64 pp. volume, approximately eight scattered illustrations throughout. Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches). Original illustrated wrappers. Some chipping and edgewear to wrappers, light handling wear and dust-staining, light consistent toning throughout, more pronounced to margins, overall very good. Firenze: Edizione Lacerba, 1915.

This volume represents an edition of "Lacerba" printed at the works of Attilio Vallecchi. According to the 1961 Futurism catalogue from the Museum of Modern Art, Lacerba, the eponymous organ of the art group, "eventually became the principal outlet for Futurist manifestoes, combative articles, and the texts written for delivery at Futurist manifestations but rarely heard in their entirety....For over a year, while the painters were diverging more and more, the pages of Lacerba served to keep the ideological ends of Futurism in focus." (Futurism, Joshua C. Taylor, The Museum of Modern Art, 1961).

This slim "almanac" bears the date 1915 to both the title and the colophon, and yet the final page reads, "Dal 1 Gennaio 1915 Lacerba sarà pubblivata settimanalmente in fascicoli di 8 pagine a due colonne." Therefore, this volume must have actually been published at the end of 1914. Similar to the "Almanacco Purgativo" of a year prior, this volume was also the collective work of Italo Tavolato, Ardegno Soffici, Giovanni Papini, and Aldo Palazzeschi, the group who ran the Lacerba magazine. In this work, however, they remained anonymous, not signing their writings or using pseudonyms. This volume also contains parodies and humorous poems attacking German culture. The cover illustration and the drawings inside were done by Ottone Rosai in a childish line-drawing style.

According to Claudia Salaris, "The 'Almanacco della guerra 1915' clearly expresses the mood of the group on the eve of Italy's entry into the war, which combined interventionism and 'hooliganism.'" (Salaris, p. 31; Collezione Mughini, no.17.) Scarce institutionally.

Book ID: 53715

Price: $1,350.00