Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

A-I-Z Jahrgang IX, 1930. (Volume IX 1930 Complete with 10 Heartfield Photomontages) [WITH] A-I-Z Volume X No. 29, 1931

Runge, Wenzel; John Heartfield

Berlin: Druck- und Verlagsanstalt "Zukunft", Runge & Co. / Willi Münzenberg, 1930. First editions. Softcover. Folio (15 x 11"). 52 issues bound in boards, backed with black library tape, featuring the cover of No. 40, 1930, on cover and protected by modern mylar. All issues are profusely illustrated with sepia-toned photogravures. This set of A-I-Z issues represents a rich as much as critical introduction to the year 1930.

The AIZ content is political, worker and "Third World" related in general and represents the harsh, critical views of the publisher and contributors. It was published between 1924 and 1933 in Berlin, then in exile from Prague and eventually in Paris until 1938. The content exhibits a strict antifascist and pro-Communist stance and is known for its striking photojournalism and the photomontages of John Heartfield. It was published by Willi Münzenberg. Text in German.

Issues with John Heartfield photomontages are:

No. 6 Without subtitle as printed in issue five. Contains full page Heartfield photomontage: "Wer Bürgerblätter Liest Wird Blind und Taub. Weg mit den Verdummungsbandagen! (Whoever reads Bourgeoise Papers Turns Blind and Deaf. Away with the Dulling of the Mind) Evans, page 44.

No. 10 With Heartfield photomontage: "Zwangslieferanten von Menschen Material! Nur Mut! Der Staat braucht Arbeitslose und Soldaten" (Forced Supplier Of Human Material. Take Courage. The State Needs Unemployed Workers and Soldiers). Article on French correctional system and poem "Frau aus dem Volke" by Alfred Prugel and "Body Culture" Duty for every Worker Woman. Evans, page 46.

No. 11 Kapp-Putsch special issue. With full page Heartfield photomontage: Für treue Dienste (For Loyal Services. Our well-tested member of the supervisory board 1920 - 1930 Reich Minister Karl Severing). The Kapp Putsch was an attempt on March 13, 1920, to overturn the Federal Government of the Weimar Republic. With articles on carnival and the "Red Ruhr Front" including map of the advance of the "Red Army" in the Ruhr region. Contains poem by Theobald Tiger: Eyes of the Metropolis and elaborate cartoon depicting a soccer game. Includes partially solve crossword puzzle. Evans, page 48.

No. 22 Contains full page (423) photomontage by Heartfield: Vandervelde oder Die vollkommene Schamlosigkeit (Vandervelde or the Absolute Lack of Shame). Evans. page 50.

No. 28 With full page photomontage by Heartfield: Macdonald Sozialismus (Mac Donald - Socialism). Evans, page 52.

No. 31 Full page photomontage by Heartfield (603): Sonnenfinsternis am "befreiten" Rhein (Solar Eclipse over the "Liberated" Rhine). Additional Heartfield photomontage: Spielereien eines pazifistischen Engels (Shenanigans of a Pacifistic Angel / 6 x 9 1/4") Evans, page 54.

No. 40 Full page photomontage by Heartfield (783): "Millionen Naziwähler: Futter für ein großes Maul "Und den Fisch hab' ich gewählt!" (6 Million Nazi Voters: Fodder for a Big Mouth. "And is the fish! I elected!). Missing cover of this issue. Evans, page 56.

No. 42 Full page photomontage by Heartfield (823): Das tote Parlament Das blieb vom Jahre 1848 übrig! (The dead Parliament. That's all that's left from 1848!). Evans, page 60.

No. 52 Full page photomontage by Heartfield (1023): Ein neues Jahr! (A New Year! A year like all the others? No!! That must not be! So that from misery and pain the new world arises: Strike, proletarian!) Evans, page 64.


Binding with some rubbing along edges and cover losened from spine but intact. The issues are trimmed with generally slight loss of images and text. No. 2 Small part of advertising on page 35 cut out, affecting ads on following page. Page 37 with cutout underneath "tied up Prometheus," at lower foredge. No. 12 Page 237 with cutout of lower right corner of page. No. 16 Cutout on page 313. No. 17 First of May issue missing pages 335/336. No. 38 Cutout on page 757. No. 39 Cutout on page 763. No. 42 Cutout on page 834. No. 51 Back cover with some chipping and partially detached from spine. Paper in general somewhat age-toned.

[WITH]

A-I-Z Jahrgang X Nr. 29, 1931. Photo-illustrated wraps, protected by modern mylar. The cover features young children at work in Africa. It includes contributions on the American miner's strike, the stigma of capitalistic production in relation to medical research, an installment of the novel "Eine Liebe kurz vor zwölf" by Gerhardt Pohl, a contribution on shoe production in Czechoslovakia, Karl Radek on the fight against spies, an entertainment and puzzle section and three pages on various sports and leisure activities. The back cover, in German and Esperanto, covers news from around the world. Very good condition. Item #49806

John Heartfield (1891-1968), born Helmut Herzfeld, is best known for his "Use [of] Photography as a Weapon" - this line was written on a banner above the entrance of the room especially dedicated to his work at the 1929 exhibition "Film und Foto" in Stuttgart. Heartfield saw photomontage, a term coined by the Berlin Dadaists, as a tool of political protest and was best known and admired for his more than fifty photomontage dustjackets for book publications.

His vitae is "littered" with names instrumental in avant-garde movements of the 20th Century: George Grosz, Kurt Schwitters, Jan Tschichold, Herbert Bayer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, and famously Kurt Tuchosky in his work "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles," to which Heartfield contributed his photomontages. His publishing endeavors included the founding of the Malik Verlag, the Neue Jugend, a magazine published with George Grosz, and his 237 contributions to the AIZ (Illustrated Worker's Newspaper) between 1929 and 1938. During his stay in Russia, 1931-1932, Heartfield contributed to "Soviet Union in Construction," a collaboration between El Lissitzky and Rodchenko, experimenting with photography and photomontage.

With George Grosz Heartfiel edited and contributed to the first Communist satircal magazine, Der Knüppel (The Cudgel), from 1923 to 1927. His success in the 1929 Stuttgart Film und Foto exhibition prompted othe artist to show interest for the use of photomontage, e.g. Bayer and Moholy-Nagy in the German fashion magazine Neue Linie, and in Russia Rodchenko and Lissitzky as mentioned above.

Brecht congratulated th AIZ on its tenth anniversary in 1931 writing "the camera can lie just like the typesetting mahcine. The task of A-I-Z to serve truth and reproduce the real facts is of immense importance, and, it seems to me, has been achieved splendidly." (Brect in AIZ 10, No. 41, 1931). In 1933, after the takeover of the Nazis, Münzenberg moved to Paris and Heartfield to Prague, operating the Malik Verlag amd AIZ from there. The last AIZ issue published in Berlin was released on March 5, 1933, and Heartfield began publishing AIZ from Prague later that month. "Heartfield's first photomontage from Prague, Durch Licht zur Nacht (Through light to night; 5/33), a comment on Nazi book burning, appeared on 10 May, 1933." (David Evans, John Heartfield, page 12). The edition for each issue was reduced to 12,000 in Prague, compared to 500,000 in Berlin.

In 1936 Heartfield renamed AIZ to Volks-Illustrierte (VI) and in 1938 the operations were moved to France where seven additional issues without contributions by Heartfield were releasedbetween January 15th and February 26, 1939. Heartfield moved to London in 1940, after a narrow escape from the Gestapo. He was not welcomed by the British government but placed in various interment camps which had a severe effect on his health. Eventually he was able to continue his campaign against the Third Reich producing advertisements for the radio broadcast "Freedom Calling," a production utterly dispised by Adolf Hitler. In London Heartfield met Gertrud Fietz. They moved to East Germany in 1950 and got married there just before Heartfield's death in 1968.

Price: $3,250.00