Na Jehlach Techto Dni by Jindrich Styrsky and J. Heisler, First Trade Edition

Na Jehlach Techto Dni (On the Needles of These Days) by Jindrich Styrsky and Jindrich Heisler  

First Trade Edition, 1945 

This is a very rare first trade edition of the classic photobook, “Na Jehlach Techto Dni (On the Needles of These Days)” published by Fr. Borovy v Praze, Prague in 1945 that was preceded by the extremely scarce clandestine self-published edition of 1941 with original tipped-in silver gelatin prints. In “The Photobook: A History”, Parr and Badger write, “This remains a haunting photobook, 50 years after the war. It is a prime example of one of the photobook's great truths--it's not necessarily the individual pictures that count, but what you do with them".  Commenting in the book, “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century”, Vince Aletti states, “On the Needles of These Days” is a Surrealist meditation on war and resistance… the book’s aura of alienation, repression, and anxiety not only captured the war’s home front theatre of the absurd, it anticipated the depth of postwar pessimism."

Containing 28 striking heliogravures with accompanying prose by Czech poet Jindrich Heisler, the book measures approximately 8.5” x 6” and is bound in photographically illustrated wrappers. The condition of the book is Very Good+ with offsetting from the gravures to the text pages. The wrappers are in Very Good condition with general wear to the front and rear wraps, along the spine edges, and the tips. This is a highly collectible copy of a notoriously fragile photobook that is rarely found in collectible condition.

Cited in all three reference books on photobooks: “The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century” by Andrew Roth and “The Photobook: A History”, by Parr and Badger, and “The Open Book” by Andrew Roth.

Photographs of the wrappers, condition issues, as well as photographs contained in the book appear below. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable in the photo viewer clicking on any of the thumbnails where the photographs are viewable as a slideshow.