[INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE ESPIONAGE IN FRANCE – COLD WAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA] Zpráva o studijní cestě pracovníků SVV a VÚVA do Francie, ve dnech 28.6.–11.7.1957 [Report on the study trip of SVV and VÚVA employees to France, June 28 - July 11, 1957].

Prague: self-published, 1957. Quarto (30 × 20.5 cm). Original quarter-cloth over boards with mimeographed label with title attached to front board; 36, [1], 3 leaves of mimeographed text to rectos, and 20 card leaves with 40 original photographs, numbered with rubber stamps. Handwritten note in black ink to title and rear of album. Light soil to boards, small tear to title; leaves toned due to stock, still about very good. Item #P6853

An illustrated research album, possibly a work of industrial espionage due to the sensitive nature of the photographed buildings, with 40 photographs taken during a 1957 research trip to France by the employees of State Committee for Construction (SVV) and Czech Research Institute of Construction and Architecture (VÚVA). The album was produced as an internal document of SVV and VÚVA and includes photographs of buildings and construction sites in France such as the pharmaceutical company Clevenot laboratories, the newly opened state of the art Flins Renault factories (including a private residence of an employee), Printing house in Passy, and the Centre of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT) palace, an exposition center which was one of the largest buildings in the world at the time of its completion. The mimeographed introduction text provides an overview of the history of French industrial construction during WWI, interwar period, WWII, and post-war developments. The text also offers a comparative analysis of construction in socialist countries vs. that of capitalist countries. A handwritten note to title lists the delegation members – Charvát and Spudich from SVV, and Podráský and Vančura from VÚVA. Handwritten note to the back of the album reads: “SVV = State Committee for Construction (chairman Ing. Dr. Šlechta – former chairman of the Czech National Socialist Party. His wife was Jewish. Thanks to Šlechta, she survived the war and after 1945 became a prominent member of the Communist Party. Both died by suicide. The SVV was succeeded by the SKIV = State Commission for Investment Construction. According to Ott's encyclopedic dictionary, the SKIV is "an unstable vessel steered by a single man who cannot see his destination because his back is turned to it." Produced for internal use, this item is likely one of a handful of copies, with the handwritten notes making the item unique.

As of November 2025, not in KVK, OCLC.

Price: €450.00

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