Many small brush & black ink drawings in the margins throughout. 111 folding leaves. 8vo (232 x 157 mm.), later patterned wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: (in trans.): “copied by Tanaka on 29 January 1830.”

The index on the first two pages describes the arrangement of the manuscript: by sections of the body. These include the upper section (head, eyes, nose, teeth, throat, and lungs), middle section (heart, abdomen, hips), and lower section (urinary tract, large intestine, rectum, and legs). This is followed by one page describing treatments, which are either fast-acting or long-term. There is a further division of treatments... 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... More

Illus. & details on recto, printed text on verso. Pictorial card. New York: Paula Cooper Gallery, 1978.

Scarce piece of Lynda Benglis (b. 1941) ephemera from the end of the 1970s. Benglis’s first show with Cooper was held Feb.–March 1970. The text on the verso is excerpted from José Ortega y Gasset’s An Interpretation of Universal History.

In fine condition.

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

Reflective silver recto with printed details, verso blank. Postcard, mailed. New York: Paula Cooper Gallery, 1984.

Memorable piece of exhibition ephemera, produced on the occasion of Benglis’s show at Paula Cooper. Near fine; horizontal crease. Mailed to Eve Sonneman.

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

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. throughout (several in color). Oblong thick 8vo, semi-stiff pictorial wrappers, metal fastener. Unpaginated. Amsterdam: 1986.

Boekie Woekie’s first catalogue, issued several months after the bookshop’s founding in January 1986. A collaborative effort and filled with snapshot images of many of the books, this is an important catalogue heralding the opening of the artist-run shop and its considerable efforts to distribute artists’ books worldwide. The original founders were Henriette van Egten, Rúna Thorkelsdóttir, Jan Voss, Pétur Magnússon, Kees Visser, and Saskia de Vriendt.

The catalogue lists 130 items, some with prices. It includes work by Voss, Thorkelsdóttir, van Egten, Visser... More

Five black & white illus. 18 pp. (incl. inside of both wrappers). 8vo (210 x 150 mm.), orig. semi-stiff pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. [From inside of lower wrapper]: Amsterdam: Stichting de Appel, 1984.

The very rare program for Ulises Carrion’s film festival celebrating the Mexican movie star Lilia Prado, a famous actor from his childhood. Prado (1928-2006) starred in a number of Mexican films as well as several directed by Luis Buñuel in the 1950s. Carrión organized a festival, screening four of her movies in four Dutch cities in 1984, which was attended by Prado herself. He conceived of this film... More

Black & white illus. on recto, details on verso. Large pictorial postcard, mailed. Düsseldorf: Konrad Fischer, [1968].

Invitation to Darboven’s true solo debut at Konrad Fischer’s gallery; the previous year Darboven (1941-2009) and Charlotte Posenenske (1930-85) had concurrent exhibitions at the gallery (5 December-2 January). The recto illustration reproduces one of Darboven’s drawings. On the verso there is a list of the artist’s previous exhibitions. She presented a series of drawings, five with a vertical orientation and five horizontal. One of Fischer’s most important and early clients, the Dutch collector couple Martin and Mia Visser likely purchased two of the... More

Black & white illus. on recto, exhibition details on verso. Amsterdam: Seriaal, 1971.

Rare card produced by Wies Smals’s gallery Seriaal for a Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition. In fine condition. More

8vo (218 x 158 mm.), orig. silk-covered boards, gold label on upper cover, paintings pasted on gold-flecked paper over stiff boards. [Japan]: late Edo or Meiji era.

A very fine album of 12 paintings (the well-known “set of 12“ format) of women’s vulvas, mostly with penises inserted. Many of the scenes are obviously post-coital. The details of the pubic hair and sexual organs are very beautifully painted in vivid colors. One of the images depicts a very young woman masturbating, and another shows a man’s hand stimulating his partner.

In fine condition, preserved in an attractive silk brocade patterned chitsu... More

Ten cards (181 x 50 mm.), all preserved in the orig. folded color-printed wrapper, entitled on upper panel Furyu e tanzaku [Elegantly Illustrated Tanzaku Cards]. [Japan: Meiji Era].

Ten erotic cards, issued together, each in the tanzaku ban format, and accompanied by their original color-printed wrapper. Tanzaku cards were popular in the Meiji era (1868-1912); see Rosina Buckland’s “Erotic Art of the Meiji Era (1868-1912)” in Timothy Clark et al., eds., Shunga. Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art (British Museum: 2013), pp. 454-55.

The upper panel of each is very finely color-printed with saturated inks, embossing, and rich use of... More

16 double-page & four single-page color-printed woodcuts. 13; 11; 9 folding leaves. Three vols. Small 8vo, orig. speckled semi-stiff boards (boards rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan, probably Edo]: manuscript inscription dated “1832” at end of each volume.

First edition and very rare; we do not find this book listed in WorldCat or in the Union Catalogue of Japanese Books. The Preface is signed by Akikei (or Akikage) Higashikuni.

This work is an erotic version of Shiki no en, an 18th-century group of songs on the four seasons of love from the Yamada ryu school... More