Pirnat, Nikolai and France Mihelič.

[ALBUM OF YUGOSLAV PARTISAN LINOCUTS] Naša borba: 12 linorezov. Nikolaj Pirnat. France Mihelič [Our fight: 12 linocuts].

[Maribor]: Izdal Glavni Štab NOV in PO Slovenije, ponatisnil OOOF Maribor, May 1945. Quarto (26.7 × 20.2 cm). Original pictorial wrappers illustrated with a linocut print; [4] leaves of text followed by 12 leaves of linocut illustrations, [1] leaf of section divider and [1] final leaf. Wear to wrapper extremities; some toning to wrappers; else about very good. Item #P001923

Second edition of this volume of original linocut prints by two famous Slovenian partisan artists, Nikolaj Pirnat (1903–1948) and France Mihelič (1907–1998), which depict battle scenes, landscapes of destruction, and the suffering of the populace. The book was originally published in 1944, to commemorate the third anniversary of the Yugoslav people's fight alongside the Allied Powers. This edition was published shortly before or after the end of hostilities in May 1945, by the Maribor District Committee of the Liberation Front (OOOF Maribor), which operated its own underground partisan press for the Lower Styria region. The original edition was clandestinely printed in 1944, but in an unusually large-format and with elements of a bibliophile edition (150 copies of the run of 2000 was on a preferential paper stock).

Both Mihelič and Pirnat created iconic works depicting partisan life, which played a role in the movement's propaganda efforts. Pirnat joined the fighters after his release from a concentration camp in Italy. He was later appointed head of visual propaganda for the Yugoslavian partisans (NOV i POJ). Both artists went on to a teaching career after the war.

The Slovenian partisans were part of a larger anti-fascist Yugoslav resistance movement, the most successful anti-Nazi force to emerge on Axis-occupied territory. The first resistance groups arose in 1941, in response to the new Nazi-puppet government of the Independent State of Croatia. Using guerilla warfare tactics, sabotage, and a makeshift, yet highly effective underground printing and propaganda effort, the partisans scored key victories and eventually swelled to a 110.000 people-strong force, the largest and most successful of the Yugoslav partisan troops. Produced in small numbers, using low-quality stock and crude forms of reproduction technologies, publications by the Yugoslav partisans are rare today.

The first edition of this title is no. 41 in the 2017 catalog, “The Partisans: The Underground Society” (by Daša Pahor and Alexander Johnson). Rajkovic, Bibliografija izdanja u narodnooslobodilačkom ratu, 8403.

As of January 2026, KVK and OCLC show three holdings outside Slovenia, in the UK, Germany, and North America respectively. The 1945 re-edition is not recorded.

Price: €950.00

other currencies