[RACIST IMAGERY IN A HAND-DRAWN CZECH CHILDREN'S BOOK] Abeceda malého ašantka. Pátá knížka naší světlušky. Od rodičů [The little Ashant's alphabet. Our little firefly's fifth book. From her parents].

[Czechoslovakia, ca. 1925–1930]. Small quarto (27.5 × 20.3 cm). Original boards covered with patterned silk; decorative endpapers; [18] leaves of laid paper, with ink and watercolor drawings to rectos and versos. Boards lightly faded; occasionally finger-soiled; overall about very good. Item #55587

Unique ABC book from the Czechoslovak Republic, hand-drawn by the parents for a young child. The book depicts episodes centered around a young West African boy ("ašantek"), likely from Ghana, who is sometimes depicted in a stereotypical African setting, but more often placed into a Western and even Czechoslovak setting, where he is subject to various surprising and usually unpleasant or harmful situations, which serve to illustrate the letter in question. For instance, under M for "malíř" (painter), the boy approaches a painter at work, but misunderstands and eats all of his paint. Under S for a member of the Sokol movement, he watches a young man perform athletic exercises, only to fall down himself when he tries to replicate the movement. Other items the boy encounters are a tram car, a gramophone, and the radio. The book is hand-painted throughout and was produced as a unique gift. It is possible that the topic of the book, and its garishly racist depictions of the little boy, were inspired by the phenomenon of ethnological exhibitions ("human zoos") in Western Europe, which took place into the 1920s and early 1930s, as attempts to justify colonial rule. The silk used in the binding contrasts with the subject matter and is more reminiscent of Czechoslovak folk visual traditions.

Price: €2,000.00

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