Old postcards Ruslan and Lyudmila

Ruslan and Lyudmila is the first finished long poem by Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), a verse fairy tale inspired by the byliny, the old Russian epic songs. It appeared as a book in 1820, and the famous prologue “A green oak grows by the curving shore” was added for the revised edition of 1828. In the story the sorcerer Chernomor carries off Lyudmila, daughter of Prince Vladimir of Kyiv, on her wedding night, and the knight Ruslan sets out to rescue her, competing with three rivals: Rogdai, Farlaf and Ratmir. Mikhail Glinka later based an opera on the poem.

This section is a single set of postcards printed in 1966 with illustrations to the poem. In the catalogue every card carries the same caption, “Ruslan and Lyudmila, 1966”, so the easiest way to find a particular episode is to browse the scans in sequence rather than search by title.

If you are looking for Ruslan and Lyudmila pictures for children, for a literature lesson or for reading aloud at home, the advantage here is that these vintage Soviet postcards form one coherent series from one year, not a mix of images from different books.

Each card was digitised from an original 1966 print.