Between the Covers

Softcover. First edition. Samizdat. Eight loose pages of typescript, with a frontispiece colored lithograph Signed by Ludmila Ji incová laid into unprinted self-wrappers. Fine. Signed and dated by Seifert on the title page. A poem issued to celebrate Antonín Rybi ky’s 65 birthday. The poem, *Býti Básníkem* (Being a Poet) became the title of Seifert’s last collection of poems, published in 1983, a farewell to the world and recapitulation of his life. Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986) was the 1984 Nobel Prize winning Czech writer, poet, and journalist, and a chief figure of the Czech avant-garde movement. He was the co-founder of “Dev tsil," the association of the Czech avant-garde artists, together with Vít zslav Nezval and Karel Teige. The original lithograph is by Ludmila Ji incová (1912–1994) the Czech female graphic artist and painter who is credited as the designer of many covers for Seifert’s books. Rare.

Item #412593