1932 Modern Dance in Czechoslovakia

S. Kamilov (ed.) – Taneční umění v Československu / L’Art de la Danse en Tchécoslovaquie / Die Tanzkunst in der Tschechoslowakei [The Art of Dance in Czechoslovakia] Prague: Taneční Revue, June 1932. Octavo (23.5 × 16 cm). Original orange cloth with gilt typographic design to front board and spine. 229 pp. + [4] pp, including extensive advertising section. Text in Czech (with French and German subtitles). A richly illustrated and graphically striking survey of dance in interwar Czechoslovakia, covering ballet, concert dance, national and folk dance, rhythmic and “meloplastic” movement, modern and social dance, jazz influence, and dance music. Includes essays by leading critics, choreographers, and performers, followed by a substantial photographic section portraying major dancers of the National Theatre and other national companies (including Tamara Karsavina, Jelizaveta Nikolskaja, etc.). Numerous high-quality black-and-white plates from Prague photographic studios, with strong modernist layout and typography. Provenance: with an ink inscription on the front free endpaper, dated 19 April 1939, gifting the book to Hana Housková “in remembrance of Kamilov,” referring to the book’s editor and the Prague Taneční Revue circle. Printed by Plachý & spol., Prague. Very good condition, internally clean and sound, binding firm. A key visual and documentary record of Central European dance modernism in the early 1930s. Inv. Ho10