Children in a cage (a collection of poems)

According to Korney Chukovsky ^[3] , his secretary Maria Ryzhkina , published under the pseudonym Pambe, found an English book with illustrations of animals, made a translation of it, and asked Chukovsky to take the book to the publishing house. It was “ Zoo Babies ” by Cecil Aldin . Marshak saw the book in the Rainbow publishing house, headed by L. M. Klyachko , and wrote poetic signatures for illustrations. As a result, in 1923, a book entitled "Children in a Cage" came out with verses by Marshak, and not with translations of Pambe. "Children in a Cage" became the book with which the poet began his journey into children's literature. At the same time, Marshak’s unethical act and other manifestations of Marshak’s “predation” led, according to Chukovsky, to a break between Marshak and B. Zhitkov and almost forced the latter to make charges at the Congress of Children's Writers ^[3] .

"Kids in a Cage" was a huge success. The book was reprinted many times the same "Rainbow", in 1931 the ninth edition was published. The first few editions came out with pictures of Aldin, but in the 1930s, Soviet artists began to illustrate the "Children". So, in 1935, already in the OGIZ , a book with drawings by E. I. Charushin was published. Subsequently, Charushin’s illustrations were constantly replicated in new editions, and in 1965 the artist updated them. Updated pictures were the last work of Charushin, who died in February 1965, for which, according to statements in a number of publications ^[4] , the artist posthumously received a gold medal at the IV International Exhibition of Children's Books in Leipzig. Another artist, whose illustrations were included in many editions of "Children", was V.V. Lebedev .

The text of the poems has been repeatedly changed by the author. S. Ya. Marshak wrote in 1946 ^[5] : the book "was gradually improved, and I consider the text of the latest editions to be completely finished."

The composition of the books changed from publication to publication. In the first publication were the following poems:

Subsequently, Marshak not only changed the text, and sometimes the heroes of the poems (for example, the ibis became either a gosling or a swan), but he also added new poems to the cycle and rejected the old ones. “Jackal” and “Hyena” were re-included in the collection after the death of the poet, Marshak himself did not consider them suitable ^[6] .

• 1923, 1st edition, Rainbow, Petrograd, Moscow. Artist S. Aldin.
• 1925, 3rd edition, Rainbow. Artist S. Aldin. 24 pages, circulation 7,000 copies.
• 1927, 5th edition, Rainbow. Artist S. Aldin
• 1928, 6th edition, State Publishing House, Moscow
• 1929, 7th edition, Rainbow or State Publishing House. Artist S. Aldin. 22 p., Circulation 1 0000 copies.
• 1935, OGIZ, Leningrad. Artist E. Charushin . 22 pages, circulation 500,000 copies.
• 1935, Detgiz , Moscow, Leningrad. Artist E. Charushin. 22 pages, circulation 300,000 copies.
• 1938, (under the title " My Zoo "), Detizdat , Moscow. Artist E. Charushin. 16 pages, circulation 500 300 copies
• 1940, (under the title " My Zoo "), Detizdat, Moscow. Artist E. Charushin. 16 pages, circulation 400,000 copies
• 1940, (under the title " My Zoo "), Detizdat, Moscow, Leningrad. Artist E. Charushin. 16 p.
• 1947, Detgiz, Moscow, Leningrad. Artist E. Charushin. 24 pages, circulation 50,000 copies.
• 1948, Detgiz, Moscow, Leningrad. Artist V. Lebedev . 23 pages, circulation 100,000 copies.
• 1952, Detgiz, Moscow, Leningrad. Artist V. Lebedev. 16 pages, circulation 500,000 copies.
• 1953, Detgiz, Moscow, Leningrad. Artist E. Charushin. 24 pages, circulation 300,000 copies.
• 1955, Stavropol Book Publishing House. Artist A. Svishchev. 28 pages, circulation 400,000 copies.
• 1957, Moscow
• 1961, Detgiz, Moscow. Artist V. Lebedev. 16 pages, circulation 500,000 copies.
• 1963, The Baby . Artist V. Galdyaev . 28 p., Circulation 200,000 copies.
• 1964, " Children's Literature ", Moscow. Artist E. Charushin. 28 pages, circulation 300,000 copies.