Search Results: Czechoslovakia from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

Octavo 20.5x11.5 cm., full-calf, 85(6) pp. (The Divinity of Holy Woman. A Fragment) With a fine lithograph by Josef Capek for the frontispiece from his late cubist period. S.K. Neumann was an oversize literary figure and social activist from the early 1900s, first as an anarcho-communist and founder of the Communist party in the First Republic, soon after the October Revolution. A poet, critic and novelist he wielded a great influence as an antifascist in the 1930s and promoted Socialist Realism. Awarded Artist of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1945. He was Jaroslav Seifert's mentor; Seifert dedicated his first book of poems to him. A fine bibliophile book, custom bound in calf. This copy in fine condition.

Splendid, erotic, quasi-surrealist Muzika drawingsSmall octavo 13.5 x 9.7 cm, custom ½-calf, 77pp., no. 157 in an edition of 350; Published by Stanislav K. Neumann. A fine little work with five exquisite drawings by František Muzika in a Czech translation with a foreword of the poetry of Martial by Josef Dietrich. Muzika's artwork of this time combines elements of classical and erotic elements with surrealist space (he never formally aligned himself with the surrealist movement). Found in three North American libraries. Very fine artwork in a bibliophile production, in near fine condition.

The only full publication of this legendary journal of the Slovak avant-gardeLarge quarto 34.3 x 25 cm, cloth, 1496pp. The reprint* of the legendary, most radical journal of the Slovakian avant-garde which appeared from 1924-26 and 1931-37 (here all published). It began as an artistic venture by the Davisti group of artists, writers and intellectuals spearheading the latest Slovak arts and literature. Always leftist in persuasion with Vlado Clementis as publisher, it went to a more political direction after three years and leaned to Soviet policy. Clementis himself was in and out of favor with Moscow. He objected to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, exiled in Paris and London during the war. Returning afterward he became Czechoslovak Foreign Minister in 1948 and in 1952 was arrested with Slanský, from that he was convicted and hanged. He was rehabilitated in 1963, which enabled this production to go forward by the Slovak Academy of Sciences with his name now acceptable..
During its first period it… Read More

Portfolio of original woodcuts by Josef Váchal
Woodcuts to Mystics and Visionaries. A Cycle of Woodcuts from the Period of 1911-1913. Folio in wrappers (21-5/8 x 15-3/8 inches), prints are 8-1/4 x 8-1/4 inches. Five woodcuts saluting the life of mystics and seers: Strom Života (The Tree of Life), Cornelius Agrippa, Jakob Boehme, Angelus Silesius and Katařina Emmerichová, all loose as issued, in paper folio with titles and artist's signature on rear cover. Each print bears Váchal's blind-stamp. These were selected from the original printing of ten images under the title Mystikové a visionaři. A number of books and catalogues attribute one image from this set to William Blake, from the mistaken attribution in the great 1994 Váchal memorial exhibition. That refers to another of the original ten and we offer it separately; please inquire. The edition itself, without note of limitation, comes from a later date than the first release in 1913 and was released sometime around 1923. This later… Read More

Rare, DAV first translation of Blok's The Twelve into SlovakQuarto 23.5x15 cm., wrappers, 24pp. Issued as the third book of DAV. The first translation into Slovak by the poet Janko Jesenský of Blok's famous response to the 1917 revolution, with a preface by Laco Novomeský. Printed by Pallas in Prešov. Typo and cover design by Zdeněk Rossmann. Original brochure. As with all DAV publications this is quite rare. DAV was the most important nexus the avant-garde in Slovakia who published a journal and occasional books. Many of their publications were blocked or suppressed altogether, and the limitation of any release was quite small. OCLC locates no holdings worldwide.

Octavo, ½-calf from the era with original wrappers preserved, Octavo 21 x 15.5 cm, unpag.(50pp). Symbolist tales with a social twist (Albert D'abel, Prítel a milenec) with 4 woodcuts and title design by Josef Váchal. Author Antonin Macek (1873-1924) was a left wing journalist, novelist, playwright and Symbolist poet. A political activist, he founded the communist party in 1921, and helped to establish workers journals throughout his working life. A bibliophile edition of 35 numbered copies; this unnumbered but signed by Macek in the colophon. Sanka 504. Three copies in North American libraries.

Octavo 19x12,5 cm., original wrappers, 56(4) pp. 450 copies. Cover design, typograph and illustrations by Vladimir Hnizdo. Vladimír Jan Hnizdo (1914-1978) was a painter, graphic artist and theater set designer. This is an early work, before he studied at the School of Applied Arts in Prague, and displays sophistication. After heading the production at the Theater of Cologne he was professor at SUPŠ in Prague. This student almanac is a bibliophile production, likely financed by local businesses. No institutional holdings outside of Czech Republic

12mo 15.6x12 cm., stiff wrappers, 48 [3] pp. (Jousting and Butchery. Loose thoughts in bound speech). Cover and illustrations by František Bidlo. Vojtěch (1922-2003) was an editor and translator, social and political critic. Published during the waning days of the German occupationi, most likely after the imprisonment of Bidlo, who had illustrated Vojtěch's other anti-Nazi epigrams published during the protectorate. Here Bidlo provides the cover illustration with drawings from previous publications, suggesting the book came out during the weeks before his death from typhus the day after liberation. Bidlo had famously been sent to the Terezin concentration camp for saying that "after the war, Hitler will be working a wheelbarrow on the construction of Stalingrad." The preface epigram is entitled Grossdeutches Reich and is a monologue of a forced labor prisoner. Inscribed by the author in 1945 to Zdeněk Ančík, an important resistance fighter, author and editor of the avant-garde magazine Trn… Read More

Quarto 30.5x26.5 cm., embossed canvas folio, (2), holding ten original albumen prints. 3400 copies. Book design by Stanislav Kohout, bibliophile printing by Josef Prošek. A retrospect after fifteen years ending WWII in Prague, when hostilities ceased in May 1945. Jiří Taufer provides a short essay, with a visual essay of original photos by Jaroslav Pacovský, Slava Štochi,Václav Chochola, Karel Ludwig, František Ondrášek, Tibor Honty (2), František Illek, Miroslav Hák, and Jiří Jeniček. They were taken at the time of liberation and show the state of exhaustions and exultation. The photographs are full size, each 20x26 cm. An important photobook of high quality from the time when life in Czechoslovakia were thawing. Refs: Heiting, Czech and Slovak Photo Publications 1918-1989, 2018, No. 261. Scarce, with only two institutional holdings outside the Czech Republic (Oxford, Northwestern). Near fine copy.

Quarto 24x16.5 cm., new bound wrappers, 403 (6)pp. 42 woodcuts, 1 linocut, 4 photos, unnumbered copy in an edition of 457. This copy uncut, in newly bound wrappers preserving the original cover illustration. Hand printed by his partner Anna Macková at her expense in a private edition under Vachal's press name Politika. An autobiographical memoir of Vachal's participation in WWI as a soldier on the front. The river valley Soča in modern Slovenia had a profound and lasting impact on Váchal, where its surrealistic beauty contrasted with the blood and gore of battle. As a soldier, Váchal drew and wrote prolifically under terrifying conditions where his visionary and spiritist temperament met with a gruesome charnal ground.. OCLC locates 3 holdings in North America (PA State, Univ IL, Indiana). Later printings lack original graphics. This copy fine.

Octavo 17x12 cm., decorated cloth, 280pp. Leblanc (1864-1941) was the renowned author of several detective stories featuring Arsene Lupin, a gentleman-detective providing a French counterpart to the central figure of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. The present work is a rather uncommon one, known in English as Wanton Venus. This was likely the first appearance in Czech language translated by Jan Belohlavek. It has the original dust wrapper with a photo of Frantisek Drtikol, whose work appeared in the Knihovna Horizont series. A fine copy in very good dust wrapper. OCLC locates one holding in North America (Metropolitan Mus).

Octavo 175x135mm., wrappers, 32pp. "The Satyr's Jeers," From the series Knihovna "České Prameny" Year III, No. XVI, published by Hůrka in the early First Republic. Emmerich Alois Hruška (1895-1957) apprenticed under Josef Váchal and is noted for his philosophical musings and curiosa Witty epigrams, chansons and erotic poems of the kind often recited at that time in Prague's cabarets. This collection of satirical and racy verse by Hruška and František Gellner is dedicated to the reader's hilarity with a warning notice to conservative readers from the publisher inserted in front. With several linocuts including cover, full-page nudes and decorations, this is a most unusual collection and shows Josef Váchal's influence. Includes a publisher's subscription slip. OCLC finds no holdings, but in Czech online database. Rare, this copy fresh, fine, uncut.

Octavo 17x12 cm., decorated cloth 166 (2) pp. Maurice Ségur (Nikolaos Espikopopoulos, 1874-1944) Greek journalist, critic, and author, was published widely in his lifetime of historical novels and studies. This work is the first translation by G. Krasová of Baiser mortel, written in 1932. The dust wrapper is a photo of František Dritkol, and has become a famous one of his great muse from 1918. Drtikol was commissioned to design several dust wrappers for the Knihovna Horizont series, of which this is one. A fine copy in near fine dw. OCLC locates one holding in North America (Columbia). 450

Quarto 24x17.5 cm., embossed cloth, 87pp. Karel Matej Capek-Chod (1850-1927) was a naturalistic writer and journalist. Born Karel Matej Capek, he added the Chod to his name, possibly to distinguish himself from the preeminent Karel Capek (1890-1938) of international renown, with whom he worked in publishing. Capek-Chod won several literary prizes for his work (State Prize for Literature, 1920, 1924, 1927) and was a highly respected author. This is his last work, published posthumously in a bibliophile edition. With four woodcuts by A.V. Hrska. Alexander Vladimir Hrska (1890-1954) was a Czech modernist painter, graphic designer, and scenographer. He staged Janacek's Kat'a Kabanova and the Capek Bros. Ze sivota hmyzu (The Life of Insects) among others. OCLC locats seven institutional holdings in North America. This copy with very good, interior fine.

Published in an edition of 17 copies, this is a highly dramatic work illustrating the eponymous poem by Carducci (1835-1907), noted poet, historian and politician. SATANU is a magnificent work in large format (59 x 34 cm) twenty-one folded leaves with 11 full-page hand-colored woodcuts and 3 smaller linocuts, also in color. Váchal made the paper by hand, created the 1000 printed characters of his own making, and printed it in his studio in the Prague district of Vršovice. The book is signed in the colophon and numbered by three thumbprints and four fingerprints, making this the seventh copy. This copy housed loose in a custom portfolio with embossed title. Váchal presents us with a series of visual meditations that are some of his strongest, including an abstraction with alchemical symbols and possibly one of the most remarkable busts of the Lord of Darkness in the frontispiece. The artist was a lover of fine literature and poetry, and Carducci provides ample catalytic power in his strong… Read More

Octavo 20x14 cm., wrappers, 61(4) pp. 512 copies. Fabry´s book debut. Cover design and typography by the author. Rudolf Fabry (1915-1982) was a poet and surrealist artist, the first to be acknowledged in Slovakia and one of the most significant in both fields. The present work was the first surrealist novel in Slovak and it also is rated the author's most important in terms of form and content. It has been reprinted in postwar editions in different formats. This first edition is uncommon on the market; Worldcat indicates it is held by two institutions worldwide (UCLA, BL).

Octavo 21x13 cm., 1/2-calf, 123 (1) pp., with seven woodcuts by Josef Vachal. The first and only edition of this work with Vachal woodcuts. Josef Vachal (1884-1969) was a visionary artist and writer, a spiritualist whose works make him a parallel William Blake in Czech. His spooky ecotplasmic depictions fit well with the Dickens tale. OCLC locates three North American holdings (DePaul, Harvard, Indiana). A near fine copy.