I’ve been following Roman Papsuev’s wonderful world of “Old Rus’” almost since the first illustrations appeared, back when it wasn’t even a world yet—just the artist’s fresh take on well-known characters from Slavic folklore. I wrote more about this project earlier this year when I discussed the book “Tales of Old Rus’. Origins.”
By that time, however, Roman had already drawn, written, and released two additional volumes under the collective title “Marvelous Wonder” (Divo Chudnoye). I purchased both in mid-summer, devoured the first volume over a couple of evenings in July, and left the second one lying around, waiting for its time, all the way until September.
These are still art books, where the illustrations and high-quality printing are incredibly important. However, “Marvelous Wonder” already has some distinctions from the earlier books.
The very first volume, “Tales of Old Rus’. The Beginning”, was a pure art book, almost devoid of text. The second book, “Tales of Old Rus’. Origins”, as I mentioned earlier, reused many of the same illustrations, but Roman took the time to describe in detail how he created his characters, pointing out numerous details that one might easily overlook during a casual viewing. In this book, he also began to expand on the world in which his characters live. This turned out to be significantly more engaging than simply looking at the pictures.
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