1945 Czechoslovak Spas and Health Resorts – Scarce Postwar English-Language Promotional Guide

Czechoslovak Spas and Health Resorts – Scarce Postwar English-Language Promotional Guide

Simon, Boris, ed. Spas and Climatic Health Resorts of Czechoslovakia. See First... Prague. Prague: Export Guide, [ca. 1945]. 8vo. Unpaginated, ca. 100 pp. Profusely illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs. Original blue textured card wrappers printed in black.

Scarce English-language promotional guide to the spas, health resorts, tourist attractions, and industry of postwar Czechoslovakia, published for an international audience. Individual sections describe the country's principal mineral and climatic resorts, their therapeutic specialities, accommodations, transportation, sporting facilities, and recreational opportunities.

Resorts represented include Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad), Františkovy Lázně (Franzensbad), Janské Lázně (Johannisbad), Kyselka, and numerous smaller establishments. The text combines descriptions of mineral springs and contemporary medical treatments with photographs of spa architecture, hotels, swimming pools, parks, sports grounds, and surrounding landscapes.

Of particular interest is the substantial illustrated material devoted to Zlín and the Baťa shoe works, presenting the modern industrial city, its extensive factory complex, and its social infrastructure. The accompanying text discusses Tomáš Baťa, the growth of the company, modern production methods, workers' housing, and Zlín's transformation from a small Moravian town into an internationally important industrial centre.

The volume also contains numerous contemporary advertisements and promotional features relating to Czechoslovak commerce and tourism. Particularly striking is an illustrated page juxtaposing T. G. Masaryk, captioned "Liberator 1918," with Jan Masaryk broadcasting to Czechoslovakia from the BBC, reflecting the strongly democratic and Western-oriented presentation of Czechoslovakia characteristic of the immediate postwar period.

An appealing document of Czechoslovak spa culture, tourism, modern architecture, industry, and national self-presentation in the years immediately following the Second World War, with especially noteworthy material on the great Bohemian spa towns and Baťa's Zlín.

VG condition.