Between the Covers

Hardcover. Oblong octavo. Measuring 10" x 6". Screw-bound brown leather album. Contains 122 black and white gelatin silver photographs measuring between 1" x 1" and 5" x 5" with captions in Czech. Very good album with rubbing and some tears with very good or better photographs.

A young woman’s vernacular photograph album from the first years of her adulthood in Prague in the late 1940s. The album is composed almost entirely of photomontages made from cut silver print photographs. The album begins with a winter trip in the Tatra mountains, taken in March, 1949. This section shows mountain scenes, and images of the young woman and her boyfriend driving in their Skoda 1102 Coupe. This is followed by a montage of romantic images of the couple’s “lover’s trip” taken over Easter, which is then followed by a summer beach trip. The next montage concerns their elaborate New Year’s party on December, 31, 1949. The couple next appears performing in an apparently comedic Indian play. The album continues, a child named Zdenka is born and incorporated into the montages. The final image shows the album’s creator striding confidently down the embankment toward Charles Bridge in Central Prague, smiling widely.

A remarkable personal album depicting a woman’s young adulthood in Prague in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Item #423033