It took the compilers 20 years to collect the material for their precious book of early-20th-century postcards. Now, after 18 months of preparing the book for publication and a number of presentations on the territory of Western Ukraine, they launched it in Kyiv. The book has the touching title “From Heart to Heart” (Vid sertsia do sertsia).
The capital suddenly responded with excitement. The launching was held in the bookstore Ye and announced as a chamber and family event. It was attended by many outstanding Volynians, who took the floor one after another, voiced their admiration of the old-style album, freely exchanged ideas and impressions, and enjoyed the sound of the acoustic guitar and Ukrainian songs.
The most interesting thing is the album, which was published in 1,000 copies, has nearly sold out. In addition to those who like the Volynian landscapes of the early 20th century, it went to libraries in Volyn and abroad.
The compilers believe that the edition’s value lies, above all, in its indisputable authenticity and historicity.
According to Svitlana Fedoniuk, one of the authors, they had sought sponsors for a long time in order to publish the album. When all the attempts failed, they financed the publication out of their own pockets. Unfortunately, a similar thing happened with the collectors, whose private collections the compilers were going to use in the publication. The authors appealed to many of them, but only two collectors gave their “treasures” for a reprint. But this appeared to be more than sufficient: nearly a thousand of postcards, both artistic and documentary, were included in this album. The oldest postcard (dating back to 1901) was identified by the date on the postmark.
“I would like to make a kind of an electronic sequel to the album, where the pages would turn over to the accompaniment of the music by Volynian composers,” Fedoniuk said, sharing her plans. “Sahsko Polozhynsky, for example, has a wonderful song about the battle of UPA servicemen, and we have a couple of thematic postcards. Also, for the music arrangement, we have invited Valerii Marenych and Yurii Polishchuk. The disk will be more accessible than the book. Besides, one will be able to listen to the electronic book, not only watch it.”
The Volynian Brotherhood, an international civic organization that unites Volynians in different corners of Ukraine and the world, gave their immediate support to the creation of the album. It inspired Valerii Fen, head of the Volynian Brotherhood, to come up with fresh ideas: “This album is nearly a kilogram of creative ideas, inspiration, and history. This is a huge impetus not only for our native region. The Volynian Brotherhood is a member of the council of Ukrainian associations, where each oblast of Ukraine is represented. And at the next meeting of the associations I will propose publishing similar albums in each oblast.”
