ÁNO A NIE. Sbornik.: (Yes and No.)

Octavo 21.5x14 cm., wrappers, (6)120 pp. The first surrealist almanac in Slovak language. It notes that it is numbers 6-8 of Slovenský smery umeleckých a kritických, from May to July1938. It is the summary compilation of previous numbers which were individual articles appearing in this journal over 1937-38. The pagination starts as p. 201 but the Table of Contents indicate articles starting from page 1, hence the disparity. It was also this journal's only effort in this direction and it was shuttered soon thereafter. Editor M. Bakoš (1914-1972) became the foremost literary scholar and literary theorist in Slovak and other literatures; he was very active in the founding Slovakian surrealism. The almanac includes French contributors (Breton, Apollinaire, Tzara) and Czechs (Jakobson, Mukařovský), along with the majority of texts by Slovakian writers (Dedinský, Považan, Bakoš, Lenko, Hrušovský, Matuška, Fabry, Reisel, Žáry, Rak). Visuals include black and white illustrations by Toyen, Jindřich Štyrský and two by Rudolf Fabry (Fabry was the first Slovakian to make surrealist visual statements). This work was followed by later surrealist almanacs from other publishers in Bratislava. A near fine copy, quite uncommon, with one library holding in North America (UCLA) and Europe (Freie Univ Berlin).