Belgrade: Marsias, 1922–1924. Series I: quartos (28 × 23.5 cm), Series II: octavo (23.5 × 16 and 22.5 × 15.5 cm). Original printed wrappers; Series I 32 pp. per issue, Series II 128 pp. continuously paginated. Very minor general soiling and toning; text block of one issue neatly detached from wrappers; pages uncut and unopened; overall very good, in protective mylar.

A complete run, in altogether five variously paginated issues, of the first major avant-garde periodical to appear in the new kingdom of Yugoslavia after World War I, in two separate series of two and three issues each. Featuring contributions by leading modernist and avant-garde writers, poets, and painters from Serbia and Western Europe, the journal included poetry, prose, reviews, criticism, and some illustrations, including a few tipped-in plates. It can be seen as pre-surrealist, and its editors – Marko Ristić, Milan Dedinac, and Dušan Timotijević – would later be considered surrealists oriented towards French literary developments, unlike the Belgrade Dadaists whose orientation was more Germanocentric. Ristić in particular was in touch with Breton as early as 1923, when he initiated a long-term connection between Serbian and French surrealist writers. In 1924, some of the editors and contributors would reconvene around the more overtly surrealist journal Svedočanstva (Testimonies, 1924–1925). Other contributors include Sava Šumanović, Stanislav Vinaver, Rastko Petrović, Aleksandar Vučo, Miloš Crnjanski, and others.

Scarce complete; as of July 2023, OCLC locates four complete runs in North American libraries.

Book ID: 52607

Price: $4,500.00