Absolute Will in the Underground: Samizdat Klíma with Early Kokolia Graphics

KLÍMA, Ladislav. Jsem Absolutní Vůle (texty z pozůstalosti). [I Am Absolute Will (writings from the literary estate). Plzeň: D. Ž., Bor, 1981. 4to. 105, [3] pp. Illustrated with reproductions of drawings by Vladimír Kokolia (b. 1956), later one of the leading figures of contemporary Czech art. The colophon states that the illustrations were used “without the artist’s knowledge,” almost certainly a protective fiction to shield Kokolia from official scrutiny. Original printed wrappers. First samizdat edition. A posthumous collection of writings by the radical Czech philosopher and writer Ladislav Klíma (1878–1928), privately issued as a semiannual (poloročenku). The colophon also claims a limitation of only 20 copies, another deliberate fiction to frame the work as “private circulation” and thus evade stricter censorship. The true number of copies produced was likely higher, though still very small. Kokolia, then an emerging artist active in Brno’s underground scene and linked with the Jazz Section and other unofficial networks, exemplifies the crossover between visual art and dissident philosophy in late socialist Czechoslovakia. Issued under the imprint D. Ž., Bor, the graphic pseudonym of Vladislav Zadrobílek (1932–2010), a poet, occultist, and key figure of Czech samizdat. Zadrobílek produced around three dozen clandestine editions during the 1970s–80s, often in tiny runs and marked by careful typography and esoteric motifs. Very good condition; spine sunned, gatherings loose as issued. Inv. H7ob