1932 Jan Neugebauer – Znamení na nebi

Jan Neugebauer – Znamení na nebi [The Sign in the Sky]. Poems. Prague: Edice Sad, 1932. First edition. Large octavo (25 × 19.6 cm). 99, [3] pp. 500 copies. Original decorative wrappers. Signed and inscribed by the author on the dedication leaf. A very good, unopened copy, with light crease to the rear wrapper. The first and apparently only edition of this book of verse by Jan Neugebauer, a little-known Czech modernist poet. Edice Sad (“Garden Series”) was founded in 1919 and issued some seventeen titles during its nearly three-decade existence. The constructivist-influenced wrapper design is likely by Ladislav Grosman, who collaborated with the publisher on the series and designed its distinctive publisher’s device on the half-title. Scarce: not found in KVK or OCLC, and apparently absent from the Czech National Library; a single copy found in the Prague Municipal Library.