Samizdat - Unoriginal Sins

A COLLECTION OF STUDENT PROTEST LEAFLETS, POSTERS AND OTHER ITEMS FROM THE LAST MONTHS OF COMMUNIST RULE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA INCLUDING ITEMS FROM THE OPPOSITION CIVIC FORUM. 1989.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 18:35:31 +0000

A group of 7 individual items all relating to the public protests during the Czech Velvet Revolution - all from the personal archive of an anonymous student who took part in the protests and activities against the communist government in and around November 1989.

The group of documents consists of:

TWO HAND PAINTED POSTERS OF PROTEST

Prague: n.p., 1989

Each 30 x 21cm, hand painted in blue and red on white paper. The texts translate as ";IF YOU WANT TO BE BETTER TOMORROW, YOU MUST JOIN US TODAY" and "WE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE RIGHT AND WE WILL PERSIST!" The choice of colour is significant being the colours in the Czech flag: during the velvet revolution students began to wear ribbons in blue and red as a passive sign of support for the forces of rebellion.

Both fine condition.

FIVE DIFFERENT CIVIC FORUM INFORMATION SHEETS INCLUDING "STRIKE CITIZENS!"

N.p. (Prague): Civic Forum, November 1989 - December 1989

Five separate 30 x 21cm 1pp sheets printed offset released by the Civic Forum in the heat of the rebellion fuelling discontent and demanding a clean sweep of the guilty men (and it was almost entirely men) from positions of power after the Velvet Revolution: one of the leaflets is the important call for a general strike issued on 17th November 1989 as a reaction to the news that there was fighting on Narodni Trida.

The leaflets call for the ridding of all Communists from positions of power and note that "the Communist Party must be aware it has lost the trust of the people and has no further role in society, it is not acceptable that half of the government remains as communist officials"(this written in December 89.

PRICE FOR ALL 7 ITEMS AS A GROUP

The post A COLLECTION OF STUDENT PROTEST LEAFLETS, POSTERS AND OTHER ITEMS FROM THE LAST MONTHS OF COMMUNIST RULE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA INCLUDING ITEMS FROM THE OPPOSITION CIVIC FORUM. 1989. appeared first on Unoriginal Sins.

CARBON COPY OF ORIGINAL TYPED LETTER TO THE DIRECTOR OF CZECH TELEVISION 23.9.1976

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 17:18:50 +0000

30 x 21cm, 1pp. Black on white original typescript letter written to director of Czech TV from Haval, Nemec and Vera Jirousove (an art historian in her own right but also the former wife of Ivanu "Magoruâ" Jirousovi, the artistic director of the PPOTU and fellow art historian who was one of the defendants on trial for sedition).

The letter protests the trial and tries to put the case of the defendants to the head of the Czech state media. Some minor tears and wear but again a primary document relating the trial of the rock band and clear proof of the central role played by Nemec and Haval in supporting the band in advance of setting up Charter 77.

Two small hand written corrections in blue ink.

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PROCES (trans. as ‘TRIAL’ or ‘PROCESS’). 1976. ORIGINAL CARBON COPY OF THE LETTER “WHICH BROUGHT DOWN THE SOVIET SYSTEM”. A DOCUMENT OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 17:15:56 +0000

Hradecek, s.p. (Havel), 11.10.1976

30 x 21cm, 4pp (recto only) carbon copy of the original typescript on thin paper. An original if duplicate by means of carbon copying of Havel's report on the Plastic People of The Universe show trial (where DG307 were also co-defendants against charges of pornography).

Written with a degree of wit and style, Havel created the letter for distribution as a samizdat publication and circulated it to close colleagues in the aftermath of the trial; it was this letter that directly lead to the creation of Charter 77 - the Czech intellectual coalition against the Soviet Union and its censorship.

Charter 77 and Solidarnosc were the key organisations that ultimately led to the downfall of the Russian Communist block and this is a very, very important document indeed.

This example of this letter came from directly the archive of Jiri Nemec, one fof the co-founders of Charter 77 and was one of 7 such copies found therein. The other six are now in the collection of Yale University (where we sold them along with the rest of the archive) and while it is possible that other copies survive none are available on the market anywhere. Fine condition.

The post PROCES (trans. as ‘TRIAL’ or ‘PROCESS’). 1976. ORIGINAL CARBON COPY OF THE LETTER “WHICH BROUGHT DOWN THE SOVIET SYSTEM”. A DOCUMENT OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE. appeared first on Unoriginal Sins.

DNE 11. LISTOPADU 1976 PROBEHLE US” ORIGINAL CARBON COPY OF ORIGINAL TYPESCRIPT ARTICLE RELATING TO THE TRIAL OF THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE AND DG 307

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 17:11:17 +0000

30 x 21cm, 5pp original carbon copy taken directly from the typescript (recto only) of an anonymous, yet detailed report on the trial of the Plastic People Of The Universe and their sister group DG307 which took place in Autumn of 1976.

Earlier that year before a planned rock festival, Czech police arrested 22 band members, colleagues and fans in Ceske Budewece in 1976 (and questioning many, many, more usually juat because of their long hair) and eventually prosecuted the key members of the band in a trial that horrified the artistic and literary circles in the Czech republic.

Those intellectuals (initially Havel and Nemec and a few others) responded by publicising the trial and seeking international pressure to stop the outrageous prosecution of the defendants. Four of the group were jailed at the end of the trail (gaining sentences of between 8 months and a year and half - already having been detained for 8 months each pending the start of the trial - and the supporters of the band continued their campaign eventually setting up Charter 77.

Presumably written for distribution to supporters and to the press this is a detailed eyewitness report on the trial of the group (only 5 supporters of the band were allowed to attend - mostly wives of the accused - despite the fact that 10 seats allocated for the public were left empty during the trial.) Very good condition with minor edge wear and soft folds.

The post DNE 11. LISTOPADU 1976 PROBEHLE US” ORIGINAL CARBON COPY OF ORIGINAL TYPESCRIPT ARTICLE RELATING TO THE TRIAL OF THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE AND DG 307 appeared first on Unoriginal Sins.

CESKOSLOVENSKO MUJ OSUD (TRANS: CZECHOSLOVAKIA MY FATE) . 1982. THE 4 VOLUME “BIBLE OF SAMIZDAT” IN ORIGINAL SLIPCASE

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 17:07:36 +0000

Prague: n.p., 1982.
4 vols, uniformly 25.5 x 19cm, Vol 1: 276pp, vol 2: 612pp, vol 3: 725pp and vol 4: 605pp. Carbon copy pages - all recto. Original cloth boards with labels with typed titles pasted on. Original card slipcase which is cloth covered.

Volume 1 has an original b/w silver gelatin photograph tipped onto the first endpaper showing Dritina as a young boy. Drtina was the Secretary to the former President of Czechoslovakia Edvard Benes and, like, Benes was exiled to London during the second world war during which he was the public voice of opposition to the Nazis thanks to regular BBC broadcasts to his homeland. After the war Dritina was violently anti-communist (although interestingly Benes was a friend of Stalin's) and did not return home.

These four volumes published here are his collected memoirs and thoughts - many of which were anathema to the Communist state hence Drtina's book was illegal during "normalisation" and the sheer size of the four volumes might well have made it hard to smuggle and hide. This collection is complete in all four volumes and all are in fine estate (with on small flaw in that on page at the very end of the last volume where there is a small paper lack on the penultimate page) are in like slipcase. Rare and quite massive.

Price is for all 4 volumes in slipcase

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PRIBEH INZENYRA LIDDSKYCH DUSI VOLS I & II . c. 1985.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:38:58 +0000

Canada: n.p. (68 Editions), n.d. (c. 1985)
Two volumes. Uniformly 17.2 x 20.8cm, 161pp and 207pp respectively. Plain card covers (green and red respectively) tape bound. Xerox sheets printed recto only with two pages of the original text reproduced (in small type) on each page. This is a samizdat publication printed in Toronto by the emigre-run press and, later, smuggled into the Czech Republic by anti-communist exiles. This is the novel by the libertarian author Skvorecky - The Engineer of Human Souls (trans.) - originally written in 1977. First thus. Both volumes in fine estate. Rare.

Price is for both volumes together.

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ZIVOTOPIS TROCHU JINAK. 1987.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:36:59 +0000

n.p. (Prague): n.p., 1987
21 x 15cm, 294pp. Plain brown cloth boards. Xerox copy of Hrabal's novel. Professionally bound but the Xeroxing of the pages was a little careless but that was not unusual with such quasi-legal documents. Hrabal is regarded as a major literary figure who was not allowed to publish many of his works in his native land until after the end of Communism and this is a lesser known work by him and probably in first edition. Near fine with only slight bumping to corners of the boards.

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PROLUKY. 1985?

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:35:46 +0000

n.p. (Prague although "printed in Austria" and presumably smuggled in): n.p. (poss. 68 Publishers), n,d. (1985?)

21.5 x 15.5cm, 196pp. Plain green cloth boards. Xerox copy of an Austrian printed copy of this novel. Professionally bound but the Xeroxing of the pages was a little careless with edges of the original pages very obvious. This copy is also a variant of a Samizdat book of the same name (previously offered by us and sold) which was in carbon copy typed version from 1980 - hence this copy is a variant on that publication but not from the typed text in the other book. Both Xerox and cc copies were used by samizdat publishers of such texts - it is not clear if both variants were published / circulated by the same person or whether the productions were independent of each other. It is known that both an internally produced copy of the work (created by Petlice the anti-State publishing house) and an externally published version (by 68 Publishers) were released within the Republic. Very good +.

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OBESENY HARLEKYN. 1983. PUBLISHED BY VACLAV HAVEL’S (& HIS WIFE, OLGA HAVLOVA’S) PRESS “EDICE EXPEDICE”

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:33:27 +0000

=Prague: Edice Expedice, 1983
21 x 21cm, 118pp (recto only). Original light ochre cloth boards with title typed on cloth label glued to the spine. Carbon copy pages. Three essays which includes a text on Frantisek Tichy. One of a numbered edition (probably 200) published illegally by the press founded by Vaclav Havel and his wife Olga Havlova. Near fine. Rare. =

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MALE DEJINY FILOZOFIE. 1986.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:28:57 +0000

Prague: n.p., 1986
21.5 x 19cm, 322pp. Plain brown cloth covered boards. Professionally bound. Xerox internal pages. A philosophical tract translated into Czech here by an unknown hand. Fine condition although the brown boards show signs of sunnon on one side which has discoloured the covers in a rectangular patch along the right side.

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OD DUBNA DO DUBNA. 1989. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:27:19 +0000

Prague: n.p., 1989
21.5 x 15cm, 92pp plus bound in b/w portrait of the author. Original light ochre cloth boards (very similar to those employed by Edice Expedice above and probably bound by the same source). Carbon copy pages. Writings about the artists and poet Frantisek Tichy. This copy signed on the internal title page by Jiri Tichy. Fine.

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NESNESITELNA LEHKOST BYTI. 1988. THE ILLEGAL SAMIZDAT VERSION OF THIS IMPORTANT CZECH EXISTENTIALIST NOVEL.

paul robertson — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 16:24:38 +0000

Prague: Edice Prostor 5, 1988
20.1 x 14.5cm, 172pp. Paper covers, stapled and tape bound. Xerox. Original samizdat edition of The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Czech. Minor rippling to paper but otherwise fine. Kundera's former popularity in Czechoslovakia has somewhat been in decline since he was revealed as a minor informer for the communists while at college (although Kundera denies this was the case). A rare item indeed.

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