CZYŻEWSKI Tytus - The Serpent, Orpheus and Euridice. An antique vision. Graphic drawings in the text by T....

CZYŻEWSKI Tytus - The Serpent, Orpheus and Euridice. An antique vision. Graphic drawings in the text by T. Czyzewski. Made by the graphic artist Franciszek Benisz. Cracow 1922. publishing institute of "Independent". 16d, pp. [32]. broch.
Rypson I 19; Rypson II 33; ZPW 245; SPKL 99; Peiper 493. Rubbing and soiling of covers, minor stains inside. Printed in green ink. Fifteen full-page typographic compositions by Franciszek Benesz according to drawings by Czyżewski. "Each page containing the content of the play is accompanied by an illustration composed of elements of the printing composition. Turning over successive pages, we see the persons of the play - Orpheus with lyre, Eurydice, the serpent, and various situations and 'emotional states'" (Rypson I). The play grotesquely places the ancient characters among the attributes of the modern, contemporary world. A cinema operator, a telephone, a microphone, a fan, a telegraph, a patéphone appear, factory sirens can be heard, the final scene closes with a red glowing light bulb. "An amusing idea," wrote Stanislaw Mlodozeniec, "as a confusion of the ancient and present worlds.