Photo of V. I. Lenin among the employees of the Central Printing House, taken on April 25, 1921.

An extremely rare photo in very good collector's condition. Non-circulation photos of Lenin are incredibly rare, and the original prints of the era are practically not found at all, which makes the presented picture a real rarity. The size is 180*240 mm.

It is known that on that day two photographs were taken in honor of the recording of Lenin's speeches on gramophone records, which was conducted by employees of the Central Printing Office. The two pictures differ in the number of people captured, our photo is much less well–known - in addition to the workers of the Central Printing Office, two German specialists O. Blesche and A. Kibart, who directly recorded speeches on gramophone equipment. There are no traces of retouching on our medium-format print, which also stands out strongly against the background of other well-known images. In the first row, next to Lenin, sits the head of the Central Printing Office, B. F. Malkin. On the other hand, on Lenin's right hand is the secretary of the party cell of the Central Printing Office, M. G. Steger. Next to her, in a tunic, sits the head of the department "Soviet plate" A.Ya. Bronstein. In the second row, in a white shirt, stands S.A. Skarbek-Benedict, who later fought in Spain in international brigades. On the right, in a half-turn, stands the commissioner of the Central Printing Office for the Western Front, S.B. Volshonik. Standing in the second row in the center in a leather jacket is B.V. Goltsev. The recording session of Lenin's speeches, which took place on April 25, 1921, was the last. Five speeches were recorded: "On food tax or food tax", "On food tax or food tax and on the free exchange of grain surpluses", "On consumer and commercial cooperation", "On concessions and on the development of capitalism", "Non-Partisan and The Soviet government." The photo was published and described in detail in the book by A.I. Zhelezny "Our friend is a gramophone record. Collector's Notes" (Kiev, 1989). The author of the photo is Lev Yakovlevich Leonidov (1889-1952), a master of portrait and photo reportage, the author of widely known images of F.I. Chaliapin and V.I. Lenin, a photojournalist for the magazines Ogonyok and Sovetskoe Fototo. Three small tears. A small spot on the front side. Small folds. Vlad. litter, etc., in pencil on the back of the print. Slight pollution of the turnover. Guarantee of authenticity.