M.H. Maxy, design, texts by A. Adamov, G.Bogza,V. Brauner, F.Corsa, Gh. Dinu S. Eliad, B.Fondoianu, V. Gheorghiu, A. Marius, Moldov, L. Moussinac, S. Pană, S. Roll, C. Sernet, I. Voronca, A. Zaremba. UNU was an outlier in the avant-garde, never proclaiming itself surrealist, although the French adopted it as such. Many of the contributors were aligned with the surrealist movement, which led to the expulsion from it because they didn't conform to the political stances determined by Breton. This number was distributed with a sheet of black paper as a symbol of the night. It features a work by Stephan Roll, under the pseudonym Jack the Ripper in a declaration written under the throes of night. OCLC locates two holdings in North America (Yale, Getty). UNU numbers were published in small quantities. They are quite rare.
M.H. Maxy, Victor Brauner, Geo Bogza, A. Adamov, Ilarie Voronca, eds.
Folio 32,5 x 24 cm. Special number on Victor Brauner. Title printed on a light green semi-cardboard label, pasted on the first page. Victor Brauner designed this number, with texts by Geo Bogza, Filip Corsa, Benjamin Fondane, Alexandru Marius, Sașa Pana, Stephan Roll, Claude Sernet, Ilarie Voronca and Pierre Reverdy. After No. 10 UNU was published in Bucharest. OCLC locates two institutional holdings in North America (Yale, Getty). Released in very small quantities, copies of UNU are very rare.
Augustin Tschinkel
Octavo 21 x 15 cm, wrappers, (22) pp., edition of 500. In striking black and white pictographs, the author explores the use of symbols and runes in various historical cultures, and how symbol, rebus and letter impact and inform consciousness and communication. This work is a hallmark of modern graphic design. Tschinkel (1905-1983) is highly renowned in Czech and German lands for his work as a graphic designer, his engagement in constructivism and expanding typographic art. He participated in the Rheinische Gruppe Progressiver Künstler and the avant-gardes in Czechoslovakia for decades as a leading designer and edited many important publications during the interwar era. Uncommon despite the fame of this work, with three copies found in North American institutions (Yale, UTL, MFA Houston). This copy very good+.
Emil Pacovsky, ed.
Prague-Smichov: Veraikon, 1921-1934. 107 numbers, from No. 1921 no. 1 to 1934 No. 5. Quartos and octavos, all in original wrappers, 12 complete years of issue from 1921 to 1933, and 5 numbers from 1934. . Editions were released in limited quantity, certainly under 500. This collection includes scores of original lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, and hundreds of reproductions documenting the contemporary art movements of Czechoslovakia, France, Russia and Yugoslavia, with the emphasis of course on the art of Czechoslovakia, and featuring work of well-known and lesser-known artists of the day. This includes important essays on contemporary art topics by Emil Pacovsky, Jiri Kroha, Jaroslav Jira, Vaclav Vancura, inter alia --- almost all by working artists themselves. Several numbers are devoted to new Czech architecture, and a good number focusing entirely on the work of women artists, rather uncommon in the era. Included are original woodcuts, linocuts and engravings by Josef Sima (3), Jan Rambousek, Vojtech Preissig (3), Václav Spala (2), Karel Teige (2), Josef Capek (5), Zdenek Rykr (3), Rudolf Adamek (2), Josef Bartuska (5) and many more by Mackova, Hoffmeister, Vlastislav Hofman, Kotík, etc. Each issue reviews the work of artists, architects and designers, and there are some important first appearances of essays by Teige, the architects Vit Obrtel, Bohuslav Fuchs, Jan Kotera, Jaroslav Krejcar, etc., with design drawings by them as well. Three numbers includes a survey of contemporary and traditional art developments in Slovenia, documenting the work of Pilon, Kralj, Vidmar, Stuplovsek, Zupan and Zakac; these artists of the Slovenian avant-garde were generally ignored by the Yugoslav establishment and public; this is one of the few contemporary discussion of them outside of Ljubljana. Many of the issues are uncut, most are in very good to fine; a few have loose covers but the interiors of all of them are all near fine with no markings, paper loss or stains. Veraikon was a premier journal of the graphic and fine arts which ran from 1913 to 1937 for a total of 23 years. Unbound copies are quite scarce, preserving the original wrappers and including all the supplemental issues of original graphics. Many numbers offered here are unopened, with signatures uncut. Some numbers have detached wrappers. Overall very good to fine; an uncommon offering. More photos and information furnished on request.
Quarto 19.8x16 cm., 10 (2) pp. Original illustrated wrappers, with title page and 8 illustrations by Lissitzky. Mild toning, rubber stamp to front wrapper and p. 5. 10, [2] p. Unknown edition size. After 1923, Lissitzky ceased illustrating Yiddish books and concentrated his great talents on Constructivism, photomontage and architectural design, making significant contributions in all of them. His illustrated Yiddish books remain unsurpassed to this day. (Tradition and Revolution, p. 66) Although this side of his work was little known until fairly recently, Lissitzky produced several extraordinary Yiddish children s books while living and working in Kiev soon after the Revolution. As a member of IZO Narkompros (People s Commissariat of Enlightenment), he helped set up the Kultur-Lige there. In 1919, he and the writer Ben Zion Raskin signed a contract with Yidisher Folks Farlag Kooperativ for 11 children s books in the Kinder Gorten series. Only two titles other than this one were ever published: The Miller, his Wife and the Millstones and The Hen that Wanted a Comb. These Yiddish children s books are extremely rare as many disappeared when Yiddish publications were officially banned by the Soviet State. OCLC locates 1 copy, at Getty. Nisbet, El Lissitzky 1919/3. Tradition and Revolution: The Jewish Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art, cat. 94, illustrated pp. 186 187. Futur-anterieur, 123. Faint deaccession stamp on cover, else NF.
Monte-Carlo/NY: Braziller, 1960 (I) Monte-Carlo/Boston: Boston Book & Art Shop, 1963 (II) Monte-Carlo: Fernand Mourlot & Andre Sauret, 1969 (III) New York: Crown Publishers, 1974 (IV); 1984 (V); 1986 (VI) All quarto 33x25 cm., embossed cloth, 221, 209, 181, 180, 251, 225 pp., each with original dust wrapper, Vols IV and V in original slipcases. The set includes 24 original lithographs, with an additional four on the dust jackets of vols. I to IV. Volume III is the French language edition. Dust wrapper on Vol I chipped and worn at edges, else all volumes fine/fine. Vols. II-VI in original glassine covers. A magnificent publication, detailing the life and graphic work of Marc Chagall throughout his long, productive life. A well preserved set
E. Safonova
Oblong octavo 19x22cm., wrappers, (12) pp. A river's journey from stream to sea, with beautiful double-page renderings throughout. A picture book without words by Elena Vasil'evna Safonova (1902-1980) graphic artist and painter, who studied under Petrov-Vodkin and attended VKhUTEIN. She collaborated with Daniil Kharms and other OBDERIU poets, contributed to Ezh and Chizh magazines. Safonova was also a theater artist who worked with Boris Erdman, Stanislavsky, and the Moscow Art Theater. Exiled briefly from 1932 to Kursk for her connections with the late avant-garde, she moved to Moscow to continue her work and received numerous awards for her artwork and games over the years. OCLC locates four holdings in North America (McGill, NYPL, Columbia, U. Chicago). Near fine copy of a lovely work.
Endre Szonyi, Endre Steiner, eds.
Quarto 30.5x23 cm., ½-cloth, 224 (iv) pp. Forum was a journal published from 1931 to 1938, edited by Endre Szonyi and Endre Steiner. It encompassed art and design both internationally and regionally, appearing in Slovak, Hungarian and German languages, showcasing the arts and culture of Czechoslovakia and Hungary in high distinction. It is probably the most important architectural publication from interwar Slovakia. This is the final year, released in an all-German language edition. Some of the most exciting new designs of the day are discussed by leading architects and scholars. All numbers of Forum are copiously illustrated with photos and plans and this is no exception. Released in small numbers, it is highly sought by collectors. There is one institutional holding of the journal worldwide (ETA Zurich, incomplete), none in North America.
Gustave Flaubert, S.K. Neumann, Josef Vachal
With four original woodcuts by Vachal, and a color ex-libris. Octavo 18.5x14.5 cm., cloth, 88pp. Edition of 300 copies. Three early texts by Flaubert, with afterword by Stanislav K. Neumann. Notebooks of the young Flaubert from his travels, with four full-page original woodcuts and a vignette by Váchal, in a handsome bibliofile edition. Váchal offers images of exotic nudes and a portrait to illustrate the adventurous text. This is early Váchal work, when he was involved in the Sursum symbolist group, initiating his rebellion against hypocrisy and the fake morality of the day, while celebrating passion as intrinsically good. Neumann commissioned the printing from Brno to Poltika in Vinohrady under Vachal's guidance. Includes an ex-libris by Vachal. Worldcat finds this in three North American libraries (Toronto, U. Indiana, Northwestern). Rare.
