622 Upadki Bunga Czyli Demoniczna Kobieta

Warsaw: Panstwowy Instytut Wydawniczy , 1972. First edition; 5 x 7 3/4; pp. [2], 5-545, [3]; original off-white cloth over boards; purple and black title and decoration; pictorial DJ. Very minor wear to corners and tips of spine; 3 small rubbed spots to edge of first free page; near fine. Jacket with chips along edges; closed vertical cut to spine with a thin strip of tape to verso; colors bright and beautiful; good to very good.Witkiewitz's first book, The 622 Downfalls of Bungo or The Demonic Woman was written in 1911 but was not published until 1972 - (truncated) 61 years after it was created and 33 years after the author's death. He was a Polish poet, playwright, novelist, painter and philosopher. Words used to describe him varied from megalomaniac, womanizer, misogynist, and drug addict to genius and master of art. He often annotated his paintings with mnemonics of the names of drugs he had taken while working on them. 622 Downfalls was created as an autobiographical novel but the author was strongly urged to not publish it for its forthright sex images and for the fact that the main characters were barely disguised portraits of his friends. In 1939, after hearing the news of Russia's invasion of Poland, Stanislaw Witkiewitz committed suicide by slitting his wrists and taking a drug overdose.The stunning cover art of the jacket was created by Polish abstract painter and graphic artist Alicja Wahl. (Inventory #: 000697)