Portrejas : noveles (Portraits : Novellas)

  • 300€
  • Product Code:81
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Good condition; trace of moisture on the spine and on the bottom cover corners to the spine, cover shows some foxing and creasing across corners and along fore-edge, repaired spine ends, publisher’s stamp on the back cover; intern..

Tags: rare books, first edition books, Latvian avant-garde, modernism, art nouveau, Pavils Rozitis, Julijs Madernieks

Good condition; trace of moisture on the spine and on the bottom cover corners to the spine, cover shows some foxing and creasing across corners and along fore-edge, repaired spine ends, publisher’s stamp on the back cover; internally eraised owner’s signature on the title, occassional foxing throughout the book (mainly on several first and last pages). 

 

According to the author legend set out in the book preface, this collection of stories comes from a partly survived 18th-century manuscript, when King of France Louis XVIII during the French Revolution was forced to go in exile and found a refuge in Courland staying in Jelgava Palace. Unknown author of the stories, supposedly was one of the royal courties, writing for his king. The book includes eight stories with an erotic elements based on the legend of Don Juan, on the Greek myth about Paris, son of the king of Troy, about street girls, and others. 

 

The book's erotic nature caused a storm of resentment and criticism. In 1923 Rozītis together with the publishers was prosecuted for production and distribution of pornography compiled in the “Portraits” stories collection. "There is no doubt that these "portrait girls" have earned designation of a socially problematic women, but book publishers need to understand precisely the border - where ends the private free sex and starts the pornography."

 

Book’s striking art nouveau cover designed by Latvian artist Karlis Miesnieks (1887-1977), who became famous at developing individual style of adopting folk motifs to modernism. 

 

Pāvils Rozītis (1889-1937) profilic Latvian writer, who had succeeded in very different literary genres. Starting as lyricist, whose poems convey intense emotional spectrum from flaming eroticism to deep sadness, later he became the brightest representative of the Latvian satirical short prose directed mainly at the bourgeous society, and one of the cultivators of the Latvian psychological novel.

Title Portrejas : noveles (Portraits : Novellas)
Author Pavils Rozitis
Artist Karlis Miesnieks
Publisher A. Gulbis, Rīga
Published year 1922
Country Latvia
Edition 1st edition
Binding Soft cover
Octavo 14 x 21 cm
Weight 0.200 kg
No. of pages Wrappers, 177, [3] pp
Language Latvian