoolchildren who used Part 2 were not best friends with soap and left a few fingerprints on the cover, albeit very faint ones. Other than that, we can only mention mild and even age toning to the paper. The binding is tight and strong in both tomes, no rips to the spines and no separations.

Please note that the pen in our photo is for size reference.