This week, we look at a newly arrived and beautifully illustrated book about Ukrainian embroidery in terms of the vyshyvanka, the traditional decorated shirt that I wrote about in 2022.

“–A i︠a︡ svoi︠u︡ vyshyvanku d’ sert︠s︡i︠u︡ pryhortai︠u︡…” : kolekt︠s︡ii︠a︡ vzirt︠s︡iv narodnoï vyshyvky z fondovoï zbirky uz︠h︡horodsʹkoho skansenu =
My vyshyvanka is close to my heart… : a collection of folk embroidery samples from the stock collection of the Uzhhorod scansen is a bilingual Ukrainian-English catalogue written by Vasylʹ Kot︠s︡an and Teti︠a︡na Solohub-Kot︠s︡an.  It is based on a collection held within the wider Zakarpatsʹkyĭ muzeĭ narodnoï arkhitektury ta pobutu (Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life).  Our copy describes itself as a second edition, but from what I can see, Cambridge currently holds the only copy of any edition in any UK or US academic library.

Here are samples of the lovely illustrations.

We don’t transcribe tables of contents into our catalogue records as standard but I thought it might be good to on this occasion, so that browsing readers can see the Ukrainian and Ruthenian ethnic groups whose handiwork the title covers.  The contents, like the book, come in Ukrainian and English.

• Гуцули = Hutsuls
• Долиняни = Dolinians
• Бойки = Boykos
• Лемки = Lemkos

The book is a lovely addition to our collections, examining and celebrating a  tradition stretching back centuries and – thanks to the bilingual edition – accessible for all our readers.

Mel Bach