iv, 54 pp. Small 8vo (155 x 100 mm.), modern blue wrapper, stitched. Munich: 1869.

An unrecorded and early edition of the catalogue inventorying painted porcelains displayed at Munich’s Neue Pinakothek; on WorldCat, the earliest listed work under this title is from 1870. Designed by Friedrich von Gärtner and August von Voit and completed in 1853, the Neue Pinakothek was intended to house Ludwig I’s collection. Allied bombing destroyed the original building in 1944, only in 1981 was the museum rebuilt.

This is an interesting catalogue of porcelain bearing reproductions of celebrated pictures. At the porcelain manufactory at Nymphenburg, artists such as Anton Auer, Christian... More

Black & white illus. throughout. [30] pp. (incl. inside of wrappers). 4to (274 x 214 mm.), orig. printed wrappers, staple-bound. New York: 1976.

Scarce and essential early documentation of Fluxus materials and artists’ books. This is the first catalogue issued by Backworks, a New York-based collaboration between Barbara Moore and Jon Hendricks, specializing in documents and artifacts of avant-garde and experimental art. Located at 488 Greenwich Street, the store was active into the early 1980s. In 1981, Hendricks left the partnership to become curator of the Fluxus collection formed by Gilbert and Lila Silverman (now at the Museum of Modern Art, New York), much of... More

Several black & white full-page illus. Unpaginated. 8vo, pictorial printed wrappers, staple-bound. Torino: 2001.

Large bookseller’s catalogue focused on post-war art, with extensive sections devoted to pop art, Arte povera, concrete poetry, utopian architecture, artists’ books and periodicals, etc. 1309 items are offered.

In fine condition. More

Two full-page ink drawings & three pages depicting the Roman alphabet. 14; 17 folding leaves. Two parts in one vol. 8vo (220 x 148 mm.), cont. blue wrappers (a bit worn), manuscript title-label on upper wrapper, new stitching. [Japan: from lower paste-down, in trans.]: “copied in 1803.”

A most interesting manuscript copy of the suppressed Oranda banashi (1765) by botanist and early rangaku scholar Rishun Goto (1696-1771). It is the first printed book to clearly convey the Roman alphabet and its orthography to Japan. Of the original printing, we can find only a single copy — from Charles Ralph Boxer’s collection — at Indiana University among... More

400-500 leaves. Two sheets & eleven notebooks in various formats from small 8vo to large 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [Nagano Prefecture: 1880-95].

The excellent rice and pure mountain waters of Nagano Prefecture have always contributed to the making of fine sake. Today, Nagano boasts the second-most sake breweries of any prefecture in the country.

The wealthy and powerful Ikegami family has had a long history in Nagano and was goyotatsu shonin (official purveyor) to the local Takato Fiefdom. In the 16th century, the Ikegami family entered into the businesses of manufacturing porcelain, soy sauce, vinegar, and sake, and its enterprises... More

Three lithographed folding tables in Vol. I; four folding engraved plates & one folding printed table in Vol. II. 1 p.l., xvii, [1], 204 pp.; 1 p.l., xxiii, [1], 264 pp. Two vols. in one. 8vo, cont. paste-paper boards (a bit worn), green & red leather lettering pieces on spine. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1820-21.

First edition of the author’s first major work, preceded only by his medical dissertation on belladonna, which appeared in 1819. The Neueste Phytochemische Entdeckungen… contains — on pages 144-59 of Vol. I — the earliest identification of caffeine (Kaffebase). The coffee beans used in Runge’s laboratory experiments were given to him by... More

20-23 columns per sheet, 17 characters per column (column height 203-04 mm.), printed on 21 joined sheets (263 mm. high, sheet lengths ranging from 374 to 443 mm., total printed length 9105 mm., with endpaper at beginning 9290 mm.), carefully backed in recent times, attached at end to a wooden roller. [Nara: 1222-27].

A rare early printed sutra, part of the Karoku-ban edition printed in 1222-27. It has been printed on high-quality thick paper (gampi, or mulberry fibers), and printed in bold, thick strokes, using black sumi ink, typical of Kamakura and Muromachi kasuga-ban printings (kasuga-ban is a general term for publications of the Nara monasteries).

The Mahaprajnaparamitasutra is a massive compilation of scriptural literature said to have been preached by the Buddha in four different places to 16 discrete assemblies. It includes seminal works such as the Prajnaparamita in One Hundred Thousand Lines and the Diamond Sutra. “This recension of the scripture is only extant in a Chinese translation made in six hundred rolls by Xuanzang and his translation team between the years 660 and 663. Xuanzang’s recension is by far the largest of all the prajnaparamita scriptures in the Chinese Buddhist canon…The Mahaprajnaparamitasutra also often holds pride of place as the first sutra found in many traditional East Asian Buddhist scriptural canons.”–Buswell & Lopez, eds., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 505. More

Some black & white illus. [12] pp. Tall 8vo (279 x 108 mm.), printed semi-stiff wrappers designed by Hompson, staple-bound. New York: 1991.

The catalogue for an important exhibition of Davi Det Hompson’s oeuvre that took place at Bound & Unbound’s premises. It begins with an important essay by Clive Phillpot on Hompson’s works, followed by a biography, chronology of Hompson’s exhibitions, the artist’s C.V., and finally the exhibition checklist. The majority of the materials exhibited were for sale. The display presented Hompson’s early artists’ books, pamphlets, some of his wordworks, posters, and exhibition catalogues.

With this catalogue, we also include a limited edition silkscreened folding print by Hompson — 120 copies and signed by the artist — that was mailed separately or available for sale at the exhibition for $7.00, the printed press release, and the postcard announcement for the show. More

Full-bleed black & white illus. throughout. Eight unnumbered leaves. Small 8vo, pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. [Baden, Switzerland]: Kodoji Press, 2017.

A series of photographs focused on the imprints of artists’ books and exhibition catalogues published in New York. A number of the publications are instantly recognizable. It includes books published by Multiples, Inc. (Marian Goodman), Rizzoli, Sperone, Taschen, Skarstedt Gallery, Assouline, Siegelaub and J. Wendler, 38th Street Publishers, etc. The books are by LeWitt, Siegelaub, Tuttle, Prince, Graham, Wool, Judd, S. Levine, Koons, Lawler, Warhol, Halley, etc. A list of the artists featured is found on the inside of the lower wrapper.

One of Jonathan Monk’s rarer books. In fine condition. No stated edition size. More

Eight black & white illus. [12] pp. Accordion format (198 x 105 mm. closed, 1188 x 105 mm. fully unfolded). London: [1971].

The extremely rare catalogue for Nigel Greenwood’s 1971 exhibition of Ruscha’s artists’ books. This was the second international exhibition of these fabled works; Heiner Friedrich had presented them the previous year in Munich (17 March-4 April). An enthusiastic advocate of editioned books as original artworks, Greenwood (1941-2004) became the first gallerist to show the artist’s work in London with the present exhibition on 7-30 January 1971. There is presumably a copy of this catalogue at the Tate, where Greenwood’s archive is held, but on WorldCat... More

Many color illus. 63 pp. Square 4to, translucent wrappers. Sewanee, Tennessee: 2006.

Scarce exhibition catalogue of American artists’ books, one of 500 copies. The show was held at Sewanee, The University of the South’s University Art Gallery and Jesse Ball duPont Library, and guest curated by Ruth Rogers. Rogers selected the work of artists such as Johanna Drucker, Brad Freeman, Sarah Horowitz, Doug Beube, Amanda Nelsen, Sam Winston, Carolee Campbell, Joseph Beuys, etc. It amounts to a fascinating display of various structures, materials, printing methods, and interpretations of the book.

Near fine. More

Three stapled legal sheets, printed on both sides. New York: 1991.

The second Bound & Unbound list distributed in 1991, it focused on performance art. We note materials related to Fluxus, Judson Dance Theater, video art, ephemera, etc.

In fine condition. More