Printed on recto. Card. Berlin: Galerie René Block, 1976.
Exhibition card for Kawara’s first solo show at René Block’s gallery. Fine.
❧ On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 149.
M. Babias, B. Eusterschulte, & S. Rollig, eds., René Block, Ich kenne kein Weekend. Ausstellungsprojekte, Texte und Dokumente seit 1964 (2015), p. 471. More
Black & white illus. on recto, text on both sides. Large card. Tokyo: Kazuo Akao/Art Agency Co., Ltd., 1976.
Exhibition card for Kawara’s first solo show of “Date Paintings” in Japan. A full week from the Today series is depicted on the recto (1-7 December 1974). Text on the reverse records the days of the week for the fourteen paintings that were likely shown.
Fine.
❧ On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 149. More
Printed on both sides. Postcard, mailed. Düsseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1975.
Postcard announcing the display of seven "Date Paintings," seven of which were completed in Stockholm and nine in Halifax, all from 1973.
Near fine; the slightest wear to the extremities. Mailed to Galleria Marilena Bonomo in Bari.
❧ On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 149.
D. Fischer, ed., Ausstellungen bei Konrad Fischer: Düsseldorf Oktober 1967-Oktober 1992 (Edition Marzona: 1993) 105. More
Black & white illus. on recto, text on both sides. Pictorial card. Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 1974.
Announcement card for Kawara’s debut solo museum exhibition. With details on the opening (in German & English) and the price of the exhibition catalogue. Fine.
❧ On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 148. More
Black & white photographic illus. on recto, details on verso. Photographic postcard. Düsseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1972.
Postcard invitation to Kawara’s first-ever gallery presentation of “Date Paintings” from the Today series. An early and iconic photographic of a series of “Date Paintings” executed in 1966 hung on the wall of the artist’s studio is on the recto.
In excellent condition.
❧ D. Fischer, ed., Ausstellungen bei Konrad Fischer: Düsseldorf Oktober 1967-Oktober 1992 (Edition Marzona: 1993) 62.
On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 147. More
Printed on both sides. Postcard. Düsseldorf: Konrad Fischer, 1971.
Postcard invitation to Kawara’s earliest solo exhibition in Europe. He presented One Million Years at three European galleries in 1971: Yvon Lambert (opened 26 November), Fischer, and Toselli (opened 24 November). Fischer organized an exhibition of Kawara’s “Date Paintings” just three months later in February.
In fine condition.
❧ On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 147.
D. Fischer, ed., Ausstellungen bei Konrad Fischer: Düsseldorf Oktober 1967-Oktober 1992 (Edition Marzona: 1993) 56. More
Details on recto, white text on black. Large postcard, mailed. Milan: Galleria Toselli, 1971.
Postcard invitation to one of Kawara’s earliest solo exhibitions in Europe; this example was mailed to museum curator Jean-Christophe Amman (1939-2015). In 1971, Kawara had three solo shows in Europe, with trailblazing gallerists Yvon Lambert, Konrad Fischer, and Franco Toselli.
A near fine copy, mailed to one of Europe’s most influential curators.
❧ On Kawara (Phaidon: 2002), p. 147.
Germano Celant, ed., +spazi, Le gallerie Toselli (2019), p. 195 (pictured). More
155; 203; 176 leaves of text (plus a few blank leaves at beginning & end of each vol.). Three vols. 8vo (246 x 173 mm.), a cont. tetsuyoso binding, gold silk endpapers with patterns of pine trees & sprays of gold (kindei, “golden mud”), with gold silk brocade over semi-stiff wrappers, red silk manuscript title labels on upper covers. [Japan]: 1707?
A beautifully calligraphed manuscript, in three volumes, of the Sandaishu [“collection of three reigns”], the collection of the first three of 21 imperially commissioned waka poetry anthologies compiled from 905 to 1439. These three collections are:
1. Kokin wakashu... More
![Item ID: 8685 Kyowarabe [Young Man’s Inside Guide to Kyoto]. Kiun NAKAGAWA](/pictures/medium/8685.jpg?v=1678877694)
37; 31; 20; 21.5; 18.5; 24.5 folding leaves. Six vols. 8vo, orig. limp blue wrappers (rubbed & somewhat tired), new stitching. [Kyoto]: Hiranoya Sahei, 1658.
First edition, later issue, of an important and rare illustrated book; it is the earliest known guide to the sights in and around Kyoto. This is an excellent example of rakuchu-rakugai; it provides not only a wonderful picture of the city and its architecture but also documents scenes of daily life, ranging from court nobles to samurai to commoners. This type of gazetteer gives “inside” information, both written and illustrated, on the townspeople of Kyoto... More
19 large & fine brush & ink scenes, well colored. Scroll (340 x 9820 mm., including front endpaper), inner side of endpaper with speckles of gold, silk brocade on outside. [Japan]: mid- to late Edo.
A most handsome picture scroll depicting a series of kata (forms or positions) developed by the Yoshin school of jujutsu, founded by Akiyama Shirobei Yoshitoki in Nagasaki in 1642. The Yoshin school, the most popular and well known of the many martial arts schools created in the 17th century, taught a defensive combat system, using few or no weapons. Instead, it employed holds, throws, leg... More
Six fine and large painted scenes in brush & ink with fine & delicate color washes. Scroll (275 x 7465 mm.), on fine thin paper, inside of front endpaper with gold square-cut speckles, outside of endpaper with rubbed silk brocade, wooden roller. [Japan]: dated on first line of first text “5 March 1795,” but this is a later-Edo copy.
Ienari (1773-1841; r. 1787-1837), the 11th Tokugawa shogun and the father of over 50 children by numerous concubines, was a devoted deer hunter. In 1795 he held a large-scale hunt in the traditional Tokugawa hunting grounds (Koganegahara Pasture) near today’s Matsudo... More
101.5; 81 folding leaves. Four juan in two vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, stitched as issued. Chengdu, Sichuan: Fuwen Ge huichao edition, published by Long Wanyu, 1825.
First published in 1606; our edition is rare, with no copy found in WorldCat. Although Chen Di (1541-1617) spent his early working life as a successful military officer, he is best known as a scholar. Active in several fields, he is considered a key figure in historical Chinese phonology. His magnum opus, Maoshi guyin kao, represents a methodological innovation in the study of the sounds of the Poetry Classic, which dates from the first... More
16 black & white plates. [32] pp. Square 4to (200 x 200 mm.), orig. illustrated semi-stiff wrappers (extremities a bit worn), staple-bound. London: Studio International, 1969.
An extremely rare signed copy of this early Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) artist’s book, he has inscribed the verso of the final leaf: “For Sid Tillim / Sol LeWitt.” Sidney Tillim (1925-2001) was an influential art critic and artist who wrote for Artforum and Arts Magazine. This is LeWitt’s fifth book, but the third standalone publication not originating from an exhibition or periodical.
“The front cover of Four Basic Kinds of Straight Lines is an... More
17 characters per column for prose sections; 20 characters per column for the versified sections; 32-33 columns per sheet. [Japan]: Kasuga-ban, mid-Kamakura period [13th century].
Two woodblocks, carved on each side in Japan in the 13th century at the Kofukuji Temple in Nara, containing text from juan four and five of the Lotus Sutra. These woodblocks were carved in Japan in the 13th century and are the earliest Asian woodblocks we have yet encountered.
The Lotus Sutra is the most influential of all sutra and “was highly influential in East Asia, inspiring both a range of devotional practices as well... More
Six columns per page, 17 characters per column, text-block height 205 mm. 15 joined sheets. 81 pages. Tall narrow 8vo (275 x 115 mm.), orig. semi-stiff wrappers to form a “wallet binding.” [Kanto region?]: printed at end, “Ke’en bikuni Chikan, January 1363.”
An extremely rare dated sutra, printed by the monk Chikan in January 1363, apparently in the Kanto region. It has been printed on fine thick paper (gampi or mulberry fibers), with bold, thick strokes, using black sumi ink.
According to the blog of a local printing historian in Yamanashi Prefecture, who is a member of the Hobundo Company... More
23-33 characters per column; 6 columns per page. Text-block height: 230 mm. Eight vols. (190 x 8600; 10,000; 9300; 8200; 8900; 8600; 8000; 7000 mm.). Tall narrow 8vo, orig. semi-stiff dark blue boards (minor rubbing), orig. block-printed mica-dusted title labels on upper covers, each entitled “Shinpan Myohorengekyo” [“new [carved] boards for the Myohorengekyo”] & volume number. [Japan]: early to mid-Edo?
A very rare — apparently unrecorded — edition of the complete Lotus Sutra, handsomely carved throughout in hiragana, allowing those unskilled in reading kanji to study the text. The vast majority of sutra printed in early Japan were carved in... More
17 characters per column; 24 columns per sheet. Each sheet: ca. 450 mm. long. Text-block height: 207 mm. Eight scrolls (297 x 10,785; 12,480; 11,600; 10,430; 11,190; 10,190; 10,130; 9000 mm.), all with front endpapers speckled on inside with square-cut gold, silver, & copper foil, outer endpapers dyed reddish-orange & with clouds of gold, silver, & copper mottling. Seven of the eight scrolls have on the outside of the front endpaper an orig. label stating “Myohorengekyo” [“Glory to the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra”], and its volume number. All with wooden rollers. [Japan: late Muromachi to early Edo].
A handsomely... More
17 characters per column; 5 columns per page. Text-block height: 126 mm. Each column ruled in gold, with gold borders on top & bottom. Eight vols. (172 x 6285; 7260; 6830; 5980; 6530; 6280; 5860; 5125 mm.). Narrow 8vo, orig. semi-stiff blue boards (some rubbing), decorated on the outside with patterns in gold & silver of flowers, heightened with sprays of gold (kindei; “golden mud”); inner endpapers decorated with gold & silver speckles. Title and volume number in manuscript on each upper cover. [Japan, probably at Nara]: Kasuga-ban, mid- to late Kamakura (ca. 1250-1333).
A luxuriously produced and most unusual... More
Numerous very fine brush & ink illus. in the text & 52 stamped mon. 19 folding leaves (the first two leaves & the final leaf are blank). Large 8vo (292 x 210 mm.), orig. patterned wrappers, stitched as issued (stitching a little loose), gold-decorated endpapers. [Japan]: mid-Edo.
An uncommonly well-illustrated and interesting manuscript, which appears to be unpublished; our manuscript is a copy, with considerable variations, of the Buddhist priest Ningai’s “Koen [or “Kodo”] gangu,” which first circulated in manuscript about 1729. Ningai (1675-1747 or 1670-1752), was active in the Yonekawa ryu incense ceremony school in Kyoto. His “Koen gangu,”which... More
Scroll (290 x 4780 mm.), with gold paper inner endpaper at front, wooden core roller. [Japan]: n.d., but late Edo or early Meiji.
A fine example of an erotic scroll, anonymously painted as usual but with great skill. The scroll contains 12 erotic scenes painted on silk (the well-known “set of 12“ format) of men and women engaged in various sexual activities. As in many shunga hand scrolls, the paintings feature a sequence of lovemaking positions in no apparent order.
The figures are drawn to express a fluidity of movement, passion, and pleasure. The accomplished artist has used delicate shading... More
114 black & white illus. Unpaginated. Small 8vo, geometric softcover, title on spine. Cologne: Walther König, 1988.
Scarce artist’s book by Martin Kippenberger (1953-97), mimicking the well-known design of books by Merve Verlag in Berlin, which had published one of the artist’s earliest books, Frauen (1980).
“Originally, Martin Kippenberger intended to have Psychobuildings published by Merve. When the project was abandoned due to a misunderstanding, he had the book published ‘…in the reversed layout of Merve…and presents, contextually aware, only photographs…The photographs are presented devoid of comment, and at first sight it seems as if they record only observations in... More
![Item ID: 8667 Manuscript on vellum of Versus de Urinis. [With]: GILBERTUS ANGLICUS (or...](/pictures/medium/8667.jpg?v=1671569053)
Likely southern France: late 13th-early 14th century.
A remarkable manuscript survival: two important medical texts of the Middle Ages, preserved in an attractive late medieval binding, from the magnificent library of Admont Abbey (see Hobson’s Great Libraries), a Benedictine monastery in northern Styria, Austria, founded in 1074. The library, the largest monastic collection in the world, had important holdings of science and medicine.
Important medieval medical manuscripts are scarce on the market today. Chaucer highly praised Gilbertus Anglicus (see below), and Gilbertus, in the beginning of his commentary, reveals the knowledge of Arabic medicine in western Europe and possibly... More
20 paintings, mostly in color, some full-page. 28 folding leaves. 8vo (224 x 167 mm.), later patterned wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: from the final page (in trans.): “March 1767 written by [first name undecipherable] Honda;” this is a later copy, written in the late Edo period.
The use of drums, gongs, and conch shell trumpets (jinkai or war shell) during battle for communication and other purposes has a long history in Japanese military history. These instruments, originally used by Buddhists priests for religious purposes, were introduced from China in the eighth or ninth centuries and were adapted by the yamabushi... More
Engraved & hand-colored frontis. 38 pp. Small 4to, attractive antique half-sheep & marbled boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Hamburg: J.P.C. Reuss, [1780].
First edition; WorldCat locates no copy in North America. This is an early scientific investigation of chiastolite (or lapis crucifer or lapis cruciatur, cross-stone), a variety of the mineral andalusite, noted for its distinctive cross-shaped black inclusions of graphite. It has long been prized by Christians as a natural talisman with religious and spiritual meanings and was carried as souvenirs by pilgrims returning from Santiago de Compostela.
Schultz (1740-1810), was a private scholar who... More