Československá Tabáková Režie. Výrobky Československé Tabákové Režie [Products of the Czech State Tobacco Monopoly]

Praza (Prague), 1938. Wraps. Semi-Rigid Card. Internal metal spiral. Near Fine. A Czech tobacco enterprise's catalogue whose color imagery transforms ordinary tobacciana into objets d'art, in our view. 4to. 30 by 21.5 cm. The catalogue is a spiral brochure, basically, whose cover, front and back, slip into sleeves of an outer folder. The outer cover is the equivalent of a dust jacket, but we see it as integral to the catalogue as a piece of ephemera worth preserving. The leaves within the spiral are slightly smaller than the outside cover. Not counting the spiral's cover, which is secured by the outer portfolio's sleeves, it has eight leaves, including the title leaf, which has no content on its verso, nor the final blank, brown leaf, with no content at all. The title page is dominated by a photo of the grand entrance to the company's headquarters. Below there is a photo of a sculpted lion, the company's symbol. Following, on a thinner paper, come fourteen color plates, each with an assortment of the company's tobacco products and packaging. The images are derived by photos with the chromolithographic process applied converting the images into a hybrid of photographed and drawn, as if photo-shopped, perhaps, the result being truly eye-catching vignettes, exuding both stunning sharpness and a hypnotic beauty. The metallic touches of gold and silver contribute to the phenomenon, as well as making the point that these are premium products. Finally there is a two page price list. Two institutional copies reflected on OCLC First Search, at the Met and the Wolfsonian, but their description indicates they are facsimiles, which we believe ours not to be. The bottom of the price list also has an inked signature, this suggestive to us that this copy was a working document, or so intended. The outer cover has light soiling and wear, none of which diminishes its Art Deco brilliance.