Bruno Schulz was born into a wealthy family in Drohobycz, Galacia. Schulz studied architecture at Lvov Polytechnic. He began working on the cliché-verre illustrations for The Booke of Idolatry in 1920, while an instructor at Drohobycz Lycée. The series of prints depicts a world of desire and temptation. The Booke of Idolatry remained largely overlooked, as did Schulz himself, until the 1930 Spring Salon in the Palace of Art in Lvov.

The 1930's saw Schulz's development as a writer, and he gained great acclaim in 1933 following the publication of his novel The Cinnamon Shops, titled in English The Street of Crocodiles. While focusing largely on his writing through the 30's, h...