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

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.