They Got the Better of Mr. Fetter

[JUVENILE]. Also published by [London]: Harlequin Books. Václav SIVKO, illustrator. First English edition. 8vo oblong (8" x 11"); [34]pp; color pictorial boards, red cloth shelf back with lettering in black; vivid color pictorial eps; fp of a rooster; title page printed in color; thick stock; color pictorials every page with text; light shelf wear to boards, front board lightly warped; near fine. OCLC locates 5 copies, 3 in the U.S., one in Canada and one at the National Library of Czechia.

This humorous folk-style tale with a moral that evil is punished in the end begins with a cart and a beautiful rooster. The cart, pulled by four mice, picks up various passengers along the way to the house of Mr. Fetter. Mr. Fetter's misdeeds are punished by the cock and his companions in a slap-stick series of events.

Bold graphic design fills this delightful children's book. The illustrator, Václav Sivko (1923-1974), was a Czech graphic artist, illustrator and painter. He studied at the National School for Graphic Arts and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. (albatross media.edu).

The translator, George [Jiří] Theiner (1926-1988), left Czechoslovakia at the age of eleven to escape the Nazis but returned in 1945 as an adult. He worked on literary magazines until he was forced to work in the Silesian coalmines as punishment for not joining the Communist Party. When he returned to England in 1968 after the Soviet invasion, he became a translator of Czech books and promoted Czech literature. A prize in his name is awarded each year at the Prague Book Fair (for the promotion of Czech literature.) (ModernPoetryInTranslation.com)