ART METROPOLE, bookseller.

Information on Contemporary Art, Catalogue no. 12.

Black & white frontis. Unpaginated. Large 4to, orig. printed wrappers, staple-bound. Toronto: 1986.

A scarce bookseller’s catalogue of artists’ books and publications. Founded in 1974 by General Idea, Art Metropole was the first large-scale North American distributor of this kind of material. The present catalogue, printed in an edition of 2500 copies, was designed as a work by the artist Ian Murray (b. 1951), and contains hundreds of entries. The compilers have denoted “bookworks” — their preferred term for artists’ books — with a black square next to the listings. This catalogue presents an impressive and vast array of materials, including video and audio works.

Near fine copy, the spine is a trifle sunned. A few pencil notes in the text.

❧ See “Art Metropole’s Publications and Events History with Related Ephemera, January 1971 – April 2006,“ on the National Gallery of Canada website.

Price: $175.00

Item ID: 7344