The article examines the book “Patcher” (in Russian, “Shtopalschik”), issued in 1922 by the publishing house “Aquilon”, as an integral artistic phenomenon and one of the most remarkable monuments of the Russian book-publishing culture. The book was entitled after the story by Nikolai Leskov, included in this collection, and illustrated by B.M. Kustodiev. Creative assays of the writer and of the artist are studied in their relationship with the art of icon painting and frescoes, as well as in the light of the cultural traditions, for which the canon and legend were particularly important sources.