Helena Bochorakova’s wordless novel, Švédové Pred Brnem, tells the story of the defence of Brno in 1645 against the Swedes – a story that still resonates with present-day Czechs.
- Title: Švédové Před Brnem: Kniha Dřevorytů (translated: The Swedes Besiege Brno: A Book of Woodcuts)
- Author and Illustrator: Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová
- Introduction: 15 pages in Czech – the author is not indicated but presumably by the artist. The introduction gives the back story to the defence of Brno in 1645.
- Date of publication: 1936
- Publisher: Klub Vytvarnych Umelcu Ales
- Place of publication: Brno Brunn
- Printer: Knihtiskárna Pokorný a spol. in Brno
- Copyright: artist?
- Dust jacket: No
- Binding: hard cover
- Size: 4to; [actual woodcut size 14 x 12.5 cm]; pp: 27 x 19 cm.
- Language: Czech
- Paginated: unpaginated
- Printed: verso and recto on French fold that is not opened
- Edition: 100 numbered and signed copies, of which:
- 10 copies were issued on handmade paper,
- 90 copies on Chamois Special paper,
- in addition to these, an unknown number, not numbered but some signed, have been for sale. I suggest the unnumbered/unsigned copies were:
- from an overrun where the printer prints extra copies just in case of any problems in production, or
- publisher’s giveaways, or
- bootleg
- also there are an unknown number of unbound copies ie surplus from the printer.
- Description: this documents the failed attempt of the Swedish armies under the command of general Lennart Torstenson to capture the city of Brno in 1645, during the Thirty Years War. Brno was the only city in Europe able to repel the Swedish army, thus blocking a direct path to Vienna and preventing the overthrow of Hapsburg rule. This event remains of major cultural significance to Czechs and Slovaks even in the present day.
Švédové 10 numbered copies – on handmade paper
I am not aware of any sales records; images, or info on the book binding, etc
- it is unlikely that it had a dust jacket.
- If you have any information, please send it on wn@wordlessnovels.com
Švédové 90 numbered copies – on chamois paper
- Signed on title page
- Numbered on colophon
- Quarto [26.5 x 19.5 cm] in beige (or gray?) cloth
- gilt-stamped title on spine
- bound-in red silk ribbon marker
- colophon states that “printed letterpress”– ie suggests that it was printed from the woodblocks.
- Printed French-fold with the fore edge tinted black. Leaves unopened, as designed.
- Chamois paper
- Black end papers
- Half-title page; title page; pages numbered 5 through 19 of text; 36 prints; two pages listing the titles of each print;
- Plain slipcase; (thin card – more like a shipping case)
- bound in red ribbon page marker
