Sketch for a vignette to Clara d’Ellébuse; ou, L’Histoire d’une ancienne jeune fille by Francis Jammes

The artist produced larger series of drawings for Klára d’Ellébeuse (Clara d’Ellébeuse), a poetic novel by Francis Jammes. He drew the images directly onto a lithographic printing stone, during his sojourn in Germany in 1920. The book was to be published by Gustav Kiepenhauer’s prominent publishing company, but for financial reasons the project fell through. Zrzavý complemented the prints (showing four fine, black-and-white portraits) with a drawing for the book's cover, featuring a bunch of lilies-of-the-valley and a burning candle. Aventinum published the book with the illustrations in reduced format in 1925, as its commemorative - one-hundredth - volume.