1964 Hiršal and Grögerová experimental poetry children's book

Hiršal, Josef & Grögerová, Bohumila. Co se slovy všechno poví [Everything That Words Tell Us]. Praha: Státní nakladatelství dětské knihy (SNDK), 1964. 17 × 12.5 cm. 45, [2] pp. Original publisher’s white plastic wrappers, printed in red and blue. Illustrated throughout with typographic experiments and playful visual compositions. First edition. Designed and illustrated by the artists Pavel Brázda and Věra Nováková (errantly credited here as Věra Brázdová). The book blurs the line between children’s literature, word play, and experimental poetry, combining inventive typography, playful illustration, and lettrist-inspired forms. Hiršal and Grögerová were central figures in Czech concrete and sound poetry, and this collaboration demonstrates their inventive approach to language in a form accessible to younger readers. Brázda (1926–2017) studied under Emil Filla at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague but was expelled during the early communist political purges of the late 1940s. In the 1960s, he and his wife Nováková were restricted to illustrating scientific publications and, briefly, children’s books such as this one. In the 1970s he was forced to work as a boilerman. During the communist years Brázda, Nováková, and Ivan Sobotka formed a small underground art group, only rediscovered after 1989 by Revolver Revue. Brázda’s paintings from the 1950s are now regarded as radically modern and original, moving between magical realism, pop art, and expressionism. VG condition. Wrappers slightly splayed, owner signature on front pastedown. Wear to tips of front endpapers. Inv. I2