Poems by Jaroslav Seifert

30 X 25 cm.

‘Prague, Head of the Kingdom’ presents 145 pages of photographs of Prague in varying degrees of old fashioned sepia showing, in the main, aspects of the city that tourists rarely visit, streets they pass through on the way to the castle, river, a restaurant or meeting place. The book captures wonderfully the moods of the capital, reflecting its associations with history, art and music that attract tourists, few if any of whom are to be seen – which adds to the timelessness of the works shown. Historical photographs were supplied by Pavel Scheufler whilst contemporary works were taken by Josef Ehm and Josef Sudek [Museum of Decorative Art], Jaroslav Guth, Tibor Honty, Jindřich Trejbal, Jaroslav Trnovský, Vladimír Uher and Pavel Utruba. Poems are by Jaroslav Seifert, 1901-86, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1984. As a signatory of Charter 77, in 1977, against the repressive actions of the Communist government, Seifert’s award received little coverage at home. The English translations are by Ewald Ozers. Each photograph is accompanied by a line of text that describes the location [‘Night scene in the Lesser Quarter’, ‘Petřín hill in Spring’, ‘The garden restaurant in Stromovka, Prague’s largest park’ or ‘Life on the New Castle Steps around 1868’]. So well matched and presented are the photographs that it is frequently difficult to distinguish their periods. There is a silence and a majesty pervading the photographs, many of which are in shadow.

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