Above is a preview of the stunning jacket design for the US First Edition of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. You can view a full, large version here. Go on…I’ll wait.

While the US First Edition was published in 1967, Bulgakov actually started writing the novel in 1928 but burnt the first manuscript in 1930 convinced that there could be no future as a writer in the Soviet Union. A thoroughly  wonderful read I’ll not attempt a review of what many consider to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century but I will throw out a fun fact that many music lovers may already be aware of. Sympathy for the Devil as written by Mick Jaggar was inspired by The Master and Margarita (a gift from Marianne Faithfull).

All that said - can we focus on the artwork created by Mercer Mayer? I believe this to be the very same Mercer Mayer responsible for the Little Critter children’s book. I do hope this is true because I can remember as a child leafing through my sister’s copy of Little Critter and finding it utterly creepy. Having conduct the briefest of research I can’t wholely confirm this is the same M.M. but it does seem likely as Mayer had moved to New York City in 1964 where he soon persuaded editors at Harper & Row (publishers of this particular edition) to give him work as an illustrator.

This fine edition now sits proudly on a shelf awaiting the companionship of further Bulgakovs if I can find a little time to read them. I’ll really just have to make the time.