Karel Capek [Karel Tchapek] - R. U. R. - 1924

The birth of the word ‘robot’.

Karel Čapek (trad. Hanuš Jelínek), « R.U.R. Rezon's Universal Robots », les Cahiers Dramatiques, Éditions Jacques Hébertot, No 21,‎ 1er Octobre 1924. First edition. Overall in good condition. The cover is detached at the joint; small folds to the corners of the booklet.

"First performed in Prague in 1920, this play not only popularised the term ‘robot’, coined by Josef Čapek, Karel's brother, from the Czech word meaning “drudgery”, but was also one of the first to raise questions about the place of humans in relation to machines and automation. (...)

On 26 March 1924, Artaud played Marius, a robot, in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), directed by Theodore Komisarjevsky at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées. Robert de Beauplan wrote about Artaud's performance in La Quinzaine théâtrale, Le Théâtre et Comoedia illustré, No. 33, May 1924: ‘Artaud [...], with a terrifying effect that likens the robot revolt to the Bolshevik revolution.’ In his column in La Soirée, Armory also mentions Marinetti's presence at one of the performances."

Source: echoantoninartaud.com