1966 Rare Czech Surrealist Samizdat Produced by Arnošt Budík (Skupina Lacoste). No. 1 of 2 copies

ERNST, Max. Une semaine de bonté ou Les sept éléments capitaux [A Week of Kindness, or The Seven Deadly Elements]. Rare Czech Surrealist Samizdat Edition Produced by Arnošt Budík.

Brno: Arnošt Budík, 1966.

8vo. Two volumes. Original green cloth, titles stamped in gilt on upper covers and spines. Approximately 190 photocopied collage plates reproduced from the 1934 first edition, together with French quotations from the original work. The limitation statement notes that only two copies were produced ("Vyhotoveny dva exempláře"); this copy is marked No. 1. Very good condition; internally clean and complete.

An exceptionally rare Czech surrealist samizdat produced by Arnošt Budík (1936), one of the principal figures of the Brno-based Skupina Lacoste (Lacoste Group), the important postwar surrealist circle associated with the revival of Czech Surrealism during the 1960s. Created by xerographic copying the complete visual sequence of Max Ernst's legendary 1934 collage novel, this private edition survives in only two recorded copies according to the colophon.

The work faithfully reproduces Ernst's five "cahiers" with their surreal juxtapositions, preserving the original French texts while employing one of the earliest reprographic techniques available to Czech underground artists before the normalization period.

A scarce artifact of Czech Surrealism and underground publishing. Provenance: the personal library of Arnošt Budík in Brussels.