12 columns per page, 21 characters per column. Text block: 233 x 170 mm. 28; 29; 40 folding leaves. Three vols. Large 8vo (277 x 192 mm.), orig. persimmon-stained wrappers (wrappers somewhat worn), new stitching. [Probably Kyoto]: according to Kawase, “mid-Genna”(ca. 1620).

One of the great rarities of Japanese movable type printing; according to Kawase, this is the second-earliest printing of Aesop’s Fables in kanji and hiragana characters. All movable type editions of this text are very rare; WorldCat lists no copy preceding the 1659 woodblock edition.

“Western books were first imported to Japan by Portuguese missionaries, who printed copies... More

Gothic type, double column, 66 lines (33 line-pairs). [373] leaves. Decoration by a contemporary Dutch or Westphalian artist (see below). Eight pinholes to the sheet preserved. Royal folio (385 x 270 mm.), mid-18th cent. French red morocco over heavy boards, by Louis Douceur, triple gilt fillets round sides, spine nicely gilt, a.e.g. Mainz: [Peter Schoeffer], 1460 [but ca. 1469].

Second impression (of three) of the original edition, first printed in 1460, in which Gutenberg first used the revolutionary method of two-line printing slugs, thereby finding “a solution to the challenge of permanently fixing typographical compositions” (Needham, p. 432). The Catholicon... More

Single A4 sheet with brown paper seal for mailing, horizontal folds. Amsterdam: 1975.

A famous Beau Geste Press flyer repurposed as a mailed invitation for the group’s 1975 Other Books and So exhibition. Ulises Carrión forged a close relationship with Felipe Ehrenberg and Martha Hellion, co-founders of the Devon-based small artist-run press. In 1973, he published two artist’s books with Beau Geste Press: Arguments and Tras la Poesía. Carrión also learned first-hand about printing processes, in particular mimeography, which he employed frequently in later years. With the opening of Other Books and So in Amsterdam, Carrión soon became one of... More

101 pp. & colophon. 8vo, illustrated softcover. Montreal: Centre for Expanded Poetics & Anteism, 2021.

First edition, a delightful risograph-printed book edited by Amaranth Borsuk (b. 1981), poet and professor. It includes definitions by Erica Baum, Jen Bervin, Tia Blassingame, Sarah Bodman, Stephen Bury, Steve Clay, Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, Craig Dworkin, Bhanu Kapil, Janice Lee, Steve McCaffery, Scott McCarney, Bea Nettles, Elika Ortega, Lisa Pearson, Michalis Pichler, Tatiani G. Rapatzikou, Kyle Schlesinger, Tate Shaw, Michael Snow, Buzz Spector, Jan Voss, etc., etc.

As new. First printing of 350 copies. More

[104] leaves, printed on rectos only. Square 4to (228 x 228 mm.), printed softcover, exposed spine as issued. Cologne & New York: Verlag Gebr. König, [1970].

One of Stanley Brouwn’s earliest artist’s books; printed in an edition of 300 copies, according to Ruhé. The artist attempted to ask the same question of a computer that he posed to passers-by on the street for his this way brouwn drawings. The book records the artist’s 101 instructions typed on an IBM 360 Model 95 computer.

No. 1: “show brouwn the way in all cities, villages etc. on earth from point x.... More

Black & white illus. & color diagrams. 73, [2] pp. 8vo, pictorial softcover, title on spine. Brussels: Daled & Gevaert, 1977.

[with]:

—. Reboundings: an essay by Daniel Buren, followed by 7 plates and 7 diagrams. Black & white illus. & color diagrams. 77, [2] pp. 8vo, pictorial softcover, title on spine. Brussels: Daled & Gevaert, 1977.

The scarce French and English editions of Buren’s polemical text, both printed in editions of 530 copies; both in excellent condition. The artist was driven to write this as a pointed critique of museums and curators five years after the controversy surrounding his contribution to... More

[in]: Revista de Bellas Artes, No. 8 (March-April 1966), pp. 41-56. Black & white illus. throughout. 102 pp. & ads. 4to, pink pictorial wrappers, title on spine. Mexico City: 1966.

Unrecorded by Guy Schraenen; a little-known Ulises Carrión (1941-89) contribution to one of Mexico’s literary journals. Foreshadowing his permanent move to Amsterdam, he contributed this short story about a visit to the city, with illustrations by Vicente Rojo (1932-2021). In the mid-1960s Carrión was studying in Paris or Achenmühle, Germany.

Near fine copy.

❧ Not in G. Schraenen, Dear reader. Don’t read. (2016). More

[25] leaves, written on rectos only. Small 4to (207 x 160 mm.), patterned softcover (extremities a little sunned), manuscript title on upper cover, exposed sewing. Amsterdam: 1973.

A most exciting discovery: the manuscript, in the hand of Ulises Carrión (1941-89), for an early bookwork. Amor, la palabra was one of no fewer than six books that he published in 1973, it is also among his rarest. As in the final printed version, this manuscript is dedicated to Carrión’s partner, Aart van Barneveld (1951-90), who co-founded Other Books and So, Stempelplaats, and Timed Based Arts: “para aart, / que estudia filología.”... More

[in]: Anuario del Cuento Mexicano 1962, pp. 82-85. 308, [1] p. & table of contents. Thick 4to, pictorial softcover (spine a little wavy & dampstained), title on spine. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1963.

Early appearance of one of Ulises Carrión’s short stories, this was his second appearance in Anuario del Cuento Mexicano. “El asalto” had been published the previous year in Revista Mexican de Literatura (Nos. 11-12).

A very good copy.

❧ Not recorded by Schraenen in Dear reader. Don’t read (2016). More

[in]: Anuario del Cuento Mexicano 1961, pp. 60-64. 248, [1] p. & index. Thick 4to, pictorial softcover (spine a little creased), title on spine. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1962.

An early Ulises Carrión (1941-89) appearance in one of Mexico’s prestigious literary journals, this one focused on short stories. With a concise biography of the author. A very good copy; some light wear to the spine.

❧ Not recorded by Schraenen in Dear reader. Don’t read (2016). More

Graphite drawings on thin triangular paper, laminated. [8] leaves, ms. title & signature on first leaf, metal spiral-bound. [From verso of final leaf]: Amsterdam: Self-published, 1988.

One of Carrión’s last bookworks, Opening Lotus, a unique triangular book, was made the year before the artist’s death from complications caused by HIV/AIDS. In the last decade of his life, Carrión (1941-89) created a small group of hand-drawn books, several of which are recorded in the catalogue raisonné compiled by Agius and Ocampo and the 2016 exhibition Dear reader. Don’t read. The present bookwork is not recorded in either. It comes from Guy... More

Color pencil & graphite drawings throughout on translucent parchment paper. [38] leaves, laminated covers with title printed on upper cover & signature and date to inside of lower cover, metal spiral-bound. N.p.: 1988.

A unique illustrated bookwork created one year before Carrión’s passing, it was neither recorded in Agius and Ocampo’s catalogue raisonné nor part of Guy Schraenen’s 2016 exhibition Dear reader. Don’t read. Unlike the other drawn books that the artist made in his final years, this one was not laminated, excepting the covers. His signature is found on the inside of the laminated lower cover, with the date... More