Nezval, Vítězslav, Milča Mayerová, and Karel Teige, illustrator.

[ICONIC WORK OF THE CZECH AVANT-GARDE] Abeceda: taneční komposice Milči Mayerové [The alphabet: a dance composition by Milča Mayerová].

Prague: J. Otto, 1926. Quarto (29.8 × 23 cm). Publisher’s decorative wrappers by Karel Teige; 57, [2] pp. With twenty-five full-page photo-montages by Teige, incorporating photographs by Karel Paspa. Printed on coated stock. Wrappers and first leaf very lightly discolored; small nicks to lower and upper spine spine; title and one additional leaf with tiny tape repairs to margins; still good or better. Item #51731

Working with relationships between the form, sound, and function of each letter of the alphabet, the Czech modernist poet Nezval came up with twenty-five quatrains, treating the letter not as a subject but instead as a motif. The images conjured up in the poem are pure early Devětsil: palm trees in the tropics, cowboys and Indians, Egypt and the Eiffel Tower, but it is for Milča Mayerová’s (1901–1977) choreography and performance of the poem that Nezval’s work is best remembered. Her acrobatic pose for each line of each stanza was performed at the Liberated Theatre in 1926. The visual play between the photographed poses, Karel Teige’s typographic design, and the Poetist text all result in one of the most iconic and supremely modernist images in Czech book design. One of 2000 copies.

Price: €2,500.00

other currencies