Signed Czech Avant-Garde Poetry with Artěl Binding

Neumann, Kostka Stanislav. Nové zpěvy [New Songs]. Prague: Fr. Borový, 1918. 8vo 21.5 x 14 cm. 126 pp. A collection of the former anarchist's civilist poems in which the first part, Songs of the Wires, celebrates technology. Part II, Songs from the Din, celebrates technology with an awareness of its negative effects, thus emphasizng social consciousness. Part III, Songs from Nature, celebrates nature. The poems are accompanied by three extraordinary plates of one futurist and two cubist drawings by Josef Čapek, Vlastimil Hofman and Václav Špála, respectively. No. 72 of 80 copies signed and numbered by Neumann on first fly. Half-calf bound in endpaper designed by Václav Špála in the Artěl studio in 1920 (the endpapers are used here as front and back cover decor). A superb and unique item combining avant-garde stylistic elements then reigning in the nascent republic: cubism, futurism and civilism. VG condition. Tight binding, light scratches to boards. Inv. H3