Mid-Edo period.

An extremely rare survival: an uncommonly tall and large wooden training mannequin, called in Japan do-ningyo (“copper doll,” even those no longer made of bronze), in very good condition. It is most unusual to have such a mannequin of a female; the male figure is usually presented. Certain motifs of the model suggest it was carved in the Chinese or Indian style.

The first examples of similar models originated in 11th-century China, where life-size human acupuncture figures were cast from bronze. “The metal walls of the figures were pierced with small holes corresponding to the principal loci for... More

20 pp. 8vo, 19th-century brown half-cloth & marbled boards (spine a trifle rubbed), title on spine, spine gilt. [S.l.: 1737].

One of the very rare contemporary manuscript sale catalogues of the painting collection of the comtesse de Verrue (1670-1736), one of history’s greatest collectors of art as well as books. It is annotated with nearly all prices and a few buyers’ names. According to Lugt, there are no known printed catalogues of this sale of paintings — most likely never printed — and the Getty Provenance Index records 14 extant manuscript copies, all in institutional libraries, except this example.

“Verrue, may be best known today as Alexandre Dumas’s fictive dame volupté, a sobriquet she reputedly created and one that has too easily obscured her crucial role in the art world of early eighteenth-century Paris. She had the social confidence to renounce the traditional pattern of collecting that Crozat had eagerly embraced and turned from ‘serious’ Italian paintings to ‘petits sujets,’ bucolic landscapes, and amorous mythologies, primarily by painters of the Northern and French schools. Like Crozat, she shaped a remarkable and widely admired dwelling that was central to her identity and famous during her lifetime. The importance of each house was enhanced by the way it functioned. Each became a key site of artistic discourse, a place where art lovers and artists assembled, and a locus for assessing competing systems of value, where distinctive outlooks were forged, defined, and absorbed.”–Rochelle Ziskin, Sheltering Art (2012), p. 2. More

Large illustrated single sheet poster (420 x 300 mm. unfolded). [Lund, Sweden]: Beau Geste Press, 1976.

An extremely rare poster issued by Beau Geste Press for an exhibition at the Galerie S:t Petri in Lund, Sweden; one of 500 copies produced. Managed by Felipe Ehrenberg, Martha Hellion, and David Mayor, Beau Geste Press, based in Devon, UK, was active from 1970 to 1976. The press collaborated with numerous artists and authors, all of whom are listed on this poster: Beuys, Carrión, Filliou, Gibbs, Higgins, Hompson, Kostelanetz, Maciunas, Saito, Schneemann, Shiomi, Valoch, etc., etc. For example, two of Ulises Carrión’s bookworks, Looking for poetry/Tras... More

11 black & white illus. [12] pp. 8vo, printed wrappers, staple-bound. Houston, Texas: 1975.

A very rare program distributed by Barbara Cusack’s unheralded and short-lived Houston gallery. Cusack (b. 1937) opened the space in 1971, and shortly thereafter began hosting exhibitions by a series of influential Conceptual and Minimalist artists, such as Mangold, LeWitt, Kawara, Buren, Tuttle, Ian Wilson, Darboven, Andre, Dibbets, etc. By 1976, she was forced to close the gallery.

This program contains interesting installation shots of nearly all of the exhibitions that took place in 1974 and 1975 — for Wilson’s there is a facsimile of the signed Discussion. WorldCat has no records... More

Many black & white illus. xii, 377 pp. 8vo, pictorial semi-stiff wrappers, perfect-bound. New York: Granary, 1995.

First softcover edition of Johanna Drucker’s invaluable contribution to the literature on artists’ books/artists’ publications/bookworks. This book is largely based on her research of artists’ books in the New York Public Library collection.

Near fine copy. More

Numerous full-page or double-page color-printed woodcut illus. 27 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. wrappers (a bit rubbed), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover (again, a bit rubbed), new stitching. Osaka: Senritei et al., 1831.

First edition of this handsome color-printed woodcut book and a wonderful example of karazuri (blind-printing) which makes fine Japanese illustrated books so pleasing. We find no copy in WorldCat.

“Another artist with greater affinities to Shijo than Ukiyo-e is Katsura Seiyo (1786-1860), but he was a prolific designer of prints for kyoka books…he had an obvious appreciation of book design, and he enhanced many a kyoka that would... More

60 unnumbered pages. Tall 8vo (205 x 99 mm.), pictorial semi-stiff wrappers, upper wrapper covered in braille text, staple-bound. [Paris: 1993].

A scarce catalogue, with a beguiling upper cover bearing braille text. It describes 335 items, including works by Andre, Bloom, Boltanski, Boutin, Broodthaers, Fulton, Gette, Le Gac, LeWitt, Nam June Paik, Nauman, Wegman, Weiner, etc., etc. The braille cover is an original work by Barbara Bloom created for this catalogue, and the text, from Barthes’s “La Chambre Claire,” is translated on the inside wrapper.

In fine condition. The braille text is understandably a bit rubbed. More

Edited by Yusuishi Tanaka. Woodcut frontis. & eight fine double-page woodcut illus. 21; 18 folding leaves. Two vols. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers (wrappers rather worn & rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (rubbed), new stitching. Osaka, Edo, & Kyoto: 1749.

First edition of this beautifully illustrated book; the fine woodcuts are by Sukenobu Nishikawa (1671-1750 or -51 or -54), who “counts among the foremost masters of so-called ukiyo-e (primitive) prints. His subject matter, like that of his contemporaries, revolved around images of women walking. These images are stylised, lending the rhythmic movement of the sumptuous robes an almost sculptural effect. Nishikawa also did... More

21 double-page & 6 single-page woodcut illus., all color-printed. 14; 13; 13 folding leaves (incl. text & illus.). Three vols. 8vo, orig. blue wrappers, decorated with gold (somewhat rubbed, gold decoration largely oxidized), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, each with mica sprinkles, new stitching. [Japan: ca. 1806].

First edition and very rare; no copy is located in WorldCat (but there is an incomplete copy listed in the private collection of Mitsuru Uragami by the Ritsumeiken University’s ARC database). Our copy seems to be the only surviving complete set.

The artistic authorship of this finely illustrated shunga book is uncertain: responsibility has been attributed to both... More