Detail from one of 11 collages in Richard Prince's unique 2008 reworking of his Canal Zone catalogue using original source materials. See number 12 below.
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065Harper's Books is pleased to announce participation in this week's New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, organized by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. You can find us at Booth E9, with a selection of booth highlights below. Inquire for available tickets.
1. Ruth Asawa Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective View (Signed) San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Art, 1973. First Edition. Small quarto. Catalogue for an early Ruth Asawa retrospective 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. This copy SIGNED by Asawa beneath her frontispiece portrait; further illustrated after two dozen black-and-white photos of her artworks. Modest edge-wear to glossy illustrated wrappers; about near fine. $1500.00
2. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol / Michael Halsband Warhol / Basquiat: Paintings (Exhibition Poster) New York: Tony Shafrazi and Bruno Bischofberger, 1985. First Edition. Offset lithograph (19 by 12 inches). Exhibition poster for the debut of a series of collaborative paintings by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat at Tony Shafrazi's Mercer Street gallery (Sept. 14–Oct. 19, 1985). Boldly illustrated with the iconic boxing portrait from the duo's photo session with Michael Halsband. Some rubbing at foldlines, but a bright, pleasing copy; near fine. Hinged in black lacquer frame with UV glass (22.5 x 15.75 inches). $4000.00
3. Frantisek Drtikol Žena ve světle. [Woman in Light] Praha: E. Beaufort, [1930]. First Edition. Octavo. A masterpiece of interwar photobooks, with 46 black-and-white nudes blending Drtikol's pictorial sensibility with modernist lighting and staging. (Parr / Badger, v1, 79; Roth 64-65). Orange cloth boards with printed label to front panel; save for some bowing to boards and tight binding, a near fine copy. In a remarkably sharp copy of the rare photo-illustrated jacket, with only minor scuffing to rear panel; fine. Housed in custom cloth clamshell case with leather lettering piece. An exquisite copy. $17,500.00
4. Walker Evans [A Group of 5 MoMA Exhibition Photographs of African Art] New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1935. An impressive group of 5 silver gelatin prints (four of them trimmed to 9 x 4 inches; one of them 9 x 3 in.), with hand-stamps to versos. At the age of 32, a number of years before he joined the Farm Security Administration, Walker Evans was commissioned by Alfred H. Barr Jr., the first Director of the Museum of Modern Art, to document MoMA's pioneering 1935 exhibition of African sculptures—in which these objects were presented to the public as artworks, rather than as ethnographic curiosities. For almost six weeks, Evans devoted himself to documenting the more than 600 sculptures that had been assembled for the exhibition, resulting in a set of portfolios featuring 477 silver gelatin prints. From this output, the current group includes: (1) No. 10, Head of a Mule (French Sudan); (2)
No. 34, Covered Bowl with Equestrian Figure (French Sudan); (3) No. 323, Seated Figure of a Woman (Cameroon); (4) No. 361, Figure (Pahouin); and (5) No. 442, Figure of Man (Tanganyika?). The group handsomely preserved in wooden frames (10.5 x 5 in. max), with xerographic labels to versos. $17,500.00
5. Walker Evans / Robert Frank American Photographs (Robert Frank's Copy, Inscribed by Evans) New York: Museum of
Modern Art, 1938. First Edition. Small quarto. INSCRIBED by Walker Evans to Robert Frank to front endpaper: "Robert Frank. Where did you get this book[?]. I would happily give it to you, for good reasons, if I had a copy. W.E." Arguably the most significant association copy of Evans' landmark photobook, documenting one of the art form's most consequential lines of influence. In his 1958 Statement published in U.S. Camera— introducing his own landmark work, The Americans—the Swiss-born Frank directly acknowledged his debt to Evans: "The work of two contemporary photographers, Bill Brandt of England and the American, Walker Evans, have influenced me. When I first looked at Walker Evans' photographs, I thought of something Malraux wrote: 'To transform destiny into awareness.' One is embarrassed to want so much for oneself. But, how
else are you going to justify your failure and your effort?" With pencil annotation to plate 19. Cosmetic split at rear pastedown and minor scuffing to spine label; a close to near fine copy, lacking the jacket, with errata slip tipped-in at front. Housed in half-leather clamshell with gilt lettering to spine. An extraordinary association copy; Frank's own copy of his model photobook, warmly inscribed by Evans. $150,000.00
6. Nan Goldin Cookie Mueller: Photographs New York: Pace/MacGill Gallery, 1991. First Edition. Oblong octavo. A memorial photobook from Nan Goldin for her close friend Cookie Mueller, who died of AIDS-related illness on November 10, 1989. Featuring 15 full-page reproductions of Goldin's portraits of Mueller over the years, which are introduced by a short eulogy from Goldin, intimately printed in facsimile manuscript. Concluding with a transcript of the last letter Goldin received from Mueller. A fine copy in side-stapled wrappers. A moving tribute, uncommon to the trade. $850.00
7. James Joyce and Eric Gill Ulysses (Deluxe Edition with Publisher's Slipcase, Signed by Joyce) London: John Lane Bodley Head, 1936. First Edition printed in Britain. Thick quarto. Deluxe Edition, bound in full vellum; gilt-stamped boards famously designed by Eric Gill, with his Homeric bow motif. Hand-numbered as 10 of 100 copies and SIGNED by Joyce to colophon. This much-anticipated luxury edition of James Joyce’s opus—advertised by Bodley Head as the work's "final and definitive" edition, with proofs corrected by Joyce—was published after the landmark 1933 trial United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, in which Random House successfully challenged the work’s American publication ban for obscenity; a legal history that's represented by three appendices of materials reproduced at rear, including a letter from Joyce to Random House’s head Bennett Cerf. This copy bumped to top of spine, with
thumb-soling to vellum and some dusting to textblock edges. Overall: a close to near fine copy with remarkably crisp interior and firm hinges. Accompanied by the publisher's original patterned slipcase—now increasingly uncommon—with printed Bodley Head label affixed to front panel; no. 10 of 100 accomplished in manuscript. Original slipcase shows some scuffing and wear at corners, with previous collector's label to spine. Housed in custom half-leather slipcase with pull-tab chemise and gilt lettering to spine. A very pleasing copy of this milestone Joyce edition. $45,000.00
8. Martin Kippenberger Al Vostro Servizio [Hamburg: Self-published], 1977. First Edition.
Octavo. One of only 100 copies of Martin Kippenberger's first artist's book; a collaborative project with Achim Duchow and Jochen Krüger, published on the occasion of a group exhibition at Hamburg's Funcius Petersen (Oct. 28, 1977). Kippenberger's contribution—credited to Kippy Kippensberger (pp. 74-120)—includes dozens of xerographic reproductions of his early cycle of black-and-white Florence paintings (Uno di voi, un tedesco in Firenze), accompanied by a transcript of his conversation with the German actor Balduin Baas from just a few days before the exhibition's opening. Forming the mid-section, Jochen Krüger's chiaroscuro street photography imbues this volume with the feel of a Provoke publication. (Koch 1). Very faint fading to spine, else a remarkably fine copy in bold illustrated wrappers. Only two OCLC records located, both of them in Switzerland;
MoMA also records a copy. A Kippenberger rarity. $15,000.00
9. Martin Kippenberger I Had a Vision (One of 20 Unique Copies with Watercolor Jacket) San Francisco: Museum of Modern Art, 1991. Octavo. Deluxe Edition of what was effectively the first (auto) bibliography of Kippenberger's bookworks, published on the occasion of his SFMOMA exhibition "Put Your Eye in Your Mouth" (Jun. 13–Aug. 25, 1991). Interspersed with a lengthy interview of Kippenberger by Jutta Koether (150+ pp., printed in English), this artist's catalogue reproduces 72 watercolors depicting the covers from Kippenberger's output of artist's books and catalogues—each depicted with a magnifying glass atop its cover—as executed by his studio assistants Adam Kuczynski and Merlin Carpenter. With a corresponding bibliography printed at rear. One step further: this deluxe copy is one of 20 unique examples to which Kippenberger adds a meta structure, by contributing an original
watercolor jacket that incorporates the cover design of the wrappers it's enveloping—thus including the volume within its own bibliographical scope. Each of these 20 hand-painted jackets place the magnifying glass in a different position; in this case, directly above the words San Francisco. (Koch 93; Hermes 48). A near fine copy of the catalogue, SIGNED by Kippenberger to endpaper in blue ink (1994). In a remarkably fine example of the jacket; watercolor over pencil on ivory-colored vellum (8.75 x 19.5 inches), SIGNED by Kippenberger (1991) in pencil to inner flap. A testament to the centrality of the book within Kippenberger's artistic vision. $45,000.00
10. Germaine Krull Études de Nu Paris: Librairie des Arts
Décoratif, 1930. First Edition. Large octavo. Cloth-backed portfolio, featuring 24 arresting photo-engraved plates. Two years after her modernist masterpiece Métal, Krull changes gears with this sensual, painterly interpretation of the female nude, featuring sapphic undertones reminiscent of her earlier photography from late-1920s Berlin. Introduced by a poetically-printed version of Krull's manifesto on photography as métier, printed to a loose gathering of text. (Parr / Badger, v1, 78). Minimal foxing to edges of some plates (8.75 x 6.25 in., sheets), but otherwise an exemplary copy in the original portfolio, with cloth ties; close to fine. Printed label to front panel shows marginal foxing, with a contemporary ownership inscription (1931). Housed in a custom cloth clamshell case, with leather lettering piece to spine. $9500.00
11. Ken Price and Charles Bukowski Heat Wave (Signed by Price with 15 Prints) Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Graphic Arts, 1995. Limited Edition. No. 61 of 170 hand-numbered copies. Perhaps the greatest visual achievement of John Martin's Black Sparrow Press, featuring 15 color serigraphs from Ken Price—of Los Angeles scenes in smoggy hues—to accompany a series of poems from Charles Bukowski (e.g. Traffic Report, Junk, Piss, Cockroach, Traffic Ticket, Flophouse, Bright Red Car, Decline). As called-for, four of the serigraphs are SIGNED by Price, with all of them blind-stamped by artist's and publisher's marks; housed in a die-cut tray built-into the rear board. With a CD housed in sleeve affixed to front pastedown, featuring an audio recording of Bukowski reciting his poems. A fine copy in cream cloth boards, with publisher's plexiglass slipcase; all elements housed within the scarce foam-lined
mailing box, with titles printed directly to front panel. Box lightly worn with a few small stains, but well-preserved. A beautiful copy of an evocation of mid-90s L.A. by two of its foremost artists. $10,000.00
12. Richard Prince Canal Zone (Unique Reworked Copy) New York: Gagosian, 2008. Oblong folio. One of two recorded bookworks created by Richard Prince after his 2008 Canal Zone cycle of paintings. Being a reworked copy of the corresponding Gagosian catalogue—which was at one point legally ordered to be destroyed during the infamous Cariou copyright lawsuit—with Prince here fashioning 11 collages that juxtapose reproductions of the final paintings with cut-up elements of their source materials, many of them over-painted or embellished with unique drawings and accompanied by the loaded annotation: "Original." With an additional 7 interventions made by Prince throughout the catalogue (for a total of 18), including a pasted reproduction of the cover image from Women (2004). SIGNED by Prince to front endpaper, and dated 2008. A fine copy, in thick illustrated boards; housed in custom cloth
clamshell with leather lettering piece to spine. A unique, self-reflexive bookwork, addressing one of the central themes of Prince's oeuvre. $100,000.00
13. Edward Ruscha [A Complete Set of Ruscha's Artist's Books with Plexiglass Cases] Mostly Southern California: Various Publishers, 1963-1978. Few contemporary artists have incorporated the book into their practice quite like Ed Ruscha. As the recent MoMA retrospective (Ed Ruscha / Now Then) so brilliantly displayed, the book was not only a means of distribution for Ruscha, but an integral element of his formal and thematic explorations. Present here: a collection of Ruscha's sixteen artist's books, in near fine to fine condition, with six of the works either inscribed or signed by Ruscha, including his legendary first effort, Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963). These volumes each housed in custom plexiglass cases, allowing for wall-mounted display. For full description, click here. $125,000.00
14. (Street Fashion) / Shoichi Aoki and Noriko Kojima FRUiTS (Run of first 21 Issues) Tokyo: The Street Editorial Office, 1997–1999. First Edition. Slim quarto. "Fashion is a kind of ability." A striking run of the first 21 issues, July 1997 through April 1999, of the Japanese street bible FRUiTS, founded by photographer Shoichi Aoki and editor Noriko Kojima to document what would become known as Harajuku fashion. Each issue (80 pp.) overflowing with full-bleed color photography of the emergent style, which Aoki would eventually articulate as an intuitive blending of traditional Japanese dress with Western influences of goth and punk—and something of a rebellion against the black-garbed "crows" of Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo. Aoki himself would no longer be
responsible for the magazine's photography after 2002, and it would cease publication in 2017 (after 233 issues) purportedly because "there are no more fashionable kids to photograph." Most issues also featured centerfold interviews with designers, with a number showcasing businesses from local shopping districts. Text in Japanese. Minor rubbing to photo-illustrated wrappers, with one issue (no. 14) showing light dampstaining to preliminary pages. Overall: a near fine set. Rare, with only a single OCLC record located in the Netherlands; Phaidon would eventually publish two compilations, in 2001 and 2005. A touchstone for contemporary anthropology and fashion design. $4000.00
15. Moï Ver (Moshé Raviv-Vorobeichic) Paris: 80 Photographies de Moï Ver Paris: Éditions Jeanne Walter, 1931. First Edition. Quarto. Number 682 of 1000 press-numbered copies. Simultaneously one of the greatest avant-garde photobooks and one of the most insightful Parisian paeans; Parr & Badger remark on the absolute gulf that stands between the dynamism of Moï Ver's Paris—with its complex photomontage techniques and kinetic layout—and the conservative stillness of Atget, whose monograph on the city was published, remarkably, only one year prior. Introduced with text from Fernand Léger. (Roth 70-71; Parr / Badger, v1, 128-129). Trace foxing to the top edge of textblock, else a beautiful, close to fine copy. In plain wrappers, enclosed by the distinctive French-fold jacket that boasts the masterful superimposition of smokestacks over stone colonnade; also close to fine. Housed in
custom cloth slipcase with a matching lettered chemise. A memorable copy of this consensus high-spot. $45,000.00
16. Martin Wong and Sam Barrett Sammy's Magic Land Berkeley, CA: Self-published, 1967. First Edition. Octavo (18 pages). An early bookwork from Martin Wong—under the pseudonym Smoky Watermelon—featuring twelve of his illustrations to accompany a psychedelic narrative from his Berkeley classmate Sam Barrett, with the text rendered in Wong's already distinctive hand-lettering. A remarkably fine copy, with slightest hint of toning to side-stapled illustrated wrappers. Scarce, with only a single OCLC record located. $3500.00
17. Martin Wong and The Cockettes Cockettes: Pearls over Shanghai (Event Poster) San Francisco: The Palace, 1970. Black-and-white offset print on heavy paper (11.5 x 8.5 inches). A virtuosic poster created by Martin Wong for a midnight performance by the radical drag troupe The Cockettes, whom he befriended through San Francisco's communal Kaliflower milieu. The advertised performance of Pearls over Shanghai has since been described as "a comic operetta about white slavery and miscegenation in 1930s China." A fine copy. Scarce. $1250.00
18. Christopher Wool Black Book (One of 8 Artist's Proofs with Box) New York: Thea Westreich / Cologne: Gisella [sic] Capitain, 1989. Limited Edition. Oversized folio (23 in. tall). One of 8 Artist's Proof copies (III/VIII), in excess of the edition of 350 numbered copies; SIGNED and hand-numbered to colophon. Christopher Wool's first major bookwork, fully illustrated after 17 of his canonical word paintings: spokesman, insomniac, pessimist, prankster, chameleon, adversary, comedian, terrorist, hypnotist, hypocrite, celebrity, authority, extremist, persuader, assistant, assassin, and paranoiac. This is a remarkably fine copy, with only a hint of scuffing to the plain black papered boards—and still accompanied by the publishers'
original box, featuring a typescript Thea Westreich label to the front panel, identifying this as one of Wool's proofs. An astounding copy of one of the most important artist's books from the last three decades. $50,000.00
19. Zaj La escritura moderna. [A large collection of 70 cartones from the Spanish avant-garde troupe Zaj] Zaj: mostly Madrid, 1965–1982. An impressively large group of 70 printed cards of various dimensions (2.5 x 3.75 in. to 14.5 x 13.75 in.), produced by the Spanish avant-garde troupe Zaj. "The most controversial work that's being done today in theater and music is that being done by Zaj. It is not easy to digest, but it is elegant and unforgettable" (John Cage). Formed in Madrid by Juan Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, and Ramón Barce in 1964—and later joined by the likes of Esther Ferrer and José Luis Castillejo—Zaj followed the lead of early Fluxus, with a post-musical understanding of the
concert as a potential venue for conceptualism, humor, and action. Organizing their first Festival the next year, Zaj pushed this research beyond the concert hall and into the realm of networked space, by adding a Concierto Postal to their programme of live events. From that point on, a significant amount of Zaj's activity took place in the form of cartones; a style of mail-art that—like much about Zaj—resists definition. Present in this unusually deep collection, we can identify at least six genres of cartones: (1) twenty invitations to Zaj concerts and events, often listing their performance programmes; (2) eight greeting cards, mostly wishing their audience a New Year full of meditation; (3) six manifesto texts; (4) seven book announcements; (5) twenty-four poetic or conceptual works, sometimes referred to as etcéteras; (6) and
five groups of materials produced to animate Zaj's three early Festivals (1965–1966). Uniformly preserved in near fine to fine condition, with a number of original mailing envelopes included. Inquire for a full descriptive list, with more images here. $12,500.00
20. Marian Zazeela The Astrological Review: Winter 1970 (Original Drawing Signed) [New York], 1969. Original ink drawing to wove sheet (8.5 x 11 inches), SIGNED by Zazeela to lower margin, along with gift inscription from March 1972. Original source drawing for Zazeela's mandala-like cover art for the Winter 1970 issue of The Astrological Review. For this issue, editor David Hayes included a text from La Monte Young describing the "total environmental set of frequency structures of sound and light" that constituted his and Zazeela's Map of 49's Dream The Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery. Both sheet and ink are bright and clean; mounted in contemporary wooden frame (12.25 x 10 inches). An impressive example of Zazeela's distinctive ink-work. $4000.00
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