STYRSKY, Jindrich and Jindrich Heisler. Na jehlach techto dni [On the needles of these days]. (Prague): Fr. Borovy, (1945).

STYRSKY, Jindrich and Jindrich Heisler.
Na jehlach techto dni [On the needles of these days].
(Prague): Fr. Borovy, (1945).

8vo (213 × 152 mm), pp.68. 28 black-and-white photographs by Styrsky. Text by Heisler. Design by Karel Teige. Black-and-white photo-illustrated wrappers printed in black, text in brown and black; small abrasion to first page, binding starting, light wear to edges, light fading to spine. With the lightly worn and toned rare original glassine dust-jacket. An excellent copy.

First edition thus, after the extremely rare clandestine edition of 1941 issued with original photographs tipped in. The pictures in this book are taken from two series made by Styrsky from photographs he took in Paris and Prague in 1934-35 and include shop windows, mannequins, facades and street signs. It is Heisler’s text which makes the book’s intention clear, ending with an impassioned cry to rise against the Nazi occupation: ‘Get dressed, get dressed quickly and repeat with me: Regret each blow that fails to find its mark / Regret each blow that fails to find its mark / Regret each blow that fails to find its mark / and be merry’ – words which are printed opposite the photographs that end the sequence and show: children’s coffins, a child’s grave, a distressed gravestone and a broken inverted cross lying in a cemetery.

Sinibaldi, A. and Couturier, J-L., Regards sur un siècle de photographie à travers Le Livre (80); Roth A., The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century pp.116-7; Parr, M. and Badger, G., The Photobook: A History vol.I p.197; Roth, A., The Open Book: A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present pp.140-1.