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GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE — KACÍŘ & SPOL.First Czech Edition of L’Hérésiarque et CieJosef Čapek Design and Eight Two-Color LinocutsOriginal Čapek-Designed Publisher’s Cloth
APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume. Kacíř & spol. [The Heretic & Co.] Translated into Czech by Jaroslav Starý. Prague: Rudolf Škeřík, 1926. Edice Symposion, vol. 22.
First Czech edition of Apollinaire’s 1910 collection L’Hérésiarque et Cie, here given an unusually powerful modernist visual interpretation by Josef Čapek. Complete with Čapek’s original binding design, title-page ornament, publisher’s device, and eight full-page two-color linocuts.
A superb example of interwar Czech book design: Apollinaire’s fantastic, unsettling short fiction reimagined through Čapek’s bold graphic language of compressed forms, sharp black outlines, masks, and stylized figures.
Original publisher’s red cloth, printed in black with a double-rule frame and large central Čapek emblem; gilt-lettered spine. [137], [6] pp. Complete with all eight full-page linocuts.
Čapek’s contribution extends far beyond illustration. He designed the book as a unified object, integrating typography, cover, title page, ornament, and images into a cohesive modernist production. The stark red, black, and cream palette gives the volume exceptional shelf presence.
Apollinaire’s L’Hérésiarque et Cie gathers stories of heretics, religious impostors, urban wanderers, fantasy, satire, and the grotesque. It includes “Le Passant de Prague” (“The Passerby of Prague”), making this Prague edition an especially apt setting for the collection.
Josef Čapek—painter, writer, designer, and brother of Karel Čapek—was one of the major figures of Czech modernism. His book designs and printwork are prized for their inventive, highly individual synthesis of European modernist form with direct, expressive graphic force.
Condition
Near Fine.
A remarkably fresh, well-preserved copy in the original Čapek-designed publisher’s cloth. The red cloth remains bright and clean; the black cover design is crisp and strong; and the gilt spine lettering is fresh and legible. Light rubbing at extremities only.
Binding tight and square. Text clean, with only light, normal age toning. All eight two-color Čapek linocuts are present and strongly printed. No ownership markings noted.
Please examine all photographs carefully. They show the exact copy offered and form part of the condition description.
An especially attractive copy of a scarce Czech avant-garde book: the first Czech Apollinaire edition, complete with Josef Čapek’s eight original linocuts and preserved in its striking publisher-designed red cloth.
