Philippe’s naturalist novel in Czech, with strong expressonist woodcuts by Jan Rambourek, 1926

PHILIPPE, Charles Louis; RAMBOUSEK, Jan: V městečku. [In the city]. Translated from the French by Jaroslav Fortis and Jan Marhan. Cover design and 10 b/w and partly red woodcuts, where of seven full-paged and 3 vignettes by Jan Rambousek. (= Symposion, 21). Prague: Škeřík (Průmyslová tiskárna) 1926. 8vo. 102, [2] p. Original publisher's thread stiched pictorial wrapper.

First Czech edition of this naturalist novel by French novelist Charles-Louis Philippe (1874-1909), originally published posthumous in 1910 under the title „Dans la petite ville“. Appearing in Rudolf Škeřík's »Symposion«, a book series dedicated to modern foreign literature and criticism in translation, this edition is particularly strong because of the striking expressionist woodcuts and also the surrealist inspired front cover illustration by Jan Rambourek (1895-1976), a Prague based modernist painter, illustrator, graphic artist and writer, disciple of Max Švabinský.

Attached is a publisher's promotional leaflet for this edition.

Spine slightly bleached, otherwise very fine copy indeed, printed on machine mould paper »Antik«, after a preceding 500 copies on Japan-paper.

Vollmer 4, 198 (Rambousek).