[CZECH 'TRAMPING' SUBCULTURE] Trampský magazin [The tramping journal].
Prague: Nákladem časopisu Tramp, 1932. Octavo (22 × 15.3 cm). Original photo-illustrated pictorial wrappers; 72, [8] pp. Illustrations throughout. Good or better; overall wear and creasing to wrappers. Item #52812
Scarce document of the "tramping" subculture in interwar Czechoslovakia, which had developed as the local equivalent to the worldwide scouting movement, and was also a predecessor of Czech environmentalism, and even carried faint hints of sexual liberation and general freedom from social strictures. Its participants toured the Czech countryside with knapsacks and guitars, acting out a particular kind of counter culture viewed with suspicion by later governments, especially the Husák regime of the Normalization era. Tramping was heavily influenced by American culture, especially in its fascination with the Wild West and cowboys.
Already in the year of publication, a major governmental anti-tramping measure had been enacted with the so-called "Lex Kubat" (named after Hugo Kubát, 1873–1932, a Czech administrative official and regional president for the Czech land). The proclamation aimed to limit the activities during camping and tramping, chiefly: "Any indecent behavior or behavior in public or publicly accessible places that disrupts or threatens public order, peace, safety, good morals or decency or arouses public outrage, in particular: joint camping of people of different sexes in nature and in barns, cabins and log cabins - except for family camping - bathing in insufficient clothing outside the perimeter of designated swimming pools, singing songs of inappropriate content, carrying weapons, especially prohibited weapons without a paid military pass, and swimming in prohibited places."
The present anthology of poems, prose, caricature, and photographs was intended to "neither be a book for bibliophiles, nor for literary critics, but a living anthology of that which interests the tramps" (p. 5). Contents include works by S. K. Neumann, L. Hojda, Tucholski, Irčan, Franta Šerif, Vlasta Termus, Otto Rikin, and others, many using pseudonyms. This being the second printing following initial confiscation by the censors, the book contains numerous blanks, with the printed note "content prohibited."
As of October 2024, not in KVK, OCLC. Not held by the Czech National Library.
Price: €450.00