This collection of fourteen pieces, together entitled Puppets, plays an exceptional role in the catalogue of early works by Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959), namely in that it represents the first works byMartinu which transcended his initial attempts at composition and quickly found a publisher. Thanks to their lasting popularity particularly with young pianists, they were ultimately published in numerous editions.(The way the pieces are numbered, which the composer verifiably accepted, however, does not correspond to their actual chronological order - they were, in fact, written in reverse order, so that Puppets III came first,whilePuppets I is the latest in the series.) All three books of Puppets, which emerged between the years 1912 and 1925 and, despite their title, differ from one another in their aesthetic approaches andprogressive maturity, are published by EditioBärenreiter in new, revised urtext editions edited by Ales Brezina. This urtext edition with its relatively comprehensive preface describing the circumstances surrounding the advent ofthe work,is supported by the latest research and an assessment of all known and accessible sources, which the editor presents and clarifies in detail in his critical commentary to the second and third books ofPuppets. The second book (Puppets II) is dated 1918 and contains the following works: Puppet Theatre, Harlequin, Colombine Remembers,The Sick Puppet and Colombine Sings.Thanks to its witty musical ideas and the composer's empathy for children and their intellectual world, Puppets has, since its first edition, always been highly popular among performers.