1949 Dante Inferno Konůpek

Dante Alighieri – Inferno / Peklo [translated into Czech by O. F. Babler] Prague: Jaroslav Picka, January 1949. Large 4to (36 × 26.5 cm). Unpaginated. A highly uncommon deluxe issue of the Monumenta genii humani series, printed in an edition of only 39 copies on handmade Losiny paper and 60 copies on Zanders paper, 18 of which were not for sale. This copy numbered 51, signed by translator O. F. Babler and by illustrator Jan Konůpek on the colophon. Illustrated with 17 offset plates by Konůpek—modernist, angular compositions, some printed in deep brown, others in black—forming a cohesive and dramatic visual cycle for Inferno. Numerous gilt and hand-colored initials, including a richly illuminated opening initial; hand-colored title page. Typography and decorative initials by Karel Dyrynk. In a unique hand-painted paper cover, executed in dense pointillist strokes of red, yellow, and black. Gatherings loosely inserted, as sometimes issued for collectors’ or presentation copies, preserving the sheets in their original, unbound state. A rare Czech fine-press Dante, distinguished not only by its extremely small limitation but also by the presence of both Babler’s and Konůpek’s signatures and by its singular painted cover. An exceptional example of postwar Czech book art.