Kirke: Roman Marije Tarnovske

Circe, a novel by the famous writer Annie Vivanti, was published in Croatian in 1918 in Zagreb by the Jug Publishing House, translated by Olga and Tonči Filipić. The work is inspired by the real life of Maria Tarnowska, one of the most famous European social and judicial sensations of the early 20th century, and the author shapes her story into a psychological and social novel.

For the Croatian cultural and bibliographical heritage, the book is particularly interesting as an early edition by the Jug Publishing House, one of the most important Croatian publishers immediately after the end of World War I. Such editions are relatively rare on the market today, especially when preserved in their original soft covers.

The cover is adorned with a characteristic Art Nouveau drawing of a female profile, which visually emphasizes the motif of a fatal woman and symbolically refers to the ancient Circe after whom the novel was named. The work thus represents an interesting blend of European popular literature, real historical events, and Croatian publishing production from the early 20th century, and is valuable today primarily as a rare bibliographic and collector's item.