Few contemporary artists have incorporated the book into their practice like Ed Ruscha. As the current MoMA retrospective (Ed Ruscha / Now Then) so brilliantly displays, the book was not only a means of distribution for Ruscha, but an integral artistic element of his formal and thematic explorations. Harper's Books is pleased to offer a complete set of Ruscha's sixteen artist's books (1963-1978), in uniformly near fine condition, with original glassines. With eleven of the works either inscribed or signed by Ruscha, including the two most hard-to-find titles: Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963) and Dutch Details (1971). All housed in custom cloth clamshell cases, with spines lettered white-on-gray. Details below, followed by our monthly list of 22 selections.

Edward Ruscha

A Complete Set of Ed Ruscha's Artist's Books (with 11 Signed or Inscribed)

Mostly Southern California, 1963-1978. All First Editions. A collection of sixteen iconic artist's books from Ed Ruscha; eleven of them either SIGNED or INSCRIBED. Namely: (1) Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), hand-numbered as 355 of 400 copies, SIGNED by Ruscha to dedication page; (2) Various Small Fires and Milk (1964), one of 400 copies, SIGNED to front endpaper; (3) Some Los Angeles Apartments (1965), one of 700 copies, SIGNED to front endpaper; (4) Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966), one of 1000 copies of the first issue, with Jaguar building printed to final flap, SIGNED to top edge of silver mylar slipcase; (5) Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles (1967), this copy INSCRIBED to front endpaper: "Hello Paquette! / Best wishes / Ed Ruscha;" (6) Royal Road Test (1967), one of 1000 copies, INSCRIBED in year of publication to L.A. gallerist Betty Gold: "For Betty Gold / Best Wishes / Ed Ruscha / 1967;" (7) Business Cards (1968), with Billy Al Bengston, one of 1000 copies, INSCRIBED by both artists to Betty Gold: "Betty / Billy, and Love to / Betty / Ed Roo;" (8) Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass (1968); (9) Crackers (1969); (10) Babycakes with Weights (1970), this copy SIGNED to front endpaper; (11) Real Estate Opportunities (1970); (12) A Few Palm Trees (1971), this copy SIGNED to front endpaper; (13) Dutch Details (1971), one of approximately 200 copies surviving from the original 3000, SIGNED to verso of first fold-out spread; (14) Records (1971); (15) Colored People (1972); and (16) Hard Light (1978), with Lawrence Weiner, this copy INSCRIBED by Ruscha to front endpaper: "Hi there Eleanor / Ed Ruscha." The set: $145,000.

For sales inquiries, and additional details and images, contact mail@harpersbooks.com. And browse our website for more Ruscha.

Harper's Books: September Selections

Below, our 22 monthly selections; a range of books, ephemera, and printed matter relating to art, photography, modern literature, and design. Follow the links for additional images and purchasing options. To browse similar materials from our Books department: visit our Chelsea bookshop at 504 West 22nd Street and our East Hampton gallery at 87 Newtown Lane.

01. Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective View

San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Art, 1973. First Edition. Slim quarto. Catalogue for a retrospective exhibition of Ruth Asawa's oeuvre at SFMOMA (Jun. 29 - Aug. 19, 1973). With thoughtful biography provided by guest curator Gerald Nordland, who worked closely with Asawa in organizing the exhibition. Illustrated after portrait of Asawa and two dozen black-and-white photos of her artworks. Some edge-wear to glossy illustrated wrappers; close to near fine.

$750.00

02. Ulli Beier (editor), Chinua Achebe, Wilson Harris, Amos Tutola, and Various Others

Black Orpheus: A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature (No. 19, March 1966)

Ibadan, [Nigeria]: Mbari Club, 1966. First Edition. Staple-bound octavo. One of the final issues of the pioneering journal Black Orpheus, founded by Ulli Beier in 1957 as a forum "to encourage and discuss contemporary African writing." This issue featuring short stories from Nigerian writers Chinua Achebe ("Uncle Ben's Choice") and Amos Tutola ("Ajaiyi and the Witch Doctor"), along with an excerpt from Wilson Harris' then-work-in-progress (The Waiting Room). With an essay by Beier placing Nigerian sign-painters in the context of Pop Art ("Naive Nigerian Painting"); illustrated by 8 charming black-and-white plates. With additional contributions from: Hampate Ba, Aime Cesaire, Romanus Egudu, Martin Esslin, Daniel O. Fagunwa, Janheinz Jahn, Lewis Nkosi, Ademola Onibonokuta, S. Raben, and Okogbule Wonodi. Minor creasing to silkscreened wrappers, with faint ink doodle to lower portion of cover, thus close to near fine.

$750.00

03. Christo

Christo Wraps the Museum: Scale Models, Photomontages, and Drawings for a Non-Event

New York: MoMA, 1968. First Edition. Square octavo. Pamphlet, with brown cardstock portfolio illustrated after Christo's 1967 photomontage The Museum of Modern Art Packed (View from 53rd Street). With verso text from Curator William S. Rubin: "As an artist functioning more in the realm of 'events' than in that of painting and sculpture, it is not surprising that Christo should have dreamed that it was time to wrap the Museum... The Museum staff found this a potentially lively and poetically strange project. But the more practical heads of the fire department, police department, and insurance agencies prevailed." Leporello contents feature 10 black-and-white reproductions of Christo's MoMA proposals, which were exhibited in the Main Hall (June 5 - 25), as well as documentation from some of his previous wrapped and packed works. A fine copy. Uncommon, with only 3 OCLC records located.

$300.00

04. Hans-Peter Feldmann and Céline Duval

Cahier d'Images [No. 1: Hazard]

[Düsseldorf: Feldmann Verlag, 2001]. First Edition. Slim quarto. Artist's magazine. The first number of this collaborative project between Hans-Peter Feldmann and Céline Duval, which totaled 7 issues (2001-2002), each printed in 600 copies. A series of appropriated images, enigmatically-assembled according to poetic themes: Hazard, Image, Rouge, Album de famille, Flying, Emotions, and Charlotte [Gainsbourg]. Side-stapled self-wrappers: [24] pages; fully-illustrated after photographic images, some color. A fine copy. This first issue uncommon, with no OCLC records located in North America.

$400.00

05. Gabriel García Márquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude

New York: Harper & Row, 1970. First American Edition. Octavo. García Márquez's triumph of magical realism, translated into English by Gregory Rabassa, on the advice of Julio Cortázar. This copy in second state of the brilliant jacket designed by Guy Fleming (with period, rather than exclamation mark, following "Latin America" on front flap). Minor rubbing to corners of green cloth boards; near fine. In illustrated jacket, with minor edge-wear; also near fine. A truly pleasing copy.

$2500.00

06. The Hairy Who

The Collected Hairy Who Publications: 1966-1969 (with Multiple Signatures)

New York: Matthew Marks Gallery, 2015. First Edition. Quarto. Published on the occasion of the Matthew Marks exhibition "What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art," curated by Dan Nadel. This copy SIGNED to front endpaper by five of the six artists represented: Karl Wirsum, Gladys Nilsson, Art Green, Suellen Rocca, and Jim Falconer. Essential reference with complete, page-by-page reproductions of the four "comic book catalogues," along with Hairy Who posters, flyers, and ephemera. Contents: 168 pages, thoroughly-illustrated in vibrant color. Bump to lower edge of illustrated boards; near fine.

$950.00

07. David Hammons

Tradition and Conflict: Images of a Turbulent Decade, 1963-1973 (Exhibition Poster)

New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1985. Poster (44 x 29 inches) for the landmark exhibition at Harlem's Studio Museum (Jan. 27 - Jun. 30, 1985), curated by Mary Schmidt Campbell, which presented works from Black artists who had grappled with the Civil Rights Movement and its aftermath, from the March on Washington to the U.S. departure from Vietnam. Featuring a striking reproduction of David Hammons' iconic body print, Pray for America (1969), as photographed by Frank Stewart. In addition to Hammons, exhibited artists included Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Mel Edwards, Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, and Faith Ringgold. A fine copy, save for minor rubbing to edges. Hinged using archival methods, in a maple wood frame with UV plexiglass (49.5 x 44 inches). Rare.

$4500.00

08. David Hammons

Blues and the Abstract Truth

Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 1997. First Edition. Slim folio. Published on the occasion of the exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern (May 16 - June 29, 1997). Contents: [32] pages, featuring full-bleed color images of the immersive exhibition spaces that Hammons created in the museum by installing various shades of blue foil on natural light sources, with blues and jazz music filling the acoustic space. Accompanied by texts from Ulrich Loock and John Farris, in both English and German, and a poetic introduction from haf-fa-rool ("Thought (a molecular) synthesis at the beginning"). Rubbing to photo-illustrated boards, else near fine. An uncommon work.

$350.00

09. Keith Haring and William S. Burroughs

Keith Haring and William S. Burroughs: "Apocalypse" and "The Valley" (Invitation)

New York: Charles Lucien Gallery, 1990. Bifolium invitation (8 x 5.5 inches), with screen-printed portrait of the artists to front panel. An announcement card for the exhibition at Charles Lucien Gallery that featured Keith Haring's collaborations with William S. Burroughs—Apocalypse (silkscreens, 1988) and The Valley (etchings, 1989). Tragically, Haring died the day before the show's announced opening, on February 16, 1990. Some minor rubbing to card, else fine. Includes a magnetic plexiglass display frame.

$350.00

10. David Hockney

Cameraworks

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. First American Edition. Square quarto. A wonderful monograph, and still the most comprehensive collection of Hockney's photo-collage work. With text from Lawrence Weschler. This Knopf edition with the preferred jacket design, without titles to the front panel. Near fine in a fine jacket, save for original price sticker to rear panel.

$300.00

11. Seydou Keïta

Seydou Keïta: Photographs: Bamako, Mali, 1948-1963

Göttingen: Steidl, 2011. First Edition. Folio. A stunning compendium of 319 photographs from the Bamako portrait studio of Seydou Keïta (1921-2001), the self-taught photographer who would eventually become the official photographer of the Malian state. Accompanied by interview with Keïta, in conversation with André Magnin (1995), and an insightful text by Kathy Ryan on Keïta's practice. "Keïta's portraits are exceptional testimonials of 1948 Malian society, during the initial years of the [independence movement]. He intuitively reinvented the art of portraiture, searching for elegant poses, delicate gestures, and the soft look that gave his portraits unmatched refinement" (Magnin). A fine copy in pictorial cloth boards with cover-image affixed to front panel. One of Steidl's collaborations with Pascal Dangin; a truly impressive production.

$650.00

12. Yayoi Kusama 

Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show (Wallpaper)

[New York: Gertrude Stein Gallery, 1963]. Artist wallpaper; offset sheet (16.75 x 22 inches). In December 1963, Yayoi Kusama executed her first New York installation at the Gertrude Stein Gallery, centered around an abandoned rowboat that she discovered in a junkyard with Donald Judd, which she then enveloped in her trademark soft-sculpture "protuberances." To reach the aggregate of 1000 boats announced by the show's title, Kusama then repeated that rowboat's image via 999 wallpaper sheets, featuring an askew photo against dark black background; the effect of the image's reflection and repetition producing a kind of pseudo-infinity room. One of the visitors who famously claimed inspiration from this work was Andy Warhol, who would go on to install his Cow Wallpaper at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1966. Here: an un-used sheet from Kusama's installation, either from the original Stein Gallery version or its remounting at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum in 1965. Expected signs of handling to recto of sheet, with faint fold-lines. A short tear to lower edge, and minor staining to verso (not showing through). Overall, a better than very good copy of this exhibition artifact.

$1200.00

13. David LaChapelle and Tadanori Yokoo

LaChapelle Land

New York: Simon & Schuster / Callaway, 1996. First Edition. Folio. LaChappelle's first book, energetically designed by Toshiya Masuda, with covers and box designed by Tadanori Yokoo. Fully-illustrated after 151 color photographs. (Roth 282–283). Includes loose "Land Map," featuring b&w thumbnail images of contents. Fine photo-illustrated laminate boards in a fine box; an exemplary copy.

$250.00

14. Issey Miyake, Marcus Leatherdale, Tadanori Yokoo, Ettore Sottsass, and Various Others

Issey Miyake: Bodyworks

Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1983. First Edition. Folio. An impressive publication on the work of Issey Miyake, published to coincide with the opening of the traveling exhibition Bodyworks (1983-1985). With major contributions from Marcus Leatherdale ("Bodyworks"), Tadanori Yokoo ("Japanese double suicides"), and Ettore Sottsass ("A man who rejects alibi-eternities") and further contributions by—or photographs of—Christo, Miles Davis, Milton Glaser, Jean-Paul Goude, Iman, Grace Jones, Helmut Newton, Robert Rauschenberg, Leni Riefenstahl, and Andy Warhol. Contents: [164] pages, thoroughly illustrated after both black-and-white and color photography, with texts in English, Japanese, and Italian. Near fine in illustrated wrappers. Lacks obi. With original printed acetate jacket, often lacking, showing some wear to lower edge of front panel, but otherwise close to near fine.

$450.00

15. Toni Morrison 

Song of Solomon (Review Copy)

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. First Edition. Octavo. Morrison's third book, cited by the Swedish Academy upon announcement of her receipt of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. This copy accompanied by press release from Knopf, headlined by Mordecai Richler's bold pronouncement: "The best novel of the black experience in America since Invisible Man." A fine copy in black cloth boards, with bright red topstain. In unclipped illustrated jacket; minor scuffing, else also fine. An incredibly sharp copy, housed in quarter-leather slipcase with cloth pull-tab chemise.

$1000.00

16. Wangechi Mutu

Wangechi Mutu: A Fantastic Journey

Durham, NC: Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, 2013. First Edition. Quarto. Published on the occasion of the Mutu exhibition at the Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University (Mar. 21 - Jul. 21, 2013), which also traveled to the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art (North Miami), and the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University. Thoroughly illustrated in color, after reproductions and installation photographs. With texts from curator Trevor Schoonmaker, Kristine Stiles, and Greg Tate, and a lively interview between Mutu and Schoonmaker. A fine copy in illustrated boards.

$250.00

17. Edward Ruscha

Edward Ruscha: 918a Mostra del Cavallino (Invitation)

Venezia: Galleria del Cavallino, 1983. Bifolium invitation card (7.75 inches square). From an exhibition of Ruscha's works at the famed Venetian gallery of Carlo Cadazzo (Apr. 8 - May 9, 1983). Illustrated with a full-bleed color reproduction of the pastel-on-paper Romeo (1981), with an insightful text on how Ruscha most intimately embodied the spirit of American contemporary art. With exhibition history to rear panel. Text in Italian. Minor scuffing, else near fine.

$200.00

18. Edward Ruscha

Metro Plots (Inscribed)

Gagosian Gallery, 1998. First Edition. Oblong quarto. An innovatively-designed catalogue published on the occasion of an exhibition of Ruscha's drawings and paintings at Gagosian, Beverly Hills (Nov. 21, 1998 - Jan. 16, 1999). This copy INSCRIBED by Ruscha in blue marker ("Best to Mace") and dated 1-14-99. With 20 of Ruscha's works reproduced in color, across two separate booklets affixed to versos of cloth boards; one of them folding-out into a crossroads pattern. Images accompanied by an essay from David Hickey ("Mean Streets Mean Streets"), addressing Ruscha's juxtaposition of mountains with Los Angeles streets. Two minor surface abrasions to separate plates, thus close to near fine in blind-stamped cloth boards.

$750.00

19. Dash Snow

Dash Snow: The End of Living. The Beginning of Survival

Berlin: Contemporary Fine Arts, 2007. First Edition. Quarto. The first monograph on Dash Snow, published on the occasion of the artist's solo exhibition at Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (Apr. 28 - Jun. 23, 2007). Thoroughly illustrated in color with images of Snow's collages and photographs. With essays by Anna T. Berger and Nicole Hackert. Text in both English and German. Fine in illustrated boards, with publisher's cardstock slipcase.

$450.00

20. Kyoichi Tsuzuki

Roadside Japan

Tokyo: Aspect Corp, 1997. First Edition. Square quarto. 435 pages. A road trip exposé of kitschy and offbeat Japanese tourist attractions, shot in color with humorous captions by Tsuzuki. "Here you won't find any beautifully manicured Japanese-y scenery, none of those minimalist wabi-sabi spaces that silence foreign visitors. What you get instead is a heaping helping of crass, dumb, and vile nonsense, plus the occasional spot that even local folk had wanted to forget." A small bump to the lower left corner of the boards, else fine in a fine jacket.

$150.00

21. Cy Twombly

Ausstellung Gouachen und Zeichnungen von Cy Twombly (Invitation)

Essen: Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, 1961. First Edition. Bifolium invitation to an exhibition of Cy Twombly's gouaches and drawings; his first solo show in Germany, curated by Rudolf Zwirner at the Folkwang-Museum in Essen. Illustrated with b&w reproduction of a Twombly work to front panel, with a sartorial portrait of the artist to interior, alongside brief bio and exhibition history. Minor rubbing to edges of yellow cardstock, else fine. Scarce, with single OCLC record located (Köln).

$650.00

22. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Various Others

11 Pop Artists: The New Image (Invitation)

München: Galerie Friedrich + Dahlem, 1966. Large invitation card (5.5 x 8.25 in.) for the traveling exhibition 11 Pop Artists, featuring a striking reproduction of Warhol's Jacqueline Kennedy II silkscreen, printed to reflective cardstock. This version installed at Heiner Friedrich's first gallery in Munich (Mar. 4 - Apr. 1, 1966); the show also included works from Allan D’Arcangelo, Jim Dine, Allen Jones, Gerald Laing, Roy Lichtenstein, Peter Phillips, Mel Ramos, James Rosenquist, John Wesley, and Tom Wesselmann. Scarce. A sharp, near fine copy. Includes a magnetic plexiglass display frame.

$750.00

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