Black & white illus. 56, [16] pp. Oblong 4to (170 x 201 mm.), green cloth-backed pictorial boards. Groningen: Centrum Beeldende Kunst, 1991.

Scarce catalogue published in conjunction with an exhibition at Groningen’s Centrum Beeldende Kunst, organized by the bookdealer Johan Deumens. With essays by Anne Moeglin-Delcroix and Deumens, and contributions by Frans Baake, Guy Bleus, Michael Buthe, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Sjoerd Hofstra, Christine & Irene Hohenbuchler, Alfred Kocman, Per Jonas, Roland Sips, Corrie van de Vendel/Hayo van Gemerden, Hans Waanders, and Giuseppe Zevola. The texts are all translated into English on the final 16 pages.

In 1980, with Juan J.... More

Single A4 sheet, offset-printed. Amsterdam: 1984.

A very rare uncut sheet comprising four announcements for Ulises Carrión’s 1983 audiowork, taken from a radio program he conceived the previous year. The cassette Trios & Boleros was distributed through Time Based Arts.

“Trios & Boleros (1983) was produced as a part of a series by a number of artists, writers and composers. The Dutch public broadcasting company VPRO allocated broadcast time to individual, unrelated productions under the umbrella title of ‘Art on the Radio, the Radio as Art’. No mathematical text analysis here: Ulises narrates the history of the bolero, defining the... More

Amsterdam: 1977.

The blue version of this postcard distributed by Ulises Carrión for his Definitions of art exhibition, held at Other Books and So in March 1977. Recipients were asked to respond with their definition of art on the verso. Carrión received 367 answers.

From the recto: “A show called ‘Definitions of art’ will be held at OTHER BOOKS AND SO Herengracht 227 Amsterdam from 1st March to 26th March 1977. Everybody is invited to participate, regardless of profession, sex, age, etc. […]

“Just write your definition (of what art is) on the back of this card, put it in... More

Photolithographed color illustrations. [21] leaves mounted on orig. stubs (two double-page & folding). Large square 4to (305 x 321 mm.), navy blue cloth boards, title on spine, cloth-covered slipcase. Houston: Texas Gallery, 1982.

One of LeWitt’s rarest artist’s books, produced in an unusually small edition of 15 copies (with 8 A.P.) and signed by LeWitt (1928-2007) on the half-title. Published by Fredericka Hunter’s Texas Gallery, this book is composed of photolithographs in alternating blue, yellow, red, green, and black, all executed by Ryo Watanabe on fine Rives BFK paper. A departure from his works based on geometric permutations, Statues (a... More

Folio (473 x 290 mm.), “orig.” wrappers, “orig.” title label on upper cover, stitched as issued. N.d.: n.p. [but probably somewhere in China sometime in the last century].

The Yongle Encyclopedia [Yongle Dadian], the world’s largest encyclopedia, was completed in 1408 through the efforts of 2169 scholars working in the then capital of Nanking. It consisted of 22,877 manuscript fascicles (juan) and was bound in 11,095 volumes, with a total of about 370,000,000 characters. This manuscript was later lost in unknown circumstances but not before the Jiajing emperor (1507-67; r. 1521-67) had ordered a copy of the entire original manuscript... More

1 p.l., 51 folding leaves of photographic reproductions & facsimiles, 3 folding leaves of afterword by Song Lian (1310-81). Folio, orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers, orig. printed title label on upper cover, orig. stitching. Beijing: Guo li gugong bowuyuan, 1947.

First edition of an important book in the history of Chinese phonology. The oldest surviving dictionary arranging characters according to pronunciation was the Qieyun, completed in 601. Compiled by Lu Fayan, a Sui Dynasty scholar, and others, the text was lost long ago. Subsequent scholars resorted to later versions of the text, most notably the Kanmiu buque Qieyun by Renxu Wang... More

95 (including title printed on purple paper); 99 folding leaves. 13 juan in two vols. 8vo, orig. green wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. [China]: Han qing yi, 1882.

Philosopher, mathematician, and philologist, Dai (1724-77), was a pivotal figure in Qing intellectual history and the most noted Confucian scholar of the Qing dynasty.

The present work is a noteworthy study of the Fangyan [Regional Words] by Yang Xiong (53 B.C.-18 A.D.). Yang Xiong’s book, a kind of linguistic mirror of the Han empire, “collected synonyms taken from different dialects and languages, gathered by court messengers who... More

80; 64; 62; 73 folding leaves. Eight juan in four vols. 8vo, orig. brown wrappers, title in manuscript on upper cover of each vol., orig. stitching. Yangzhou: Huinan shu ju, 1873.

Second edition (1st ed.: 1813). Upon reading History of the Jin, compiled in 1345 under the leadership of the Mongol scholar-official Toytaya (1314-56), Tang began in 1804 to narrate the events from the history of that state in verse form. He decided to have a selection of the poems printed in 1813, toward the end of his life. They were reprinted in 1873 in the present work.

The poems... More

74; 90 folding leaves. 12 juan in two vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers (frayed), stitched as issued. [China]: Jiangsu Shuju, 1878.

This work is part of a set, each published separately, collectively referred to as Qinding Liao, Jin, Yuan san shi guoyu jie [Imperially Authorized Explanations of Terms in the National Language in the Three Histories of the Liao, Jin, and Yuan] (although this title does not appear in the books themselves). They list the non-Chinese names of people, places, titles, etc., in the dynastic histories of the Khitan Liao, Jurchen Jin, and Mongol Yuan — three empires that ruled parts... More

1 p.l., 1-114 pp.; 115-316 pp.; 317-494 pp. Three vols. Small folio, orig. brown wrappers, titles in manuscript on upper covers, orig. stitching. Beijing: Guo li Beijing da xue chu ban zu, [1935].

First edition of an important work for historical linguistics. This is a collection of rare early rhyme books (yunshu), a kind of phonological dictionary that developed in China beginning in the medieval period. Their initial purpose was to facilitate the writing of Chinese regularized verse, whose meter is based on the rhyme and pitch tone of Chinese characters. This type of verse is associated with the literature... More

Scroll (655 x 1380 mm.; image measurement: 665 x 835 mm.), with endpapers (silk brocade on outside of endpapers), recently & expertly laid-down on new paper. [Japan: after 1847].

The Higashi Hongan-ji Temple is one of the most magnificent temple complexes in Kyoto. Our scroll was created as a celebration of the 1835 completion of the rebuilding of its two main structures, the Goei-do (the founder’s hall) and the Amida-do, which had burned down in Bunsei 6 (1823). The Goei-do hall is one of the largest wooden structures in the world (76 m. long, 58 m. wide, and 38 m.... More

[34] pp. 8vo (212 x 149 mm.), orig. pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. Cambridge, UK, & San Francisco: 20th Century Art Archives & Steven Leiber, 1996.

The scarce Leiber catalogue (no. 22) dispersing the remaining holdings of Leif Eriksson’s Swedish Archive of Artists’ Books; produced in an edition of around 250 copies. A great collector and advocate of artists’ publications, Eriksson started his archive in 1978. This catalogue was made in collaboration with Louisa Riley-Smith (20th Century Art Archives), who designed the catalogue. She selected an entrancing image from Annette Messager’s Les Tortures Volontaires (1974) as the cover image.

This catalogue offers... More