Biebl, Konstantin and Karel Teige, designer.

[HIGHLIGHT OF THE CZECH AVANT-GARDE] S lodí jež dováží čaj a kávu: poesie [With the ship which brings tea and coffee: poetry].

Prague: Odeon, 1928. Octavo (20 × 14.2 cm). Original blue wrappers with a composition of colored paper and printed text, over blind stiff card boards; text loosely inserted, as issued; 64, [3] pp. With four full-page typographic compositions by Karel Teige. Signed by Biebl to front free end paper. Spine sunned; two small tape repairs to corners; still a very good copy. Item #51753

The rare second edition of Biebl’s work, but the first with Teige’s constructivist typographic "montages" printed in black and pink. With an original "collage" of colored paper and printed text, also designed by Karel Teige for the limited preferential run of 115 copies, signed by the author and printed on Van Gelder paper. This is copy no. 89 (1–20 were hand-colored and hard-bound, 21–45 were colored and in a similar binding, 46 to 100 were issued as described above, and an additional 15 issues "hors commerce" were numbered I–XV and not for sale).

Biebl was a Czech poet and Communist Party member, closely associated with other Czech Communist writers and poets such as Jiří Wolker and Vítězslav Nezval. After being recruited into the army in 1916, serving on the Balkan Front, and fighting in Montenegro, he returned home after being first taken captive and then hospitalized. He began writing poetry shortly thereafter, and then joined several avant-garde literary groups including Devětsil, the Brno Literary Group, and Literární skupina. In 1934, Biebl became one of the founding members of the Czech Surrealist group in Prague along with Nezval, Karel Teige, Štyrský, Jaroslav Ježek, and others.

Karel Teige a typografie, 314–214 (pictured are the trade copy in yellow wrappers and a hand-colored copy of our edition), on pp. 130–135. Primus, Tschechische Avantgarde, no. 85, pictured on p. 42. Avant-Garde Page Design 232, with illustration. Vloemans 114 ("an outstanding example of Teige's concept of constructivist typography").

An absolute high spot of the Czech avant-garde and Teige's book design, almost never encountered in commerce.

Price: €4,500.00

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