Bulgarian Sci Fi

Avtomati: neveroiatni razkazi [Machines: incredible stories].

Minkov, Svetoslav.

Sofia: Izdanie Kazanlushka Dolina, 1935. Second, expanded edition. Small octavo (17.5 × 12.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers by Sirak Skitnik; 133, [3] pp. Wrappers with light overall wear; front wrapper beginning to detach; some ink stains to upper edge and rear wrapper; bookstore stamps; still good or better.

Second edition of this landmark collection of fantastic stories. Sirak Skitnik's cover for the first edition ranks among the high spots of Bulgarian avant-garde book design and constructivist typograph; this new cover was likewise designed by him. Skitnik (the pseudonym of Panaiot Todorov, 1884-1943) was one of the most productive (and iconic) graphic artists of Bulgarian modernism, whose work ranged from the Expressionism of the early 1920s to Constructivism in the early 1930s. Svetoslav Minkov (1902-1966) began his career as an Expressionist and absurdist writer, pioneering the "diabolist" genre in 1922 and introducing German "supernatural" fiction into Bulgarian literature, after being influenced by the circle around Kubin and Meyrink during an extended stay in Munich (see Domenico Jacono, Bulgarian modernism, p. 64). The collection consists of five science fiction stories that combine absurdist elements with social satire and would lay the foundation of the genre in Bulgarian literature. Jacono 44 (the 1932 edition; this edition not in Jacono). As of June 2020, KVK and OCLC show three copies of this edition, at Berlin, Pisa, and Stanford University.

Book ID: P6374

Price: $225.00