Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your property is a rumor of power), 1982. Large photomontage (54 x 39 in.) in artist's hand-painted frame; signed and dated to backing. Now on view at our Chelsea bookshop, along with six of Kruger's original paste-up collage works (1980-1988); see number 9 below.

Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair 2025
Booth C7
September 12–14, 2025
Preview: Thursday, September 11, 7–10pm
MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave., Queens, NY 11101

Harper's Books is pleased to announce participation in the 2025 edition of Printed Matter's NY Art Book Fair, which returns to MoMA PS1 this year. You can find us on the main floor, at Booth C7, with a selection of our booth highlights below.

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Barbara Kruger: Your property is a rumor of power
Through Saturday, November 8, 2025
Harper's Books, 504 West 22nd St., New York, NY 10011

As entry into our exploration of Pictures Generation artists, Harper's Books is pleased to present a collection of six original paste-ups from Barbara Kruger; a dynamic range of her 1980s compositions, from iconic (Surveillance is their busywork) to obscure (You are the long complaint of desire). These collage works provide an intimate glimpse into Kruger's artistic methodology—developed during her time as designer for both Mademoiselle magazine and leftist book publisher Schocken—with these word/image syntheses serving as the foundation for her multimedia "picture practice," to be transformed into large-format gelatin silver prints, billboards, subway posters, postcards, matchbooks, bumper stickers, etc. Also on display: one of the resulting photomontage works (Your property is a rumor of power), in its iconic red-painted frame, along with a rotating selection of related catalogues, artist's books, and ephemera.

1. ACCONCI, Vito

Notes on the Development of a Show / Notes Toward Performing a Gallery Space (Signed with Announcement Card)

Hamburg: Edition Leeber Hossmann / New York: Sonnabend, 1972-1973. Limited Edition. Slim oblong quarto. Hand-numbered as 35 of 250 copies and SIGNED by Acconci in black marker. While Seedbed has arguably become known as Vito Acconci's signature work, its context is often overlooked—being but one of a suite of performances that Acconci designed as interventions into Ileana Sonnabend's recently-opened SoHo gallery space (Jan. 15 - 29, 1972). The following year, Acconci published the present artist's book—24 leaves, composed of his diagrammatic notes (in-facsimile), typescript research excerpts (e.g. Goffman, Wittgenstein, Castaneda), and a collection of 78 mounted photographs—revealing the theoretical underpinnings and urban/spatial research that animated this otherwise seemingly-simple group of performances. Acconci's reference to Seedbed is here rather coy, with a simple illustration of the ramp, and a set of 5 ambiguous statements, concluding with: "When I am not inside the ramp, the ramp can still contain the product I grow, the product of my growth. (When I leave the ramp, I leave something behind. What I leave behind is 'planted,' once I leave)." This copy with minor edge-wear to illustrated wrappers; near fine. Accompanied by the original 1972 announcement card from Sonnabend (5 x 9 in.), illustrated after a selection of the research photographs that appear in the book. Uncommon, with 6 OCLC records located in North America.

$4500.00

2. ADS AGAINST AIDS / William Burroughs, Nan Goldin, Jenny Holzer, et al

Ads Against AIDS (Awards Programme and Benefit Auction Catalogue)

New York: Ads Against AIDS / PTAAA, [1991]. First Edition. Quarto. A commemorative magazine published for the awards dinner that concluded the Ads Against AIDS campaign; a contest devised by advertising industry leaders to help raise public awareness of the AIDS crisis. Contents: [96] pages, with reproductions of the winning campaigns for print, television, and radio supplemented by documentation of the process and a series of goodwill agency advertisements. A concluding section offers full-bleed reproductions of works donated for the campaign's benefit auction, from the likes of William Burroughs, Eric Fischl, Nan Goldin, Jenny Holzer, Annie Leibovitz, Sheila Metzner, and William Wegman. Glossy stapled wrappers with minor signs of handling; near fine. Accompanied by bifolium programme for the dinner ceremony. Scarce, with no OCLC records located.

$450.00

3. BASQUIAT, Jean-Michel / Rammellzee versus K-Rob

Beat Bop (First Issue)

New York: Tartown Record Co., 1983. First issue. 12 inch vinyl record (45 rpm). Legendary hip hop record produced and arranged by Jean-Michel Basquiat on his own Tartown label, featuring 10 minutes of verses from Rammellzee and a teenage K-Rob. Sleeve covers and labels all featuring original art from Basquiat. With only 500 copies issued before the record was picked-up by Profile Records later in the same year (without the artwork); all issue points confirmed. Wear to corners of illustrated sleeve—still in partial shrinkwrap—with moderate creasing to upper left quadrant of recto; overall better than very good. Vinyl in mint condition.

$5000.00

4. DUBUFFET, Jean

Partitions, 1980-81 / Psycho-sites, 1981 (Puzzle Announcement and Catalogue)

New York: Pace Gallery Publications, 1982. Two creative publications from the 1982 exhibition of Jean Dubuffet's Partitions and Psycho-sites cycles at Pace: (1) a novelty announcement, composed of 14 loose puzzle pieces, housed in original mailing envelope and (2) the corresponding exhibition catalogue—with a matching puzzle constituting its front cover—reproducing 24 of Dubuffet's works, mostly in color, with an accompanying text from Carter Ratcliff. The puzzle for the announcement varies slightly from the catalogue, with exhibition details printed to the margins of three of its pieces. Announcement pieces remain fine; envelope with expected wear. Catalogue in near fine condition, with its puzzle-cover still sealed in plastic.

$350.00

5. GOLDIN, Nan / Peter Hujar, Cookie Mueller, David Wojnarowicz, et al

Witnesses: Against our Vanishing

New York: Artists Space, 1989. First Edition. Octavo. A sharp copy of this potent catalogue, published to accompany an exhibition curated by Nan Goldin at Artists Space (Nov. 16, 1989 - Jan. 6, 1990); a testament to the ravages of the AIDS crisis on the Lower East Side artist community. Featuring a curatorial statement from Goldin and contributions from Cookie Mueller, Linda Yablonsky, and David Wojnarowicz; the latter's essay ("Post Cards from America: X-Rays from Hell")—which called-out political and religious leaders by name—provoked a national controversy that lead to a temporary revocation of NEA funding. Contents: 32 pages, illustrated after black-and-white reproductions of the exhibited works, from the likes of David Armstrong, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Jane Dickson, Peter Hujar, Greer Lankton, Mark Morrisroe, Vittorio Scarpati, Kiki Smith, Tabboo!, Ken Tisa, and Wojnarowicz. Illustrated wrappers with hint of rubbing to corners; about fine.

$450.00

6. HAMMONS, David / A One, Mike Bidlo, Dawoud Bey, Daze, Willoughby Sharp, Lorna Simpson, Martin Wong, et al.

Democracy at Work: The Salon of the Future (Announcement)

Bronx, NY: The Bronx Council on the Arts / P.S. 39 Longwood Arts Project, 1986. Poster-mailer printed to glossy sheet (14 x 8.5 inches) announcing a dynamic exhibition of political art curated by Thomas Corn and Longwood Arts Project at P.S. 39 in the Bronx (Apr. 26 - May 24, 1986): "A multi-media, interdisciplinarian, anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-elitist, pro-exchange, pro-growth, intercultural extravaganza based upon romantic notion and steely determination." Featuring a long list of both visual artists and graffiti writers, including A One, Mike Bidlo, Dawoud Bey, Daze, David Hammons, John "Crash" Matos, Willoughby Sharp, Lorna Simpson, and Martin Wong; Hammons also listed as headlining the opening reception, along with Lewis and Lewis, The Ray Vega Quartet, and Tom Warren's Mobile Photo Studio. Ghosting from mailing label to verso, with foldlines and faint offsetting from seal; near fine.

$450.00

7. HAMMONS, David

African American Art: The Door (Teaching Aid from Multicultural Art Print Series)

Los Angeles: California Afro-American Museum / The Getty Center for Education in the Arts, 1991. Laminate poster (24 x 18 inches), illustrated to recto after color reproduction of David Hammons' multimedia work The Door (1969). One of five posters produced by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts for their first Multicultural Art Print Series (MAPS); an initiative to diversify the otherwise-Eurocentric content of teaching aids available to elementary and high school art teachers. With art historical details printed to the verso of the poster, along with suggested activities and discussion questions: e.g. "What do doors do? Does this door open? Is it open or closed? Is this a painting? a print? a sculpture? How would you classify it? Why?" This Hammons print accompanied by the corresponding 24 pp. Teacher's Guide; other prints in this MAPS series (not included here) reproducing works from John Outterbridge, Marie Johnson-Calloway, Michael Cummings, and John Biggers. Minor scuffing to wrappers of guide; laminate poster near fine, with punches to corners for hanging (as issued). Uncommon to the trade.

$750.00

8. KRUGER, Barbara / Les Levine, Dennis Oppenheim, David Salle, et al

Cover: A Magazine of Art: Volume 1, Number 1 (Signed Deluxe Edition)

New York: Standart Publications, 1979. Limited Edition. Square octavo (36 pages). Hand-numbered as 22 of 100 copies. First issue of this artist's magazine, which notably includes Barbara Kruger's early manifesto "Irony/Passion"—a key moment in the development of the Pictures Generation—which concludes with the statement: "We are aware that saying, naming, and pointing are the handiest forms of appropriation." This being one of 100 deluxe copies, SIGNED to front cover by editor Judith Aminoff and twelve of the seventeen contributors: Lea Douglas, Peter Fend, Suzanne Harris, Rebecca Howland, G. H. Hovagimyan, Lisa Kahane, Barbara Kruger, Les Levine, Alan Moore (with star symbol), Ralph McRae, Dennis Oppenheim, and David Salle. Minor edge-wear to stapled wrappers; near fine.

$1500.00

9. KRUGER, Barbara

Untitled (Surveillance is their busywork) (Original Paste-up)

Unique collage work [1988]; photograph and type on paper (4 x 10 inches). An original "paste-up" from Barbara Kruger—at least one of three iterations that she crafted throughout the 1980s for a series of public art campaigns, with this now-iconic composition enlarged via billboards and public transit posters. Notably, with this later version, the text has changed from "Surveillance is your busywork" to "Surveillance is their busywork." Artwork hinged into matted black-stained frame (12 x 17.5 inches); previous gallery label to verso. From a presentation of seven early artworks from Kruger, now on view at our Chelsea bookshop through November.

$85,000.00

10. NAUMAN, Bruce

LA Air

New York: Multiples Inc., 1970. Artist's book. Quarto. Follow-up to Bruce Nauman's conceptual photobook Clea Rsky (1968), with the bluish hues of that earlier work replaced by a series of 10 startling color field images, purportedly derived from photographs of the pollution-thickened air of Los Angeles, where Nauman and his family were recent transplants. This copy with remarkably bright covers, which feature a printed facsimile of Nauman's signature to rear panel; minor offsetting to one of the lushly-printed spreads. . A fine copy of a prescient bookwork, being Nauman's contribution to the famed Artists and Photographs portfolio.

$1000.00

11. NEWMAN, Barnett / Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, Mark Tobey, et al.

[Six American Abstract Painters]: Motherwell, Newman, Okada, Rothko, Tobey, Youngerman

Tokyo: Kimura Gallery, 1959. First Edition. Duodecimo. An elegant catalogue published on the occasion of a remarkable group exhibition at Tokyo's Kimura Gallery (Apr. 4 - 30, 1959); one of the first exposures of AbEx painting in Japan. Contents: 12 pages, with short artist's biographies facing reproductions of works from Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Kenzo Okada, Mark Rothko, and Jack Youngerman; Mark Tobey's bio without corresponding image. Mostly-color plates, printed to glossy stock; text in Japanese. Save for minor bump to top corner, a fine copy in textured decorative wrappers. Scarce, with only a single OCLC record located (MFA Boston).

$500.00

12. PICABIA, Francis / Art Informel

HWPSMTB / Hartung, Wols, Picabia, Stahly, Mathieu, Tapié, Bryen (Exhibition Catalogue)

Paris: Galerie Allendy, 1948. First Edition. Duodecimo. Scarce catalogue printed for a Spring 1948 group show at Colette Allendy's Paris gallery; a pivotal debut for the Art Informel movement. Featuring works from Hans Hartung, Wols, Francis Picabia, François Stahly, Georges Mathieu, Michel Tapié, and Camille Bryen—with an acronym from their names composing the title of the show. Contents: 24 pages, with one work from each artist reproduced in black-and-white and artist's statements contributed from Wols, Mathieu, Tapié, Bryen, and Picabia—whose "Explications antimystiques" concludes with a somewhat prophetic statement: "Je suis le succès de l'insuccès. Je ne désire ni résultat, ni but." Famously, Picabia removed his paintings at the opening. Letterpress wrappers with stapled contents; minor offsetting to a handful of pages, thus near fine. A milestone catalogue, with only 2 OCLC records located in North America (MoMA, Princeton).

$1000.00

13. RAUSCHENBERG, Robert / Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, Larry Rivers, et al.

U. S. Painting: Some Recent Directions (Poster-Catalogue)

New York: Stable Gallery, [1955]. Broadside (26 x 19.5 in.), twice-folded into four panels (13 x 9.75 inches). A Bradbury Thompson-designed catalogue for the remarkable group show at Stable Gallery (Nov. 29 - Dec. 23, 1955); organized to correspond with Thomas Hess' exposé on a new generation of American painters for Art News Annual ("U.S. Painting: Some Recent Directions"). The exhibition featured a total of 59 works from twenty-one artists, including: Elaine de Kooning, Robert de Niro, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Larry Rivers, and Robert Rauschenberg, who here exhibited one of his earliest combines and is credited as being of "inestimable help" in the show's preparation. Each of the artists represented in a grid of b&w portraits, imposed opposite a lengthy text by Hess: "In one sense the younger artist can be compared to a pair of mirrors, set back to back, reflecting simultaneously an image of the past and of the future—the point where the light of history is more concentrated. In another sense, the younger artist is a breaker of historical mirrors—the contemporary instant of creation for which past and future are equally absurd. The mirror of his art is fixed in front of his own eyes." Some tenderness to glossy sheet at fold-lines, with faint stains to text section, but nonetheless a well-preserved copy of a scarce document; better than very good. With only a single OCLC record located in North America (Frick).

$1000.00

14. TWOMBLY, Cy

Cy Twombly (Announcement for First European Exhibition)

Roma: Galleria La Tartaruga, 1958. Tall bifolium card (11.5 x 6 inches). Announcement for Cy Twombly's first European solo exhibition at Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome (opening May 17, 1958), with Twombly's original calligraphic design (Colosseo Roma 1958) reaching across the covers. Interior features a poetic text (in Italian) on the art of traces, from the long-time Director of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Palma Bucarelli. Very faint bump to cover, else fine. With single OCLC record located (Stedelijk).

$1000.00

15. WARHOL, Andy

Raid the Icebox 1 with Andy Warhol: An Exhibition Selected from the Storage Vaults... (Inscribed Copy)

Providence: Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, 1969. First Edition. Octavo. Catalogue from the landmark exhibition Raid the Icebox 1, conceived by Dominique de Menil and the Director of the RISD Museum of Art, Daniel Robbins, as the first in a series of artist-curated shows that pulled from the invisible collections housed in the Museum's vaults. Andy Warhol’s iteration would be the only such show realized; premiering at the Institute for the Arts, Rice University (Houston, Oct. 29, 1969 - Jan. 4, 1970), before traveling to the Isaac Delgado Museum (New Orleans, Jan. 17 - Feb. 15, 1970) and concluding at RISD (Apr. 23 - Jun. 30, 1970). The well-designed catalogue, featuring texts from de Menil, Robbins, and David Bourdon, documents 404 of the exhibited objects; further illustrated after Warhol's atmospheric Polaroids. This copy remarkably INSCRIBED to title page by both Warhol and Robbins to Eleanor Freed—an art critic for The Houston Post and local patron—likely at the exhibition's Houston premiere, at which Warhol was present. Minor rubbing to illustrated wrappers; near fine. An uncommon work to feature Warhol's signature.

$1500.00

16. WOJNAROWICZ, David

Sounds in the Distance

London: Aloe Books, 1982. First Edition. Octavo. David Wojnarowicz's first published book; a portrait series of outsider monologues based loosely on the artist's travels around America. Striking cover photograph from Wojnarowicz himself, with blurb to rear cover by William S. Burroughs: "David Wojnarowicz has caught the age old voice of the road, the voice of the traveller, the outcast, the thief, the whore—the same voice that was heard in Villon's Paris, in the Rome of Petronius. Pick up his book and listen." Some scuffing to illustrated wrappers, with original price sticker, and minor creasing from stapled spine; overall near fine. Uncommon, with only 7 OCLC records located in North America.

$3500.00

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