Presentation copy of Preissig-illustrated Salut au Monde!

Whitman, Walt. Salut au Monde! Illustrated by Vojtěch Preissig. New York: Random House, 1930. Printed in Czechoslovakia. 26 pp. 39.5 x 30 cm. Limited edition, 363 of 360 (one of 30 presentation copies 361-390) numbered copies. Inscribed by Preissig to the Czech artist Jaromír Stretti-Zamponi, and signed by Preissig on the limitation page. Illustrated with color linoleum cuts. Publisher’s white vellum and cream paper boards, lettered in purple and decorated in orange, printed on Zanders handmade paper; in publisher’s light tan paper slipcase with beige title labels, lettered in black.Featuring linoleum cuts by Czech illustrator and typographer Vojtěch Preissig, a key figure in early 20th-century Czech graphic design, later executed at Dachau for his resistance to the Nazis. Preissig and Jaromír Stretti-Zamponi moved in the same early 20th-century Czech graphic-arts circles, sharing membership in the SVU Mánes and the Hollar Association of Czech Graphic Artists. Archival holdings at the National Gallery in Prague record direct correspondence between the two from March to November 1920. Shortly thereafter, both artists were represented in the traveling exhibition Graphic Art of Czechoslovakia (Cleveland Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts, 1921–1922), underscoring their parallel roles in promoting Czech modern graphic art abroad. Book in fine condition, slipcase with with light wear and toning.