Many black & white illus. Ca. 328 photocopied pages. Large 4to, orig. red three-ring binder (290 x 272 mm.), title stickers on upper cover and spine, four numbered dividers. San Francisco: S. Leiber, August 1998.

One of Leiber’s most sought-after creations, his 35th catalogue. It is based on the infamous exhibition catalogue for documenta 5 (1972), designed by Ed Ruscha. For the upper cover of that catalogue, Ruscha famously formed the number “5“ using ant shapes. For this catalogue, Leiber has mimicked that motif with “S L,” his initials, on the upper cover and echoed in the title, Scheissladen, a German term we will not... 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

12, [1] unnumbered pages. Small oblong 8vo (130 x 200 mm.), printed thick paper wrappers. Madrid: Estampa Ediciones, 1991.

One of Carrión’s rare bookworks, based on a 1977 artwork with the same title, posthumously published by the Other Books and So Archive; from an edition of 300 numbered copies. The text, printed offset, presents ten syllogisms mimicking the form of poems.

As new. WorldCat records only two copies. More

Many black & white illus. 13 unnumbered leaves, printed on rectos only (except for one leaf). Small folio (295 x 210 mm.), pictorial wrappers, fastened with plastic clasps. [From verso of the first leaf]: Amsterdam: Agora Studio, Sept. 1980.

A rare exhibition catalogue, printed in an edition of 200. Carrión (1941-89), the Mexican Conceptual and book artist, as well as publisher and bookseller, devised a retrospective of his works and communications with his collaborators, for which he investigates the use of names and addresses. Drawing on his archive of names and addresses, the artist accomplished this by “concealing the signature on each one of the... 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

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

Six double-page & two full-page woodcut illus. (all color-printed), most heightened with gold & silver pigment. 27 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers (extremities a trifle worn), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover, new stitching. [Japan]: 1831.

First edition of this scarce and richly illustrated collection of kyoka poetry, which translates to “crazy verses,” a comic genre filled with wordplay and figurative language. The woodcuts have been skillfully embellished with pigments and embossing to accentuate the patterns within.

Suikei (1780-1833), renowned for his figurative painting, provided the illustrations for a number of books in the late Edo period. One of the editors of... More

Black & white illus. (some full-page). 47 pp. Large 4to (277 x 205 mm.), pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. [Toronto: 1977].

A rare and early catalogue issued by Art Metropole, the first large-scale distributors of artists’ books and publications in North America. This catalogue offers dozens of works by European artists such as Abramovic, Beuys, Boltanski, Broodthaers, Buren, Darboven, Dibbets, Ehrenberg, Filliou, Fulton, Graham, Rebecca Horn, Hansjörg Mayer, Merz, Nannucci, Polke, Maria Reiche, Rot, Schwitters, Spoerri, Lea Vergine, Vostell, etc. Publications from Art Metropole, periodicals, records, and videos are also listed for sale, with prices. The graphic cover art comes from Rudolf Schwarzkogler’s Portfolio of the 3rd... More

viii, 32 pp. 8vo (215 x 137 mm.), stitched as issued, uncut. Paris: Félix & Regnault-Delalande, 1815.

The rare first edition of this sale catalogue; according to the Getty Provenance Index, much of the sale’s contents belonged to Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet (1761-1834), French ambassador to the United States and author. Scheduled for March 1815, this auction was postponed and held the following year, when a second edition of the present catalogue was prepared (Lugt 8854).

This catalogue describes 146 lots of paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and clocks. There are pictures by Fra Angelico, Guercino, Boilly, An. Carracci, Fragonard, O. Gentileschi, Miel, Guido Reni, Steen... More