Presentation copy inscribed by Emil Filla to Jaroslav Seifert. The Czech Resistance Network in the Netherlands -

Hajšman, Jan – Filla, Emil. Hlídka české mafie v Holandsku [The Czech Resistance Network in the Netherlands: Wartime Memoirs]. Prague: Orbis, 1934.

Large 8vo (22.5 × 15 cm). Original printed wrappers. 118, [3] pp. Uncut. Illustrated with 2 photographs, 2 drawings, and a facsimile from the wartime underground periodical Česká Mafie. Good condition. Original wrappers soiled with a few small tears at the foot and head of the spine; otherwise clean internally, uncut pages.

Presentation copy inscribed by Emil Filla to Jaroslav Seifert.

A remarkable association copy linking two of the foremost figures of twentieth-century Czech culture. The warm inscription ("To my friend") by Emil Filla, presents the book to the poet Jaroslav Seifert, later awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1984). Although Jan Hajšman is the principal author, the volume incorporates Filla's own wartime recollections of his activities in the Czech resistance ("Maffie") in neutral Holland during the First World War.

The book recounts the clandestine intelligence and communications network established by Czech nationalists abroad in support of Tomáš G. Masaryk's independence movement. It describes the smuggling of information, maintenance of contacts between occupied Bohemia and the Western Allies, and the crucial role played by the Dutch route in transmitting reports, newspapers, and political intelligence during the war. Filla's contribution is especially significant, reflecting his direct participation in the resistance before becoming one of the leading pioneers of Czech Cubism.

An exceptional provenance uniting Emil Filla, one of the most influential Czech modernist painters, with Jaroslav Seifert, the nation's only Nobel laureate in literature.