[FRENCH SURREALISM AND DADA] Le Da Costa Encyclopédique. 3 issues (all published): first issue numbered as fascicule VII, volume II; the two subsequent issues titled: Le memento universel Da Costa, fascicule I and II

Complete set of the post-surrealist pseudo-encyclopedia, edited by Isabelle Waldberg and Robert Lebel. It is believed that the first issue appeared on the occasion of the exhibition "La Surrealisme en 1947" organized at the Maeght Gallery, in which over eighty international artists participated. In order to confuse the readers from the very beginning, the first volume was not only started with a wrong numbering (instead of fascicle I, volume I with fascicle VII, volume II), but in the middle of a word separation in a sentence. Promptly, some readers wrote to the publisher asking for the preceding instalments. In response, they were told that the previous issues, which had never existed, had been sold and were therefore no longer available. The authors of the entries in the first issue remained anonymous. The fact that Duchamp, among others, had already contributed texts to the first issue only became known when the editor's letters became accessible (See Brotchie, Alastair, ed., Encyclopedia Acephalica [...], London, ca. 1995, p. 16ff).

"Da Costa" has its origins in the anti-fascist surrealist group "Contre-Attaque", which Bataille and Breton had founded in September 1935. Members included Paul Eluard, Benjamin Péret, and Henri Dubief. After the group dissolved, not least because of differences between Bataille and Breton, both of whom later contributed to "Da Costa", Bataille founded the association "Acéphale", which was also formative for "Da Costa". With the occupation of France, most of the Surrealists emigrated to the United States, including Breton, Duchamp, and the later editors of "Da Costa". After the end of the war, numerous literary figures and artists, some of whom remained at odds with each other in the U.S., returned to Paris, including Isabelle Waldberg. She quickly developed the idea of a journal in the style of a pseudo-encyclopedia, for which she acquired contributions from the returnees. An important point of reference was Eluard and Breton's "Dictionnaire abrégé du Surréalisme" from 1938. (See Ronald Voullié, Nachwort in: Georges Bataille, André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Le Da Costa Encyclopédique, Berlin 2008, pp. 131-156.)

It is assumed in the literature that Duchamp, a trained typesetter, was responsible for the design of the first issue. The illustrations came from the vignette catalog of a foundry. The project was marked by conflicts between the authors over the contributions, in which ironic, aggressive, and obscene allusions revived the internal struggles of the Surrealists. A fourth issue was planned, to which Marcel Duchamp again contributed, but it was never printed. The fact that "Da Costa" played no role in research on Surrealism for a long time is interpreted today as a result of these conflicts. Many contributors later kept silent about their participation in the project. The different contributions of the three issues were above all experimental fields of new writing techniques, which can be found in the following decades, for example, in Concrete Poetry and in the publications of the Situationists. (Ibid.). Complete set of the post-surrealist pseudo-encyclopedia, edited by Isabelle Waldberg and Robert Lebel. It is believed that the first issue appeared on the occasion of the exhibition "La Surrealisme en 1947" organized at the Maeght Gallery, in which over eighty international artists participated. In order to confuse the readers from the very beginning, the first volume was not only started with a wrong numbering (instead of fascicle I, volume I with fascicle VII, volume II), but in the middle of a word separation in a sentence. Promptly, some readers wrote to the publisher asking for the preceding instalments. In response, they were told that the previous issues, which had never existed, had been sold and were therefore no longer available. The authors of the entries in the first issue remained anonymous. The fact that Duchamp, among others, had already contributed texts to the first issue only became known when the editor's letters became accessible (See Brotchie, Alastair, ed., Encyclopedia Acephalica [...], London, ca. 1995, p. 16ff).

"Da Costa" has its origins in the anti-fascist surrealist group "Contre-Attaque", which Bataille and Breton had founded in September 1935. Members included Paul Eluard, Benjamin Péret, and Henri Dubief. After the group dissolved, not least because of differences between Bataille and Breton, both of whom later contributed to "Da Costa", Bataille founded the association "Acéphale", which was also formative for "Da Costa". With the occupation of France, most of the Surrealists emigrated to the United States, including Breton, Duchamp, and the later editors of "Da Costa". After the end of the war, numerous literary figures and artists, some of whom remained at odds with each other in the U.S., returned to Paris, including Isabelle Waldberg. She quickly developed the idea of a journal in the style of a pseudo-encyclopedia, for which she acquired contributions from the returnees. An important point of reference was Eluard and Breton's "Dictionnaire abrégé du Surréalisme" from 1938. (See Ronald Voullié, Nachwort in: Georges Bataille, André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Le Da Costa Encyclopédique, Berlin 2008, pp. 131-156.)

It is assumed in the literature that Duchamp, a trained typesetter, was responsible for the design of the first issue. The illustrations came from the vignette catalog of a foundry. The project was marked by conflicts between the authors over the contributions, in which ironic, aggressive, and obscene allusions revived the internal struggles of the Surrealists. A fourth issue was planned, to which Marcel Duchamp again contributed, but it was never printed. The fact that "Da Costa" played no role in research on Surrealism for a long time is interpreted today as a result of these conflicts. Many contributors later kept silent about their participation in the project. The different contributions of the three issues were above all experimental fields of new writing techniques, which can be found in the following decades, for example, in Concrete Poetry and in the publications of the Situationists. (Ibid.).