Vodnik Ivanek

Praha (Prague): Nakladatelstvi Jos. R. Vilimek, 1935. Paper pastedown. Hardcover. Very Good. Scarce, with only two copies located on OCLC FirstServe (Princeton, National Library of the Czech Republic). 4to. 30.5 by 23 cm. 77 pp. Eight color plates, and many text illustrations (tinted) as well. The story involves a precocious sprite-like boy's adventures at an aquarium, the circus, a movie studio and flying an airplane. But even if the Czech poses an insuperable obstacle to understanding the story, the Secessionist illustrations of Scheiner provide plenty (truncated) of interest. These have the sharpness and stylization that brings to mind such artists as Georg Grosz, albeit with not the same level of darkness and cynicism -- this is a children's title, after all. The text illustrations are not to be given short shrift, as they contain some of the more trenchant observations. During the visit to a studio, one can see a recognizable Laurel and Hardy in the color plate. Scheiner was a well-known, prolific Bohemian artist who had an active career in book illustration, and especially of juvenile titles. Light wear to the cover. Clean and tight within. (Inventory #: 003938)