Black & white illus. throughout. [15] leaves & ads. Square 4to, pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. Aachen: 1971.

Rare and early Becher exhibition catalogue; we locate only a handful of copies in North American institutions. Much of the publication features the couple’s photographs. It concludes with brief biographies of the artists, and a list of exhibitions and publications. Near fine. 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

Color illus. Unpaginated. Small 4to, printed softcover, title on spine. Cologne: Verlag Bernd Deutsch, 2021.

Photographic documentation by Camilo (b. 1964) of thirty-three pastis pitchers from the collection of Michael Eckel. In fine condition. No copy in North America. More

Black & white illus. throughout. [24] leaves, printed on rectos only. Small 4to (210 x 152 mm.), orig. pictorial wrappers. Amsterdam: Cres Publications & Agora Studio, July 1978 [but 1979].

First edition of this scarce bookwork. Conceived by Ulises Carrión (1941-89), it was the “July-Special” edition of Cres, a bi-monthly publication, and produced in an edition of 400 copies. Although it is dated “July 1978” on the upper wrapper, a correction slip in this copy states that it is correctly dated July 1979.

“[In Alphabetical Order] consisted of a set of twenty-four black-and-white photographs of a small wooden index card... More

Black & white photographic illus. [12] pp. Square 4to (205 x 209 mm.), stamped semi-stiff wrappers (edges a trifle sunned), staple-bound. Hilden: Self-published, 1971.

One of 80 copies, a rare and early Hans-Peter Feldmann (1941-2023) photographic artist’s book. Feldmann has photographed 45 pairs of shoes, loafers, boots, etc., with nine images per page and printed on rectos only.

In near fine condition; faint sunning to the edges, internally fine. We locate just two copies in North America.

❧ G. Kühnast, ed., Hans-Peter Feldmann: Bücher, Publikationen, Hefte, 1960er Jahre-2021 (2023) KB 7 (pictured).

A. Roth, ed., The Open Book (2004), pp... More

Four vols. in various formats, all orig. gray cardboard wrappers, hand-stamped, staple-bound & housed in the orig. publisher’s cardboard portfolio (tape over folds, as issued). Heidelberg: Edition Staeck, 1971-72.

The jointly published collection of four Bilderhefte by Hans-Peter Feldmann (1941-2023), with the original stamped folder. The artist self-published nearly all of his early cryptic photobooks, except for two exceptions: the present four by Rolf and Klaus Staeck’s Edition Staeck, and three in 1973 by gallerist Gian Enzo Sperone. Our example of the Staeck group is neither signed nor numbered; the publisher also offered a “deluxe” edition of 50 signed and... More

Black & white illus. [13] leaves & ads. Square 4to, pictorial wrappers (a trifle worn), staple-bound. Aachen: 1970.

Scarce Jan Dibbets (b. 1941) exhibition catalogue. It is essentially a photographic artist’s book, with the artist’s pictures taking up much of the catalogue. Klaus Honnef has contributed a text on Dibbets’s sequential photographs. At the end is an exhibition list, bibliography, and several images of earlier works by the artist. Near fine. More

Color and black & white photographic illus. throughout. [118] pp. 4to, blank softcover, title on spine, housed in plexiglass cover. Tokyo: Zen Foto Gallery, 2018.

One of 25 special edition copies, with a signed photographic print laid-in. In this pastiche of fashion magazines, Jaszczuk (b. 1978) photographed drunken salarymen after midnight, some in poses fit for a glossy spread.

From the publisher’s description: “The photobook ‘High Fashion’ shows battle-hardened office workers of Tokyo after their daily fight. Drunk, tired, passed out from overwork, alcohol or both, sometimes sprawled on the ground, other times leaning against Tokyo’s architecture in such... More

15 black & white illus. on glossy stock. 81, [1] p. Small 8vo (150 x 96 mm.), pictorial softcover. Munich: Verlag Christoph Dürr, 1987.

A very rare artist’s book/exhibition catalogue by Martin Kippenberger (1953-97). Produced in the wake of his 1986 exhibition at Villa Stuck in Munich, it contains photographic reproductions of the sculptures shown, accompanied by texts composed by his friends Michael Krebber, Günther Förg, and Joachim Lottmann. According to Koch, this diminutive book was made in a relatively small edition of 500 copies. We could find just three copies in North America: Bard, Museum of Modern Art (NY)... More

Full-bleed green & white illus. throughout. Ca. [424] pp. Thick square 4to (268 x 244 mm.), pictorial softcover, title on spine. Sankt Georgen: Collection Grässlin, 1994.

An invaluable record of the most extensive collection of Kippenberger’s work, assembled by the Grässlin family over several decades. Kippenberger (1953-97) and Sabine Grässlin are credited as the designers of the present catalogue. Koch estimates that it was printed in an edition of ca. 1000 copies. For the subsequent major exhibition at the Brandenburgischer Kunstverein (5 June-31 July 1994), a new dust-jacket depicting Kippenberger’s skull was added (explanation below); copies with this are extremely... More

Color illus. pasted on upper wrapper, 15 color photographs pasted-on and 15 black & white illus. [56] pp. Square 4to, peach printed wrappers. Düsseldorf: CCD Galerie; Hamburg: PPS Galerie, 1986.

One of 800 copies; scarce artist’s book by Martin Kippenberger (1953-97). The title refers to Ed Ruscha’s egg yolk painting Sand in the Vaseline (1974, van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven).

“On the left-hand pages of the illustration section, there are 15 identical reproductions of a black and white photograph taken by Kippenberger’s father. On the right-hand pages Kippenberger has pasted-in coloured illustrations of collages he created using postcards and photographs collected and... More