Many black & white illus., four original artist’s “pageworks” by Albrecht D., and photograph pasted to lower cover. 8vo (280 x 108 mm.) & 4to (210 x 220 mm.), orig. printed green wrappers, staple-bound. San Francisco: S. Leiber, April 1998.

Leiber’s 33rd catalogue; like the others issued by him, it is rare. The leaves, printed in two sizes, are bound in alternating format, and correspond to the materials they describe. This catalogue imitates a work created by the German artist and publisher Albrecht D. (b. 1944), the German artist and founder of the Reflection Press. Leiber provides a concise history of the press and a biography... More

48 pp. Tall 8vo (225 x 90 mm.), semi-stiff printed wrappers, perfect bound. [From lower wrapper]: Barton, Vermont: [1973-74].

A scarce catalogue offering early artists’ publications. The cheery (but briefly sardonic) Current Highlights reads: “Wherever one turns one reads or hears about the ‘demise of publishing’ and it is perhaps not fashionable nor even realistic to feel positive about it. But somehow we do and we’ve been publishing for nearly ten years now. That’s a long time in anybody’s book…

“We grew out of Fluxus originally and Fluxus has come and mostly gone. They hold a bash every once in... More

152 pp. Small 8vo (159 x 100 mm.), cont. paste-paper wrappers (spine partly perished), stitched as issued. Paris: L. P. Dubray, 1810.

First edition of this uncommon exhibition guide and catalogue. Customarily, the French school would appear last in such guides; however, here, the school is placed first. This catalogue lists 1233 paintings, which were displayed in the portion of the Louvre renamed to celebrate Napoleon. This exhibition constituted a magnificent display of Old Masters.

Very good copy. More

3 p.l., 155 pp. 8vo (171 x 102 mm.), cont. mottled calf (joints a little rubbed and cracked at head & tail, but strong), spine gilt, red morocco lettering-piece on spine. The Hague: J. Neaulme, 1747.

First edition of this groundbreaking work on the arts in France, composed by the “father of modern art criticism” (Oxford Art online, by A. McClellan). La Font (1688-1771) was employed at Versailles as Gentilhomme de la Reine to Marie Leczinska, and befriended the painter F. Lemoyne. He anonymously wrote several other well-regarded books on the arts.

The present work, in addition to his Sentimens (1754), another Salon review, “fuelled an explosion in Salon criticism, much of it anonymous, in the second half of the 18th century and marked a turning-point not just in the history of art criticism but in the relationship between art and politics as well.”–Oxford Art online. More

20, [1] unnumbered pages. 8vo (200 x 130 mm.), printed thick paper wrappers. Madrid: Estampa Ediciones, 1991.

One of Carrión’s rare bookworks, posthumously published by the Other Books and So Archive; from a numbered edition of 300. This work, printed offset, contains a collection of text-based poems by Carrión employing the first three or four letters of the alphabet.

As new. WorldCat records only three copies in North America. More

Many illus in the text. Four unnumbered leaves. Small folio (298 x 210), orig. printed wrappers, staple-bound. Amsterdam: U. Carrión, 1981.

Very rare lecture notes serving as the explanation for a piece of performance art created by Carrión to examine informal modes of communication. The artist, with the help of friends, spread gossip about himself around Amsterdam. This piece also entailed a lecture and a video recapitulating the results of this experiment-cum-artwork. The text of this work is printed in parallel Dutch and English texts. Each step of the performance is explained, and definitions, accompanied by diagrams, of gossip, scandal, rumor, etc.... More

Text illus. Four unnumbered leaves. Printed sheets (297 x 210 mm.), orig. wrappers, staple-bound. [From the first page]: Hou, Denmark: Egmont Højskolen, Feb. 1979.

A very scarce exhibition catalogue crafted by Carrión. The artist also curated exhibitions on bookworks, mail art, and rubber stamp books in Emmastad, Curaçao; Warsaw; Amsterdam; Rotterdam; Budapest; Alkmaar; Maastricht; Cambridge, England, etc. The present catalogue, with text in English and Danish, begins with Carrión thanking the artist Niels Lomholt. He then describes the exhibited materials: “Time pressures didn’t allow for a wide research, but I believe that the show includes most if not all the significant artists... More

Scroll (420 x 12,000 mm.), with elaborate silk brocade endpaper at beginning. [Japan]: 1880-86.

This beautifully rendered scroll of natural history paintings was executed, with one exception, by Akio (or Keigu) Yamamoto (1827-1903), Confucian scholar, doctor, botanist, and highly gifted artist. He was born in Kyoto, the son of the prominent doctor and botanist Boyo Yamamoto (1778-1859), the direct disciple of Ono Ranzan (1729-1810), the famous professor of botany who wrote a series of classic botanical books.

Keigu “continued his father’s work in his private school in Osaka and spent his time organizing meetings that were regularly attended by both honzogaku amateurs... More

19 full-page & one double-page woodcuts. 25; 39; 25; 24 folding leaves (pagination continuous for the sections on tea). Four vols. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers with bright orange endpapers, new stitching. [China: Ming dynasty, ca. 1573-1620].

A rare enlarged edition of this important collection of Chinese gastronomic classics, dealing with tea, various alcohols, crabs, and vegetables.

The first volume and the first part of the second volume contains the Cha jing by Yu Lu in ten chapters and edited by Shixian Wang (active 16th-17th century), who also wrote on botany. “The first great work on tea, and the basis for most of our knowledge concerning its... More

vi, 82 pp. 8vo (190 x 122 mm.), attractive green antique half-calf marbled boards, spine gilt. [Paris: Desenne, An VI or 1797].

An uncommon work by the influential art dealer and advisor to the Louvre commission. Lebrun (1748-1813), the prominent Parisian art dealer, leading connoisseur of Dutch and Flemish art, and husband of the court painter Vigée Lebrun, played an outsized role in the creation of the Louvre. He was essential in the compilation of desiderata lists for the French confiscations of art in conquered territories throughout Europe. Then, once the artworks arrived in Paris, Lebrun was charged with their cataloguing and integration. More

1 p.l., 120 pp.; 21 p. & 19 leaves of author index in a contemporary hand. Two parts in one vol. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed paste-paper boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Paris: G. Martin, 1752.

One in a series of the very rare later auction catalogues issued by Gabriel Martin (the Paris de Meyzieu of 1761 being his last). This library was formed by Gravelle (1699-1752), a magistrate in the court of inquiry of the Paris Parliament who is today best remembered for his Recueil de pierres gravées antiques, published between 1732 and 1739, and for his parody L’Amant déguisé, which... More

Fine lithographed port. of the collector & 18 fine plates (eight lithographed & ten engraved). 2 p.l., 47, [1] pp., one leaf of errata. Folio, orig. printed limp boards (minor foxing, spine worn). [Leipzig?]: 1826.

[with]:

—. Zweites Verzeichniss der Gemälde-Sammlung sowie der vorzüglichsten Handzeichnungen, Kupferstiche, Kupferstichwerke und plastischen Gegenstände des Freiherrn v. Speck-Sternburg…Heraugegeben und mit historisch-biographischen Bemerkungen und Erklärungen begleitet vom Besitzer derselben. Finely engraved front. port. of the collector & 19 plates (six are lithographed & 13 engraved, some with foxing). 3 p.l., 186 pp. Large 4to, orig. half-calf & printed boards, spine nicely gilt, red leather lettering piece on spine. Leipzig: K. Tauchnitz, 1837. More