Abeceda Dusevniho Prázdna (Alphabet Of Spiritual Emptiness) [W/ FACSIMILE DUST JACKET] by Tmej, Zdenek (photographs); Alexandra Urbanová (text) - 1946

Praha (Prague): Zádruha, 1946. First edition. Softcover. Fair to good condition. Quarto. Unpaginated. 81 leaves. Facsimile photo-illustrated dustjacket in subtle blue tones, white lettering on the front cover, black lettering on the spine, protected by modern mylar. Stiff beige paper wrappers.

"Abeceda Dusevniho Prázdna" (The Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness) offers an extraordinary look inside a German forced labor camp in Breslau, Germany, where Zdenek Tmej was forced to work for the Nazi war effort from 1942 to 1944. It is remarkable that Zdenek Tmej, a Czech citizen was able to photograph at all, let alone produce such a poetic response to the horrors of the war.

Armed with a concealed camera, Tmej portrays the experience of captivity through images loaded with furtiveness and despair. The book's cover photograph establishes the claustrophobic, end-of-the-road ambiance: A young man sleeps among other men, their heads resting not on pillows and beds but on cloth valises and a bare wooden table. Inside, we peer first into empty, anonymous interiors, then into institutional rooms crowded with men. "Abeceda" ends with pictures of prostitutes and several brothel scenes straight out of a George Grosz drawing. As these houses were restricted to foreigners, there is not a trace of Brassai's nighttime naughtiness or underworld romance, only a messy heap of lost illusions. (Andrew Roth's The Book of 101 Books, pp. 124-125.) llustrated with 45 striking photogravures, this work stands today as an ever-relevant symbol of survival and resistance.

Text in Czech. The facsimile dustjacket is taken from an original jacket, rubbed and with medium chips all along top and bottom of jacket. Spine all but gone, three inches with descriptor remain. Wraps with light chipping along foredge and parts of top and bottom edge. Light age-toning of block.