Search Results: Titles starting with M from Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books

London: Studio, 1959. 4to, cl, 135pp. VG in VG DJ.

Quarto 29.5x23 cm. stiff wrappers, 15 pp. Ivan Semenovich Efimov (1878-1969) was a sculptor, painter, set designer, and craftsman who founded the Soviet Puppet Theater with his wife Nina. Here employs silhouette drawing with color rendering in a charming folktale which the couple utilized in their puppet theater productions. OCLC locates three holdings in North America (NYPL, Univ NM, Univ PA). Very good with light cover wear.

Prague: Ceskoslovenskej Grafickej Unie, 1934 Large octavo 21x15 cm., wrappers, 43 (2) pp. No. 444 of 500 copies. The first known monograph on Slovak painter Mikulás Galanda (1895-1938) who is recognized with L udovit Fulla as the most important artists working in Bratislava during the interwar years. 13-page text in Slovak with 35 full page reproductions including frontispiece in color. OCLC finds copies in NYPL, Met. This copy near fine.

New York: Abrams, nd (1961). Folio, cl, 163pp.; slipcased. VG in DJ with chipped spine ends, tear, in cardboard slipcase.

Quarto 19.5x17.3 cm., (10) pp. Color lithographed wrappers and illustrations throughout by Tatiana Nastasaevna Glebova (1890-1985). Samuil Marshak (1887-1964) was the father of Soviet children s literature. He was an important editor who commissioned children s books from avant-garde poets and artists who had fallen from official grace, providing them with some foothold in Soviet society. Stalin s sudden death may have saved the life of this four-times Jewish recipient of the Stalin prize. Glebova was a student of Pavel Filonov who produced many children s books and the magazines Ezh (Hedgehog) and Chizh (Siskin). She also provided set and costume designs for the theater and ballet. Six holdings in North America found in worldcat. A fine copy.

Budapest: Konyvbaratok Szovetsege, 1930 Small quarto 22 x 17.5 cm, decorated cloth, 168pp, heavily illustrated. A survey of the art of drawing by Hungarian artists from the late 19th century to the 1920s, with essays by Hungarian authors of the same period, including Zsigmond, Kodolanyi, Agai, Herman, and with several original woodcuts, linocuts, phototypes. Over 130 artists are represented, including Sandor Bortnyik, Lajos Gulacsy, Gyula Battyhany, Mihaly Biro, Belanyi, Kmetty and Scheiber. Uncommon, worldcat finds no copies in North American libraries.

Large octavo 20.5x14.5 cm., wrappers, 19pp. Cover and two full-page illustrations by Vladislav Khodasevich (1886-1939). Typography in pre-revolutionary orthography. Makar Chudra is the author's second story, published in a Tiflis journal in 1892. A tale of bewitching love, murder and retribution with a visionary close has lent it to various adaptations.
Strong artwork by Vladislav Khodasevich, known primarily for his poetry and literary writings. Khodasevich became close to Gorky, living nearby in Sorrento where the author resided in the 1920s. Near fine. 1100

Quarto 24x16.5 cm., new bound wrappers, 403 (6)pp. 42 woodcuts, 1 linocut, 4 photos, unnumbered copy in an edition of 457. This copy uncut, in newly bound wrappers preserving the original cover illustration. Hand printed by his partner Anna Macková at her expense in a private edition under Vachal's press name Politika. An autobiographical memoir of Vachal's participation in WWI as a soldier on the front. The river valley Soča in modern Slovenia had a profound and lasting impact on Váchal, where its surrealistic beauty contrasted with the blood and gore of battle. As a soldier, Váchal drew and wrote prolifically under terrifying conditions where his visionary and spiritist temperament met with a gruesome charnal ground.. OCLC locates 3 holdings in North America (PA State, Univ IL, Indiana). Later printings lack original graphics. This copy fine.

Prague: Jan Fromek, 1929 Octavo, original wrappers bound in full calf boards, top edge gilt, 123(v)pp. No. 68 of 150 copies on antique paper, from an edition of 300 numbered copies. Selected poems from Lautréamont's proto-surrealist classic, translated into Czech by Jindrich Horejší with Karel Teige's and Philippe Soupault's collaboration. The first illustrated edition to reach publication, with twelve 2-color lithographs by Jindrich Štyrský. It includes a 30-page postscript by Teige who also designed the cover, typography and plates. The book was released in the early spring of 1929 and sold out before it was censored by authorities a few months later. The belated censorship and confiscation attempts resulted in an uproar. This is a landmark publication and a fine document of the creative ferment of the Czech avant-garde. It signaled a shift of focus in the movement of the Poetism spearheaded by Teige, Toyen and Nezval in the Devetsil movement to embracing… Read More

Bucharest: Funatia Pentru Literatura si Arta Regele Carol II, 1936 Octavo, wrappers, 32pp. Virgil Gheorghiu (1903-1977) was an avant-garde poet and musician who trafficked in surrealist circles and was the subject of a novel by Geo Bogza. This collection of poetry (The Great Hunt) achieved renown at the time of publication. Rare: worldcat finds only one North American listing.

Budapest: Pantheon, 1930 Octavo, cloth, 319pp. In a series he titled "The New Novel," Kassák explores the impact of modern life on a simple peasant girl from Hungarian Slovakia as she enters the city. Worldcat finds only one listing for this first edition in North American libraries.

Sofia: Paksalev, 1920 Octavo, wrappers, 80pp., with six linocuts, some in two-color, by Sirak Skitnik. Chavdar Mutafov (1889-1954) art theoretician, architect, critic. Collaborator in the Vezni and Crescendo journals, strong advocate for modernism and experiment in art. He was expelled from the Writers Union and jailed in 1945 and banned from publishing for life for breaking ranks with communist doctrine. The present work is expressionist prose sketches about encountering the Blaue Reiter and the works of Kandinsky and Marc while the author was studying in Munich. Sirak Skitnik (1883-1943) provided the artwork for this book. Skitnik was a artist, poet, and teacher who spearheaded new art and stage design in the interwar years. He is one of the topmost figures in the Bulgarian avant-garde. The present work is a most successful modernist venture in content and graphic design in Bulgaria; a signature work. Refs: Jacono: Bulgarian Modernism 2013, No. 4., Illustrated. Rare. OCLC finds three library… Read More

Prague: B. Koci, 1922 Octavo, wrappers, 108 (iv)pp. A fantastic satire in three acts, about two forces competing for a soul who alternatively embodies both. The play was banned after its premiere because of its inflammatory theme of corruption in politicians and contemporary society. Dvorák (1881-1933) was renowned as a leading playwright from the 1910s, also a translator and editor of the journal Nový scena. Fine illustrative cover design by famed architect and friend Jirí Kroha. Found in 4 North American libraries.

Small octavo 17x13 cm., wrappers, 32pp. 5000 copies. Original red and black wrappers by Aleksandr Rochenko, with both front and rear covers forming a single composition. Here Rodchenko uses a photo of of his colleague Liubov' Popova in an extraordinary photomontage design. Il'ia Erenburg (1891-1967) is widely known for his essays and stories, but this is his singular foray as a critic of the cinema. He was actually quite drawn to it and had strong ideas which he wanted to put to work in screenplays which never reached daylight. As for the content of this work, it is one of the last free statements of the author without concern for censure, which soon came upon him from RAPP (Proletarian Writers Union) for his fiction, and which subsequently forced him to tailor his words to the authoritarian vise of Socialist Realism. The Rodchenko cover design is a tour de force of constructivist design. Worldcat locates this in 5 institutions (Getty, NYPL, Rochester, Harvard, Yale).

(Erfurt?): the architect, (1908), 1908 Oblong quarto 20.3 x 24.7 cm, plain unprinted wrappers,(iv),53 plates of photographs showing completed buildings and interiors, with two drawings. Max Brockert (1870-1962) was a flourishing young German architect working in Erfurt when he self-published this monograph of his built work to date. It bears a thick paper cover without printing, a three-page foreword by the architect and note of recommendation by His teacher Alfred Messel in Berlin. Brockert is considered an influential architect especially in the Jugendstil era, but this work appears to be the only monograph on him and reveals him to be a highly talented practitioner. No title page or original covers. Rare, with no copies found in worldcat.

Berlin: Situationen 60, 1963 Square octavo 22.5 cm., wrapper folio, housing two leporellos, one with a screenprint transparency and contains 4 screenprints; the second has 6 screenprints; one free-standing broadside with critical reviews of the exhibition; one with a two-page descriptive statement and the colophon. The transparency is meant to play against the various designs in the leporellos. The folio covers contain a 3-page biography and bibliography. This is a very inventive catalog for the Berlewi exhibition held in Berlin featuring the artist's works of op-art and kineticism. Text by Eckart Neumann.

Quarto 24x17.5 cm., wrappers, 84pp. 1500 copies. Cover design by Nikolai Kupreyanov. Three Constructivist poets {Zelinskii (1896-1970), Chicherin (1889-1960), and Sel'vinskii (1899-1968)} in an exchange of ideas, with a literary theory propounded by Zelinskii, poems, drawings, calligraphs, photos by Chicherin and Sel'vinskii, meant to establish Constructivism as a universal language. Getty 858. A near fine copy.

Budapest: Nagy Károly és Tarsai, 1935 Octavo, wrappers, 76pp. (Refugees. Narratives) A short novel appearing under the banner „New Writers” edited by Géza Juhász and László Kardos. Written during Kassák’s involvement with Munka. Interesting cover design by Petry. No North American library holdings, rare.

Plzen: Nakladem vlastnim, 1931 Octavo, original wrappers in publisher's cloth, 35pp. Exquisite constructivist book design and frontispiece by Richard Brun for a cycle of poems by Josef Rous (1898-1988), in an unstated by small edition. Fine copy.

(Prague) Minister Zeleznic CSR, 1938 Folio 23.2 x 30.7, boards, 115pp., several fold-out double sheets with maps. Avant-garde Czech designer Vilem Ambrosi designed this promotional publication for the Czechoslovak Railways which includes time-tables and schedules with handsome photographs of Czechoslovakia showcasing the country's scenic spots. Texts in four languages (Czech, English, French, German). Richly illustrated with photos, maps, drawings and creative adverts with many maps and diagrams in color, it depicts a beautiful, wealthy country that would be soon eclipsed by occupation, war and oppression for the following half century. Printed by Neubert a Synove, Smichov. Uncommon, worldcat locates no library findings outside of Czech Republic. Very good+ condition.