[Podhajska, Minka] Mesice

Prague: Politika, [1919].

First edition. 4to. Original decorated paper covered boards, glassine wrapper. Famed book by Podhajska featuring 18 woodcuts, including 12 in colors, tipped to textured paper; publisher's woodcut device on title-page. Contents loose as issued in original printed boards; contemporary Czech bookplate on pastedown. Number 112 of 200 copies, signed by Podhajsk· and dated by him (in pencil) 1919. "MesÌce", or, "The Months," features a suite of color woodcuts and six additional black-and-white cuts showing images of the zodiac (two to a sheet). The Viennese born Podhajsk· was a student at the Kunstgewerbeschule and her work appeared in the movement's well-known journals Ver Sacrum, Hohe Warte, and Die Fl‰che, as well as designing toys for the Wiener Werkst‰tte and numerous other graphic works during World War I. She moved to Prague in 1919, the year she created MesÌce, and was a founding member of the Czech artists' consortium. An exceedingly important and scarce book. A fine copy. In a superb custom-made clamshell folding box with fine beige linen cloth covers and light blue-gray cloth sides and rayon book-cloth interior, by Carolina Veenstra.

Price: $4,500.00   Item #2880