Moscow: ca. 1958?1961. Oblong folio (21 × 31 cm). Light blue buckram photo-album, with illustration of Leningrad to front board; twenty unnumbered card leaves with handwritten text to rectos and versos in blue ink, with painted red and blue headings and collaged images, newspaper text, and original photographs. Some browning throughout; bottom left joint starting; else about very good. This Thaw-era ?friendship album? scrapbook, handwritten in English by the students of the First Moscow Pedagogical Institute and addressed to ?our friends across the sea? (presumably University students at an equivalent British university), is a remarkable memento of the relatively relaxed cultural policy of Nikita Khrushchev (1894?1971). Khrushchev came to power after Stalin?s death in 1953, and in his 1956 ?secret speech? denounced Stalin?s cult of personality and isolationist policies, setting in motion the period known as the Thaw (1956?1968). Internationalization and cultural exchange were especially encouraged in this period, which saw somewhat loosened censorship and student exchange programs, as well as better foreign language instruction. ?At the Youth Festival in Moscow in 1957 we were the happy hosts? is an opening heading of this scrapbook, illustrated with a mix of personal and press photographs and written in pristine English cursive. The 1957 Youth Festival, which drew 34000 participants from 130 countries, was in fact a landmark moment in unintentionally bringing too much Western influence into the Soviet Union and initiating continued international relationships. The album offers detailed descriptions of new pedagogical methods and technologies available to students of foreign languages in the Soviet Union. Demystifying (and promoting) the Soviet way of life is the clear objective of the album. Other topics treated in the album are the May Day parades, leisure and community service activities in the Summer and Winter, stamp collecting, camping, sports, and drama. The overall tone of the album as well as its attractive and dynamic design is similar to the later Thaw-era official publication ?Soviet Life? (printed in English by the US Embassy in Washington DC 1964?1991). Although this album is not dated, its mention of the Sputnik satellite which was launched on October 1957, but not Yuri Gagarin?s April 1961 flight into space (making him the first human to travel into space and to orbit the earth), leads us to believe that the album must have been produced between these two dates.
Moscow: ODVF (Society of Friends of the Air Fleet), 1925. Large quarto (35.2 × 26.4 cm). Original pictorial wrappers, 48 pp. Numerous illustrations, mostly from photographs. Light overall wear to spine and wrapper edges; professional restoration to spine; else about very good, given the large format. Single issue of the exceedingly rare journal ?Samolet? (Airplane), published by the "Society of Friends of the Air Fleet". The original iteration of the journal was published in thirty-one issues from 1924 to 1926 and served as the primary print organ for early Soviet aviation enthusiasts. It eventually became aligned with the Soviet Society for National Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction which operated until 1948, and the title was changed in 1926. The organization trained the Soviet public in aviation and chemical defense. As part of the program, the organization provided semi-extra curricular training (via a network of circles and teams) in defense and action in case of air and chemical attacks. Citizens were also encouraged to take an aviation test, which included basic parachute deployment, and receive certification in ?preparedness for air and chemical attacks.? The present journal contains articles on ODVF, the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, the first non-professional aviation association in the Soviet Union, various advances in aviation and flight technology, the use of planes for transportation, how photographs are taken from the air, aviation propaganda among children, and the use of "agitpolety", long-distance flights used for propagandistic and educational goals.The journal is perhaps most noteworthy for the large poster-like avant-garde photo-montage designs to rear wrappers, most of which were unsigned, but which also included work by Aleksandr Rodchenko and David Shterenberg.As of February 2024, these early issues could not be traced via KVK, OCLC.
Elbl?g: Galeria-EL-Elbl?g, 1971. Oblong octavos (21 × 24.5 cm), created from card stock printed to rectos and versos, folded once or twice to create a pamphlet with text and photographs. Of the five, four catalogs are lightly toned, still about very good. One folder with abbrasion affecting text to front cover; else internally very good. Five catalogues from the 1971 Biennale of Spatial Forms held in Elbl?g, Poland (1965?1973). The brochures present artist bios and reproductions of works of five of the 27 participating artists: Antoni Dzieduszycki (1937?1937), Barbara Koz?owska (1940?2008), Jaros?aw Koz?owski (b. 1945), Zbignew Makarewicz (b. 1940), and the artist R.K. Soko?owska (possibly working under pseudonym), of whom nothing is known. The event was initiated by Galeria EL, founded in 1961 by Gerard Kwiatkowski. Operating to this day in the building of a former church and Dominican monastery, the gallery significantly contributed to the development of conceptualism in Poland. Conceived in the Constructivist tradition, the idea of the inaugural 1965 Biennale of Spatial Forms was to connect the artists and workers, enabling the creating of metal sculptures, or ?spatial forms? at the ZAMECH Mechanical Works to be installed around the city of Elbl?g. The founder of Galeria EL and the Elbl?g Biennale, Gerard Kwiatkowski (1930?2015) envisioned a radical experiment inspired by the historical avant-garde. ?The artist was supposed to leave his atelier and supported by engineers, technicians and laborers co-create a spatial form. In this way, the idea of the 1st Biennale appears to be an innovative experiment, considering the modern form of artistic patronage by a mechanical plant as well as the incorporation of the works of art into ordinary life? (See Elzbieta Blotnicka-Mazur, ?The Image of Art Between Ideology and Modernity? in ARTisON, 2019, no. 9, p. 99). The IV Biennale in 1971 was the largest of the five, with the concept of the Biennale evolved to focus on artists whose work did not fit the traditional artistic classifications. Instead of creating sculptures, the 27 participating artists presented lectures, readings, descriptions of projects presented with models, manifestos, photographs, and video works. Because of the ephemeral nature of most of the works the 1971 Biennale was titled ?Meeting of Dreamers? A collection of ephemeral materials presented by the artists at this Biennale was published by Kwiatkowski at Galeria EL in five issues of a magazine titled Notatniku robotnika sztuki [Notebook of an Art Worker] as well as in these individual folded catalogs for each participating artist. Rare; as of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show no copies outside Poland.
Atelier Henrych (Josef Henrych).
Prague: self-published (printed by Orbis), [ca. 1936 or 1937]. Oblong octavo (14 × 22.3 cm). Original spiral-bound pictorial wrappers; [16] leaves of coated paper stock, printed to rectos and versos. Twenty-six photographs. Faint crease to text block; else very good. A striking publication by an unknown typographer and designer featuring twenty-six cutting edge, at times even avant-gardistic designs, meant to inspire bookshop windows and exhibition cases. At times amusingly ambitious, many of these designs are devoted to a single author or even a single recently published title, around which a thematic display has been constructed (such as works by Masaryk, Durych, Joseph Roth, Karel ?apek, Sinclair Lewis, Sigrid Undset and others. Each photograph is accompanied by a description and analysis of the overall effect, as well as - curiously - captions in Czech and Esperanto. All designs and typography by Henrych, who has also included a longer essay on the principles of successful and effective modern design. Likely intended as advertising for the "Atelier Henrych," about which we cannot find any information.As of January 2023, KVK, OCLC show no copies outside the Czech Republic.
Maslov, P[etr].
Moscow: Sotsial-demokraticheskoe izdatel'stvo ?Dielo?, 1917. Octavo (18 × 13.5 cm). Original folded self-wrappers (single folded sheet); 15 pp. Publisher?s catalog to rear wrapper. Partially unopened. Some fraying to edges, else very good. This brochure outlining land reforms proposed by the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) was written by the economist and agricultural scientist Petr Maslov (1867?1946), who authored numerous texts on agricultural economy. Maslov was a member of the Central Land Committee formed after the February Revolution and took active part in outlining the new land law. Published by the RSDLP, the party of Lenin, until the split between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks in 1903, with Lenin on the side of the Bolsheviks in their promotion of imminent proletarian revolution in alliance with the Russian peasantry. Both factions, however, kept the name RSDLP until the 1917 Revolution, when the Bolshevik wing of the Party changed their name to the (All-)Russian Communist Party. KVK and OCLC show copies at Duke, Indiana, LOC, Stanford, UNC Chapel Hill, and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
Partiia sotsialistov-revoliutsionerov [Socialist-Revolutionary Party, or SR].
Petrograd: Izdanie Petrogradskogo komiteta partii sotsialistov-revoliutsionerov, 1917. Octavo (20 × 14 cm). Original staple-stitched printed self-wrappers; 32 pp. Wrapper lightly chipped else about very good. Scarce brochure that seeks to educate a literate, but not highly educated, audience about the program of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR), breaking down basic principles of capitalist and socialist systems and proposing a program of action. The party won the Constituent Assembly election of 1917 (November 25, 1917) generally considered to be the first free Russian election, taking about 40% of the popular vote. SR was the primary competitor of Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) the party of Lenin until its name was changed to the (All-)Russian Communist Party following the October Revolution of 1917. While the Bolshevik RSDLP won the majority of the vote in urban centers and from soldiers on the western front, they lost the overall election to the SRs, whose candidate list had been printed prior to the split between the left and right wings of the SRs, with the left wing forming a coalition with the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks had hoped that this election would provide them the popular mandate to govern. Lenin criticized the Constituent Assembly, saying that it failed to represent the Russian people, because the ballot had not indicated the split between the SRs right wing and the pro-Bolshevik left. SRs held power for two weeks before the Bolsheviks disbanded the Assembly and gained the upper hand. As ideologically hostile literature, as well as documentation of an alternative path of development after the February Revolution, the publications of the Socialist-Revolutionaries were subject to destruction in the years after the October coup. KVK and OCLC only show copies at LOC, Stanford, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, and State Library of NSW (Sydney).
Moscow: ODVF (Society of Friends of the Air Fleet), 1925. Large quarto (35.2 × 26.4 cm). Original pictorial wrappers, 54 pp. Numerous illustrations, mostly from photographs. Light overall wear to spine and wrapper edges; professional restoration to spine; else about very good, given the large format. Single issue of the exceedingly rare journal ?Samolet? (Airplane), published by the "Society of Friends of the Air Fleet". The original iteration of the journal was published in thirty-one issues from 1924 to 1926 and served as the primary print organ for early Soviet aviation enthusiasts. It eventually became aligned with the Soviet Society for National Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction which operated until 1948, and the title was changed in 1926. The organization trained the Soviet public in aviation and chemical defense. As part of the program, the organization provided semi-extra curricular training (via a network of circles and teams) in defense and action in case of air and chemical attacks. Citizens were also encouraged to take an aviation test, which included basic parachute deployment, and receive certification in ?preparedness for air and chemical attacks.? The present journal contains articles on ODVF, the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, the first non-professional aviation association in the Soviet Union, various advances in aviation and flight technology, the use of planes for transportation, how photographs are taken from the air, aviation propaganda among children, and the use of "agitpolety", long-distance flights used for propagandistic and educational goals.The journal is perhaps most noteworthy for the large poster-like avant-garde photo-montage designs to rear wrappers, most of which were unsigned, but which also included work by Aleksandr Rodchenko and David Shterenberg.As of February 2024, these early issues could not be traced via KVK, OCLC.
Studio Henrych (Josef Henrych)
Prague: self-published (printed by J. Andreska), [1946]. Octavo (25 × 19.2 cm). Original pictorial wrappers; 77, [2] pp. 54 illustrations, mostly shop window photographs. Professional repair to spine; light wear, ink stains, and small owner signature to wrappers; still good or better. A post-war publication by the typographer and commercial designer Josef Henrych (1907-1977), apparently a second, expanded edition of his earlier work on "cutting-edge shop window arrangements" published in or around 1945. Atelier Henrych has now become Studio Henrych. The drawn wrapper design incorporating the logo of Studio Henrych is likely also by Henrych. The light-hearted preface, signed "your bespectacled Henrych," contains background information on the author's personal and professional development. Among the topics discussed are the why and how of modern arrangements and display design, the use of price labels, colors, figurines, fonts, photography, varous materials, flowers, drawings, elements of movement, and many other details. The book contains fifty-four images, mostly photographs of sample shop window arrangements showing Henrych's cutting-edge approach.As of April 2024, KVK, OCLC show only the copy held by the Czech National Library.
[Kochergin, Nikolai, designer].
Leningrad: Izdanie ?Tea-kino-pechat?,? 1929. Octavo (25 × 17.5 cm). Original decorative self-wrappers; 32, [2] pp. Illustrations throughout and wrappers by Nikolai Kochergin. Light soil to wrappers, else very good. Single issue of the popular Leningrad theater journal, which appeared from 1924 to 1937. The issue includes a full theater program of Leningrad (St. Petersburg), including foreign acts from Berlin and Chicago as well as numerous photographs of performances and actors. Reviews in this issue include a critique of Meyerkhold?s theater, especially the recent production of Mayakovsky?s ?Klop? (The Bedbug), as well as reviews of worker club performances, including Blok?s ?Dvenadtsat?? (The Twelve). Aimed at a broad audience, the journal advertises itself as a ?fighting organ of Marxist criticism? and promises broad coverage of Soviet theater with a focus on amateur worker?s theater clubs such as the ?Siniaia bluza? (Blue blouse). Articles maintain a ?self-critical? tone typical of the transitional period between NEP (The New Economic Policy) and The First Five-Year Plan. Constructivist-inspired wrappers using illustrations from Mayakovsky?s ?Klop? (The Bedbug) by the graphic artist, painter, and illustrator Nikolai Kochergin (1897?1974). In 1918 Kochergin graduated from the Stroganov Secondary Art School in Moscow. During the Russian Civil War he headed production of ROSTA windows in Baku and later in the Caucasus. Remembered today as an illustrator of children?s books, in this period Kochergin was best known for his work in Leningrad theaters. Includes numerous advertisements, ranging from theater performances to private doctors and clinics, in text and to rear wrappers. As of January 2020, KVK and OCLC show only microform copies.
Moscow: ODVF (Society of Friends of the Air Fleet), 1925. Large quarto (35.2 × 26.4 cm). Original pictorial wrappers, 56 pp. Numerous illustrations, mostly from photographs. Light overall wear to spine and wrapper edges; professional restoration to spine and rear wrapper; else about very good, given the large format. Single issue of the exceedingly rare journal ?Samolet? (Airplane), published by the "Society of Friends of the Air Fleet". The original iteration of the journal was published in thirty-one issues from 1924 to 1926 and served as the primary print organ for early Soviet aviation enthusiasts. It eventually became aligned with the Soviet Society for National Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction which operated until 1948, and the title was changed in 1926. The organization trained the Soviet public in aviation and chemical defense. As part of the program, the organization provided semi-extra curricular training (via a network of circles and teams) in defense and action in case of air and chemical attacks. Citizens were also encouraged to take an aviation test, which included basic parachute deployment, and receive certification in ?preparedness for air and chemical attacks.? The present journal contains articles on ODVF, the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, the first non-professional aviation association in the Soviet Union, various advances in aviation and flight technology, the use of planes for transportation, how photographs are taken from the air, aviation propaganda among children, and the use of "agitpolety", long-distance flights used for propagandistic and educational goals.The journal is perhaps most noteworthy for the large poster-like avant-garde photo-montage designs to rear wrappers, most of which were unsigned, but which also included work by Aleksandr Rodchenko and David Shterenberg.As of February 2024, these early issues could not be traced via KVK, OCLC.
Wroc?aw: [Galeria Sztuki Informacji Kreatywnej. O?rodek Kultury i Sztuki. Klub Zwi?zków Twórczych we Wroc?awiu], 1975. Quarto (28.5 × 21cm). Original printed card wrappers; [54] pp. With a folded insert with texts by Jerzy Ludwi?ski; W?odzimierz Borowski, Tomasz Osi?ski. Illustrations throughout. Text in Polish and English. Spine lightly rubbed, especially at extremities, else about very good. A catalog of the Creative Information Art Gallery (1972?1975), founded by the artist Jan Chwa?czyk in Wroc?aw. The exchange of artworks, and information about art through the mail was the core idea of the gallery, with this catalog reproducing the work of eight Polish artists active in mail art, including Chwa?czyk (1924?2018) and his wife, the artist Wanda Go?kowska. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroc?aw, Chwa?czyk started out in painting, and moved toward conceptual art and mail art in the 1960s and 1970s. The catalog includes reproductions of works of mail art, as well as a folder insert with two critical texts. One text entitled ?Unidentified Art? by Jerzy Ludwi?ski, the founder of Galeria pod Mon? Liz?, was controversial for arguing for the need for complete autonomy of the artist. The second text ?Art Is?, by artists W?odzimierz Borowski and Tomasz Osi?ski, criticized institutional bureaucracy directly. ?We are acting in the name of a more proper or, if you prefer, fuller understanding of the concept of ART. Our words are addressed mainly to people associated with AICA (International Association of Art Critics), as they are largely responsible for the current situation in art, which we cannot come to terms with and which we cannot spare criticism.? Because of these critical statements, the exhibition was cancelled. The Creative Information Art Gallery seems to have stopped operations as a result and the catalog was most likely confiscated.One of 200 copies printed. Very rare; as of April 2024, not in KVK, OCLC. Does not appear to be held by the Polish National Library.
Moscow: ODVF (Society of Friends of the Air Fleet), 1925. Large quarto (35.2 × 26.4 cm). Original pictorial wrappers, 80 pp. Numerous illustrations, mostly from photographs. Light overall wear to spine and wrapper edges; professional restoration to spine; else about very good, given the large format. Single issue of the exceedingly rare journal ?Samolet? (Airplane), published by the "Society of Friends of the Air Fleet". The original iteration of the journal was published in thirty-one issues from 1924 to 1926 and served as the primary print organ for early Soviet aviation enthusiasts. It eventually became aligned with the Soviet Society for National Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction which operated until 1948, and the title was changed in 1926. The organization trained the Soviet public in aviation and chemical defense. As part of the program, the organization provided semi-extra curricular training (via a network of circles and teams) in defense and action in case of air and chemical attacks. Citizens were also encouraged to take an aviation test, which included basic parachute deployment, and receive certification in ?preparedness for air and chemical attacks.? The present journal contains articles on ODVF, the Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, the first non-professional aviation association in the Soviet Union, various advances in aviation and flight technology, the use of planes for transportation, how photographs are taken from the air, aviation propaganda among children, and the use of "agitpolety", long-distance flights used for propagandistic and educational goals.The journal is perhaps most noteworthy for the large poster-like avant-garde photo-montage designs to rear wrappers, most of which were unsigned, but which also included work by Aleksandr Rodchenko and David Shterenberg.As of February 2024, these early issues could not be traced via KVK, OCLC.
Moscow: SSSR-en' Narodtnen' Tsentral'noi Izdatel'stva Moskov (Tsentrizdat), 1927. Octavo (17.6 × 12.8 cm). Original staple-stitched pictorial wrappers; 31, [1] pp. Four illustrations. About very good; pre-war Estonian institutional stamp to front wrapper; else clean and unmarked. Rare translation by A. Duniashin into the Erzya language of a popular account for youth about the October Revolution. Erzya is the Finno-Ugric language of one of the two main ethnic groups of the Mordovians in Russia's Volga Region, which also includes the Mokshas.The book was likely translated into various minority languages of the Soviet Union, as indicated by the publisher, Tsentrizdat, or the Central Publishing House of the Peoples of the USSR, which was active from 1924 until 1931 and published books and periodicals in a wide range of languages spoken in the Soviet Union's various republics and autonomous regions. The book's scarcity is explained not only by the later shift in approach, which disparaged as "nationalist" excesses such attempts at inculturation, but also by the inclusion of quotes by later disgraced revolutionary figures such as Lev Trotsky.With drawn publisher's mark of Tsentrizdat to rear wrapper, as well as the mark of "Knizhnaia fabrika tsentral'nogo izdatel'stva narodov SSSR" to colophon.Not held by the Russian State or National Library. As of April 2024, not in KVK, OCLC. We also cannot trace any copy of the Russian original.
[Kraków]: self-published, ca. 1960. Octavo (22.5 × 14cm). Original pictorial wrappers over blind string-stitched wraps; [16] pp. Illustrations throughout. Typographic design and illustration by Krzysztof Litwin. About very good. A collection of lyrics by the poet and songwriter Konstanty Ildefons Ga?czy?ski (1905?1953), written 1947?1949 and published posthumously at the experimental graphics studio at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts. Ga?czy?ski had his literary debut in the context of the Warsaw based avant-garde ?Kwadryga? group, and published satirical poems in the eponymous magazine in the interwar period in 1927?1931. After WWII, he cultivated an image of the troubadour, which is reflected on the pages of this publication. Experimenting with typography and graphics, the book was designed by the artist and actor Krzysztof Litwin (1935?2000), then a student of graphic arts at the Academy of Fine Arts. Created as a kind of artist book with unique prints in Litwin?s signature style, the print run was likely very small. As of March 2024, not in KVK, OCLC.
Kraków: ASP, 1981. Small octavo (17.3 × 12.2cm). Original decorative card wrappers; [18] pp. Small tear to rear wrapper, not affecting text; else very good. First edition. An experimental publication designed in the concretist manner by the graphic artist and painter Janusz Benedyktowicz (1918?2001), of an equally experimental work by the novelist Karol Bunsch (1898?1987). Best known for his historical novels and his translations of German and English literature, this is the only known poetic work by Bunsch, written in 1971. According to the last page of this 1981 edition, it was created as an ?experimental work? at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, for the author, and appears to be the only freestanding publication of this work. The designer, Janusz Benedyktowicz, graduated from the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts in 1951, and in addition to his artistic work published several art-historical studies on lettering and typography. As of April 2024, we can only trace the copy at the Polish National Library.
[Warsaw]: P.P. Pracownie Sztuk Plastycznych, [1966]. Oblong quarto (25 × 25.5 cm). Original embossed card folder, housing a color reproduction of a painting measuring 122 × 100 cm, folded five times, with text and six black-and-white painting reproductions printed to recto. Very light trace of moisture to contents and rear portion of folder; else about very good. A memento of one of the first exhibitions of Galeria Foksal, this catalog advertises a painting exhibition of the neo-avant-garde artist Zbigniew D?ubak (1921?2005). Founded in April 1966 as a space for contemporary art, the gallery showcased avant-garde art, including action art and happenings by artists of international repute, in spite of limitations of the communist regime. The advertising brochures for Foksal exhibitions, which doubled as catalogs, were usually designed by the exhibiting artists themselves, as in the case of this publication, designed by D?ubak who was also on the programming committee of the new gallery. An autodidact, D?ubak was one of the founders of the Grupa 55 in Warsaw, later co-founding the Permafo group (1970?1981) and the eponymous magazine (with artists Natalia LL, Andrzej Lachowicz, and the art critic Antoni Dzieduszycki). In 1953?1972 he was also the editor-in-chief of the journal ?Fotografia? In his artistic career D?ubak worked in painting, photography, sculpture, as well as writing critical and theoretical texts. One of the founders of Foksal Gallery, Hanna Ptaszkowska, characterised D?ubak?s work in this exhibition as that of ?a painter who has no use for painting.?As of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show copies only at Stedelijk and Bibliothèque Kandinsky.
Rimini, Italy: Vydavnytstvo "Zhyttia v tabori" (Life in the camp); Ukrains'kyi tabor polonenykh, 1946. Octavo (20.7 × 15.3 cm). Original (?) crude linen binding, with pictorial front wrapper affixed to board; mimeographed decorative title leaf, IV, 102 pp., with [4] pictorial mimeographed section dividers. Lacking the final unnumbered leaf with the print run information; binding lightly shaken; private monogram owner stamp; else good or better. Rare first volume of poems by Bogdan Bora (1920-1997), printed in a prison camp in Rimini, Italy, shortly after the end of World War II. This book was followed by a second volume, published the same year, which was also mimeographed in a small print run ("U vyriiu", 200 copies). The present work features pictorial wrappers, mimeographed decorative title page and four mimeographed pictorial section dividers, with the text reproduced mimeographically from typescript. The artist was Volodymyr Kaplun. With a four-page preface about Bora's work and its background signed V. B. B. All of the poems were written at Cesenatico, on the Adriatic coast, or Rimini. Like most inmates of the camp, Bora was evidently a former member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, later known as the First Division of the Ukrainian National Army, which fought against the Soviet Army alongside the Germans. It consisted largely of volunteers from Galicia. Approximately 9000 members of the division were later held in Rimini.Shortly after Bora's second book appeared, he moved to the UK, where he settled permanently. Apart from the two books by him, this Rimini camp publisher only issued the eponymous camp newspaper and another volume of poems (by Stepan Rykhtyts'kyi).One of 280 copies printed, according to the colophon leaf which is here missing. Our copy appears to be bound similarly as one other known copy, in a crude blue linen binding. Our copy skips from p. 2 to p. 5, although nothing appears to be lacking. Given the very difficult production circumstances, it is possible different copies varied somewhat.As of April 2024, KVK and OCLC show four copies worldwide, of which three in North America.
Vintage gelatin silver print, 18.2 × 19.2 cm. Rubber ink stamp to verso: "Art. plast. Micha? Diament, Wroc?aw, ul. Piotra Skargi 23/47". Very good. A striking photograph of the conceptualist artist Wanda Go?kowska (1925?2013), one of the major Polish female artists connected with the Wroc?aw conceptual scene, with her work "Dezaprobator" [Disapproval]. Created in 1971?1972, "Dezaprobator" is a 20 meter scroll with a text provocation: ?Overproduction of works of art and excess information make it difficult to choose and blur the difference between authenticity and derivativeness [?] I propose the creation of global repository of artistic information, operating on the principle of a patent office [?] To avoid all current systems of evaluation by juries and commissions, computers and electronic brains would issue opinions qualifying for admission to the repository.? The scroll is unwound and spread around the room in the photograph, with only segments of text visible, and the top of the scroll with the artist?s name in clear focus. The photo was taken by Micha? Diament (1935?1977), a photographer and glass artist, who was the head of the Photography department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroc?aw starting in 1974.A student of painting at the Academy of Fine arts in Wroc?aw in the 1950s, Go?kowska?s work developed into sculpture, mobile compositions, installation, illustration, and mail art throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She became a significant presence at conceptualist and neo-avant-garde festivals such as the 1965 Biennale of Spatial Forms held in Elbl?g, and the Osieki plein air workshops at Koszalin. Her work is also closely tied to Galeria pod Mon? Liz? of Jerzy Ludwi?ski, one of the key theoreticians of Polish conceptualism, who wrote admiringly of her work. Considered one of the most significant representatives of Polish conceptualism and neo-avant-garde, her work is held by museums in Poland, but continues to be understudied in the West.
Riazan': Izdanie Riazanskogo Otdeleniia Vserossiiskogo Soiuza Poetov (Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo), 1921. Octavo (20.5 × 13.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; 42, [2] pp. Professional repair to spine; else about very good. Scarce provincial publication by the Ryazan branch of the All-Russian Union of Poets. Contains poems by Iakov Apushkin, Riurik Ivnev, Veniamin Kisin, Nataliia Kugusheva, Dmitrii Maizel's, Taras Machtet, and Boris Pasternak. The latter contributed three previously unpublished poems ("Vesennee", "Osennee", "Zimnee" from the cycle "Nabroski"). In summer of 1920, Pasternak visited his uncle Iosif Kaufman in Ryazan, where he met a group of local writers and enthusiastically read his poems to meetings of the local Union of Poets branch, during creative evenings held at a local cafe. He not only agreed to have the three poems published in the present anthology, but also managed to convince the Imaginist poet Riurik Ivnev to contribute three poems himself.One of 600 copies printed.Not in Rozanov. Getty 327.As of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show three copies, at the Getty, NYPL, and MIT.
Warsaw: Galeria Foksal PSP, 1967. Octavo (21 × 18 cm). Original card staple-stitched self-wrappers with [20] pp. of text and illustrations. Small tears to rear wrapper, with light repair. Else about very good. An early Galeria Foksal catalogue of the 1967 exhibition of painter, performance artist, and writer Maria Stangret-Kantor (1929?2020). The catalogue opens with a critical essay by Hanna (Anka) Ptaszkowska (b. 1935), who co-founded the avant-garde Foksal gallery in 1966. Ptaszkowska characterizes Stangret?s work as a mixture of painting and collage, infused with humour. In fact, the exhibition was a transitional moment for Stangret, as she moved away from informel painting and started experimenting with abstraction and collage. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (1955?1958), during her studies Stangret joined the famous Kraków II group. In the same period, she started collaborating with the avant-garde Cricot 2 theatre of Tadeusz Kantor, whom she married in 1961. In the same year she started writing her ?never ending novel? publishing small excerpts from it in various exhibition catalogues, including in this one. The novel was finally published in 2002 under the title ?Grandpa?s Memoir? An artist of impressive range, she also took part in all of Tadeusz Kantor?s most famous happenings throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Outside of Poland, her work is held by the Guggenheim Museum in New York. As of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show one copy of this catalogue, in Utrecht.
Petrograd: "Neopalimaia kupina", 1922. Large octavo (26 × 18.7 cm). Original decorative wrappers on green stock over blind white wraps; title and vignette to front wrapper in gilt; 33, [2] pp. Frontis portrait of the author (silhouette printed in orange and black) and eight illustrations in the text by A. Bozherianov, some full-page. Light wear and nicks to wrappers; internally very good, uncut and unopened. Old Soviet bookshop mark inside rear wrapper; decorative bookplate of noted bibliophile N. M. Chasov. First edition of this series of three "musical plays intended as chamber pieces" and written in a highly lyrical style, by the Silver-Age poet and composer Mikhail Kuzmin (1872?1936), whose work was close to the Symbolists and Acmeists. With a printed dedication to Kuzmin's lover, "Iurochka" Kurkin (i.e. Iosif Iurkunas). Sasha Dovzhyk has recently argued that the work shows Kuzmin's engagement with the influence of Aubrey Beardsley, which was crucial to the modernist network around the World of Art circle, as well as to the "homosexual subculture" of which Kuzmin was an integral part. He notes that this play, in particular, demonstrates Kuzmin's "queering of Beardsley" and reads the play as concerned with "unorthodox sexuality and its link to Kuzmin?s model of Englishness" (see: S. Dovzhyk: The Queer Little Grove: The Adoption of Aubrey Beardsley by Mikhail Kuzmin" in BRANCH, accessed April 1, 2024). "Kuzmin's fundamental objective was to take epicurean delight in beauty. He set many of his works to music and was closely associated with little theaters and a famous literary cabaret of the day in St. Petersburg called the Stray Dog. His principal subject was love, and he did not conceal his own homosexuality. His masterpiece was a poetic cycle "The Trout Breaks the Ice" about the return of a homosexual lover after an affair with a woman" (The Cambridge History of Russian Literature, p. 424).One of 500 copies printed, this copy unnumbered. Getty 423. Kilgour 610.From the collection of Nikolai M. Chasov (1928?2009), an important Leningrad bibliophile and collector of illustrated books and graphic arts.
?ód?: self-published, [1975]. Octavo (21 × 15 cm). Original staple-stitched wrappers of red stock, with rubber stamp to front wrapper and inside rear wrapper; [66] pp. of xeroxed text and image to rectos and versos. Text in English. Very good. Richly-illustrated catalog of film stills and text descriptions of over twenty films by members of the Workshop of the Film Form (WFF) in ?ód? in 1970?1974. According to the opening essay, ?the workshop was established in 1970, thanks to the initiative of a group of students and graduates of the Film School of ?ód? [?] The workshop makes TV films /until Sept. 1974 about 60/, recordings and transmissions, as well as sound broadcasts, plastic arts? exhibitions, happenings, interventions.? Founded as a student club with eight initial members and the support of professor Jerzy Kotowski, the workshop would become ?one of the most important milieus to inspire transformations in the art of the 1970s Poland? and ?the most significant formation of structural film in Central and Eastern Europe? (See See: Marika Ku?micz and ?ukasz Ronduda, Workshop of the Film Form. Warsztat Formy Filmowej, pp. 145?146). The activities of the workshop were shut down by the rector of the film school in 1975, but it continued to operate more loosely until 1977. In the subsequent years most workshop members would move away from film production and into conceptual art, which included performances, photography, and installations. The four artists in the present catalogue, Wojciech Bruszewski (1947?2009), Pawe? Kwiek (1951?2022), Józef Robakowski (b.1939), and Ryszard Wa?ko (b.1947) are typically considered the core members of the workshop. Brief artist bios and a list of exhibitions are included at the end of the catalog. Because relatively few of their films remain intact and available in their original form, this catalog is a crucial record of the early activities of the Workshop members. The films described include: Bruszewski (YYAA, Pictures Language, New Alphabetic Contract, The door, Brain Ignition, and two critical texts); Kwiek (I + telephone, Commentary, Numbers, Travel, One-minute Films); Robakowski (Market, Test, Test II, Record, Exercise, I am going, door-window-chair, My film, and one critical text Astral photography); Wa?ko (Pace, Negation, Arrangement, Registration, Straightly awry, Geometrical figures). As of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show only one copy outside of Poland, at MoMA.
Germany (mostly Ludwigshafen), ca. 1965?1970. Loosely inserted materials in nine contemporary file folders. Various formats and sizes, including many folded posters and broadsides, smaller leaflets, brochures, as well as typewritten correspondence and files. Several items with old punched holes, but overall very good. Extensive collection (approximately 500 items) of posters, broadsides, ephemera such as invitations, tickets, greeting cards, internal member bulletins, and original correspondence, all documenting the early development of the NPD, or Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democratic Party of Germany), a far-right Neo-Nazi political party that was founded in November 1964. Among other subjects, the correspondence discusses the early elections, party congresses, bylaws, as well as a wide range of lectures and other publicity events. The former owner and compiler of the group, Manfred L. Mahl, was based in Ludwigshafen and served as regional party manager. We were unable to find further information on Mahl and his activities with the Party.In addition to the NPD-related materials, a number of broadsides and brochures also present other parties' views of the emerging NPD during this time. Also contained are copies of legal proceedings by the party against the town of Ludwigshafen, for allegedly removing election posters at night. Thus the materials also document the very clear negative public response to the NPD, which was seen correctly as reprising the populist slogans and ideologies of the National Socialists that had driven Germany into war and subsequent ruin.Known as "Die Heimat" (The Homeland) since June 2023, the party has been closely watched by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and an unsuccessful attempt to outlaw the party was made in 2003. It has several times gained enough votes to receive mandates in state parliaments, but never on the federal level.A scarce record of the early development of this far-right political party in Germany, and particularly its visual communications strategies. Provenance: through the trade.Please note: this item is only eligible for sale to our institutional customers and we are offering it strictly for research purposes.
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