“The Hurdy-Gurdy” was the first book of Elena Genrikhovna Guro (1877–1913), which she published together with her husband Mikhail Vasilyevich Matyushin. They used their own funds to print it in 1909. This book prompted the couple to organize the amateur publishing house “Zhuravl”, which would subsequently prepare most of the publications by Russian Futurists.
“The Hurdy-Gurdy” was illustrated by Elena Guro herself. She also included three illustrations made by her longtime friend — the artist Nadezhda Ivanovna Lyubavina. The book is predominantly designed in the Art Nouveau style.
Even a year after its publication, the book did not sell enough copies. Elena Guro started sending free copies of “The Hurdy-Gurdy” to prison libraries, as evidenced by the entries in her diary. After Guro’s death in May 1913, the remaining books were distributed as a second edition.
Guro wrote,