Printed on recto only. Postcard, mailed. New York: Paula Cooper Gallery, 1982.

Postcard for Lynda Benglis’s 1982 show at Paula Cooper Gallery. Near fine; mailed to Eve Sonneman.

❧ See Paula Cooper Gallery’s website for several installation photographs. More

Illus. on recto. Single sheet, vertical & horizontal folds as issued. Amsterdam: 1978.

Rare flyer announcement for an exhibition by Italian artist and poet Mirella Bentivoglio (1922-2017) at Other Books and So. It depicts some examples of her “letraset metaphors,” “stamp-poems,” and “ideo-poems.”

In excellent condition.

❧ Catalogue 237: Ulises Carrión (2022), p. 181. More

Folding frontis. & numerous plates (many folding). Large folio, orig. cloth. London: [Printed at the Oxford University Press for] Maggs Bros. Ltd., 1975.

Number “3“ of 300 numbered copies, signed by the collector, presentation copy, inscribed by Theodore Besterman to Hardy Grieb (1946-90), bookseller at E.P. Goldschmidt and later a partner at Martin Breslauer: “for Hardy Grieb with cordial regards Th.B.” This is a highly interesting copy, containing the notes regarding provenance and condition as well as appraised values of Besterman’s wonderful collection of 381 books illustrative of the arts. The sale of the collection was handled by Hardy Grieb... More

Black & white illus. on recto, text on verso. Amsterdam: Seriaal, 1972.

Card sent out by Wies Smals’s Seriaal gallery announcing a newly produced Beuys multiple (edition of 12 signed & numbered copies). Near fine. More

Pictorial card. New York: [1974].

Card announcement for this landmark exhibition to inaugurate Block’s newly opened gallery in New York. For three straight days the artist was locked in the gallery with a coyote. Caroline Tisdall documented the performance.

In fine condition. More

Woodcut device on title & numerous woodcuts in the text. 345, [7] leaves. Small 8vo, cont. vellum (some foxing, dampstain in fore-edge margin of first & last leaves). Venice: P.G. Giglio, 1559.

Fourth edition of the first systematic book on mining and metallurgy. Biringuccio (1480-1539?), after travelling throughout Italy and Germany inspecting metallurgical operations and running an iron mine and forge at Boccheggiano, was appointed director of the mint at Siena. He later cast cannon and built fortifications for the Este and Farnese families. At the time of his death he was head of the papal foundry and director of... More

Expertly backed with later thick paper, gold speckles on back of scroll, decorative wrappers with gold-pigmented manuscript label: “Uraga joriku no ezu” [“Landing at Uraga Illustrated”]. Fine paintings executed with brush & ink, many colors of wash, and metal pigment, with manuscript captions. Japan: after “Kaei 6” [1853].

A remarkable example of a “Black Ship Scroll,”a rare contemporary illustrated Japanese account of Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s incursions into Japanese territory in July 1853 and February 1854. Ours is a composite scroll of drawings of varying dimensions by at least three artists; most of the images concern Perry’s first expedition, but... More

Many illus. Unpaginated. 4to, transparent plastic sheets, black plastic spiral bound. San Francisco: Stamp Art Gallery, 1996.

Rare exhibition catalogue on the influential correspondence artist Guy Bleus (b. 1950). Filled with essays by the artist on a wide range of topics, including Ray Johnson, artists’ books, mail art, etc. In fine condition, signed by two proprietors of the Stamp Art Gallery, John Held, Jr. and Picasso Gaglione. Two examples in North America recorded by WorldCat. More

Several black & white illus. 32 pp. Small 8vo, pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. Amsterdam: February 1996.

Impressive bookseller catalogue of manuscripts, drawings, exhibition catalogues, posters, etc. There are even original drawings by Polke, Richter, Long, Holzer, and Trockel, as well as letters from Christo, Rot, Higgins, and Fontana concerning exhibitions of theirs. This catalogue was one of two issued by the firm for the 17th Amsterdam European Antiquarian Book and Print Fair.

Fine copy. More

Black & white illus in fine. 30 pp. Small 4to, pictorial photocopied wrappers, staple-bound. Amsterdam: 1992.

Scarce bookseller catalogue from the important artist-run Amsterdam bookshop. It lists books by Oey Tjeng Sit, Henriette van Egten, Runa Thorkelsdottir, Jan Voss, and Cornelia Hoedeman. Nearly all of the entries provide bibliographic details and information on the contents of these artists’ books. The artists and various collaborators are depicted on the wrappers.

In fine condition. More

Black & white illus. throughout. [24] pp. Tall 8vo, printed wrappers. Arles: Le Méjan/Actes Sud, 1989.

Scarce Christian Boltanski (1944-2021) artist’s book published on the occasion of his exhibition at the Eglise Saint-Martin du Méjan d’Arles (3 July-3 September 1989). From the preface (in trans.): “These images were cut out from a 1972 weekly specialized in criminal news stories; they inexorably present the mixed faces, murderers or victims, of these forgotten dramas."

Fine.

❧ Jennifer Flay, ed., Christian Boltanski — Catalogue: Books, Printed Matter, Ephemera 1966-1991 (1992), pp. 186-87.

Bob Calle, ed., Christian Boltanski: Livres d’Artiste, 1969-2007 (2008), p. 61. More

310 black & white illus., on rectos only. [24] leaves. 8vo (210 x 141 mm.), orig. semi-stiff printed wrappers, perfect-bound. Paris: CNAC, 1974.

First edition, an excellent copy of Boltanski’s fifth inventory, documenting all the earthly possessions of a randomly selected person, this time a resident from Bois-Colombes, a suburb of Paris. This book was published for an exhibition (15 October to 2 December 1974) at the Centre national d’art contemporain. Earlier versions of this piece took place in Baden-Baden, Jerusalem, Oxford, and Copenhagen.

Boltanski explains the intention of this work in the Avant-Propos (in trans.): “The inventory of objects... More