Many illus., mostly in black but some in red, pink, gray, green, yellow, blue, etc. Ca. 1821 folding leaves of text. 1083 chapters in 50 parts in 54 vols. (parts 14 & 15 in one vol., parts 24, 34, 42, & 47 in two vols. each, plus one vol. of table of contents). 8vo (266 x 188 mm.), orig. blue wrappers, orig. manuscript labels on each upper wrapper, new stitching. [Probably Kyoto: written in 1690 & this is a mid-Edo copy].

A rare and extremely important text, finely illustrated and complete in 50 parts; it remained unpublished until 1936. WorldCat... More

One illus. Single folded sheet (=[4] pp.). San Francisco: La Mamelle, [1981].

The program for the 1981 performance of 6 plays at La Mamelle, an artist-run space in San Francisco. Two fellow stamp and mail artists, Bill Gaglione and Darlene Domel, participated in this rendition of Carrión’s work appropriating lines from six plays. Carrión first performed 6 plays in 1975, and in 1976 it was made into an artist’s book with an edition of 100 copies. Interestingly, the program here, lists the plays in a different order from the book. Gaglione’s alternate persona, dadaland, has contributed an illustration for one... More

Black & white illus. 228 pp. Large oblong 4to, printed yellow card covers, metal spiral-bound. Cologne & New York: Verlag Gebr. König, 1970.

The very rare first edition of this influential “interactive” book chronicling early performance art and Fluxus, composed by Filliou with the participation of John Cage, Allan Kaprow, Benjamin Patterson, George Brecht, Dorothy Iannone, Diter Rot, Joseph Beuys, etc. It includes interviews with the aforementioned artists along with imaginative text contributions and activities proposed to the reader, all in parallel English and German. According to WorldCat, this title is not held by any North American library.

Filliou considered... More

64 playbills, all with block-printed & color-stencilled (kappazuri 合羽摺) covers, all composed of three or four leaves, block-printed throughout with full-page illus. Small 4to (ca. 185 x 135 mm.), each self-bound. Osaka: ca. 1808?-80?

A remarkable survival: a collection of 64 extremely rare kabuki playbills from the historical theater district of Osaka. These playbills all have three or four leaves, and their covers are color-printed using stencils (kappazuri, a technique unique to the Kamigata region). They depict the main characters and the icon of the theater, and the succeeding leaves visually depict the story of the play or plays, with... More

Many woodcut illus. in Vol. II. 44.5; 24.5 folding leaves (pagination erratic). 8vo, orig. patterned semi-stiff wrappers, title-slips, new stitching. Edo: Matsumoto Heisuke 松本平助, 1827.

First edition of a rare book; no copy in World Cat. Segawa Jokō II (1757-1833) came from a multi-generational family of playwrights. He worked on more than 120 original dramas and more than 25 dance-dramas in both Edo and Osaka. He was expert in creating hengemono (pieces with a single actor playing different roles). and some of his dances are still in the kabuki repertoire.

This is Segawa Jokō II’s memoir of his life, immersed... More