Search Results: Authors starting with K from Ursus Books

1912. KANDINSKY, Wassily. Über das Geistige in der Kunst. Insbesondere in der Malerei. 104 pp., illustrated with 10 original woodcuts by Kandinsky. 4to, 203 x 175 mm., bound in original wrappers with an original woodcut by Kandinsky, in a new cloth folding box. Munich: R. Piper & Co. 1912. First edition, first printing of Kandinsky's celebrated "The Art of Spiritual Harmony," which was issued in an edition of 1000 copies and endlessly reprinted. Kandinsky's text is probably the most important text on colour written by a major artist. A copy of this seminal work which is rarely found in its first printing, consisting of 104 pages, as here. A little wear to the fragile wrappers and almost invisible staining to a couple of pages, but otherwise a fine copy. Roethel, Kandinsky. Das Graphische Werk, p. 443. The Artist and the Book 137.

2001. KAPOOR, Anish. Blackness From Her Womb. [10] pp. Illustrated with 13 etchings with whiteground aquatints. Folio, 430 x 380 mm, bound by Klaus-Ulrich Rötzscher in full orange-brown vellum in a red stained vellum-covered slipcase. Santa Monica: Edition Jacob Samuel, [published date: 2001]. A handsome example of contemporary bookmaking by one of today's leading artists. Anish Kapoor was born in India to a Hindu father and a Jewish-Iraqi mother. He moved to London in 1973 and began working in wood and mixed media. In the 1980s, his work switched directions and he began working in stone and metal. Kapoor represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and was awarded the Turner Prize in 1991. The book was designed and printed by Jacob Samuel. The plates were made in the artist's studio in London in November, 2000. This is one of an edition of 30 copies, of which only 12 were issued in bound form. Signed by Kapoor on the colophon. As new condition.

1935. KAWARASAKI, Kodo. Takara Zukushi. [Symbols of Treasure]. 2 volumes. Each volume with 13 leaves, including 24 woodcut illustrations, of which 12 are in colour, on double leaves folded accordion style (orihon). Oblong folio, 260 x 385 mm., bound in publisher's illustrated boards, in a new chitsu case. Kyoto: Unsodo, 1935. A superb example of colour woodblock printing used to produce a typical Japanese design portfolio. Unsodo is the name of a large Japanese publishing company with branches in both Tokyo and Kyoto. Founded in 1891, this company is still in existence today. From the 1890s through the 1930s, the Unsodo publishing house was involved in printing high quality pattern books for various crafts including textiles and lacquer.

1933. KAWARAZAKI, Kodo. Cho, [Butterfly]. 20 woodblock printed plates of which 10 are in colour, on double leaves folded accordion style (orihon). Large folio, 420 x 305 mm., bound in publisher's woodblock printed boards in a new chitsu case. Kyoto: Uchida Bijutsu Shoshi, 1933. A splendid series of imaginative design plates featuring butterflies as the unifying motif. Each of the 10 coloured plates has a facing page with an almost monochromatic design. An exquisite piece of book and printmaking. Some wear to the boards, but overall a fine copy. Rare, with no listing on OCLC.

1937. KAWARAZAKI, Kodo. Waritsuke Hyakushu. 3 volumes, illustrated with 24 colour woodblock plates in each volume for a total of 72. Oblong folio, 330 x 220 mm., bound in publisher's illustrated boards, in a new chitsu case preserving the original label. Kyoto: Uchida Bijutsu Shoritsu, 1937. A spectacular collection of Japanese designs with each of the seventy-two plates containing multiple images. Some soiling to the boards, and occasional discoloration on the areas of blank paper, but all woodcuts are bright and fresh. Rare, with no listing on OCLC.

1954. KAWARAZAKI, Kodo. Shima Hyakushu. 2 Volumes. Each volume has 11 leaves, including 20 plates of which 10 are coloured woodblock prints, on double leaves folded accordion style (orihon). Folio, 300 x 210 mm., bound in publisher's decorated boards, in a new chitsu case. Kyoto: Unsodo, 1954. A handsome set of design plates, with each plate having as many as seven different patterns. A fine copy, with the plates in immaculate condition. Minor damage to a few blank borders.

1940. KAWARAZKI, Kodo. Hinagata Eawase. [Collection of Designs]. 5 volumes, each volume with 20 colour woodblock plates. Folio, 330 x 210 mm., accordion bound in publisher's illustrated covers, in a new chitsu case. Kyoto: Unsodo, 1940-1942. An imaginative collection of design plates. Instead of the usual pattern plates, the plates in these five volumes consist of an encyclopedia of Japanese life, with images taken from everyday life, nature and traditional iconography. Unsodo is the name of a large Japanese publishing company with branches in both Tokyo and Kyoto. Founded in 1891, this company is still in existence today. From the 1890s through the 1930s, the Unsodo publishing house was involved in printing high quality pattern books for various crafts including textiles and lacquer. Some browning to the paper without affecting the beautiful woodcut images. Probably due to its having been published during the war, it is extremely rare, with OCLC listing only the copy in the National Diet Library. Read More

1935. KEIGETSU, Omachi and Ryukyo HIGUCHI. Senpa banpa. [Thousand waves, ten thousand waves]. 2 volumes. Folding book, all colour illustrations. 350 x 220 mm., publisher's decorated silk over boards. Kyoto-shi: Uchida Bijutsu Shoshi, 1935. An exceptional set of woodcut designs, combining imaginative mis en page with a variety of traditional designs and an exceptional array of delicate colours. OCLC lists FIT, Stanford,LC and the National Diet Library.

1930. OZE, Keishi. Shin Rosia Gakan/Siluet Novoi Rossii. [8], 155, [5] pp., profusely illustrated with photographs and reproduced drawings throughout. 8vo, 185 x 170 mm. bound in original illustrated boards and matching illustrated cardboard slipcase. Preserved in a dark grey folding box. Tokyo: ARS, Shôwa 5 [1930]. "Views of the New Russia" is an exploration of the new Soviet state. The binding and book design by Onchi is remarkable, capturing the constructivist aesthetic very effectively. Although Onchi later became known as an important print-maker and photographer, he initially supported himself as a book designer. A compelling symbiosis of Japanese book design and Russian constructivism. Very good in a slightly rubbed and soiled decorated slipcase.

1916. KENNERLEY, Mitchell. The Forum Exhibition of Modern American Painters. 78 pp., and [4] pp. of advertisements, illustrated with 16 plates. Small 4to, 250 x 165 mm., bound in original boards, title printed in black on front cover and spine. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1916. Exhibition catalogue for the pioneering show at Anderson Galleries on March 13-25, 1916, of works by sixteen American Modernists: Ben Benn, Thomas H. Benton, Oscar Bluemner, Andrew Dasburg, Arthur G. Dove, Marsden Hartley, S. MacDonald-Wright, John Marin, Alfred Maurer, Henry L. McFee, George F. Of, Man Ray, Morgan Russell, Charles Sheeler, A. Walkowitz, and William and Marguerite Zorach. Each artist contributed a statement, here printed opposite the plate showing his or her work. Members of the committee that chose the artists and works on view were Christian Brinton, Robert Henri, W.H. de B. Nelson, Alfred Stieglitz, and John Weichsel, who all wrote forewords, and Willard Huntington Wright, who also contributed the… Read More

2015. KENTRIDGE, William. The Lulu Plays, by Frank Wedekind. 197 pp. Illustrated with 67 full-page reproductions of drawings by William Kentridge. Folio, bound in publisher's cloth in matching slipcase, both designed by Kentridge. San Francisco: Arion Press, 2015. An exciting publication from the Arion Press featuring the work of one of today's most sought-after artists. The text consists of the two plays which are the basis for the libretto of Alban Berg's Lulu. The Metropolitan Opera presented Kentridge's production of Lulu which premiered on November 5th 2015. Kentridge worked on the illustrations for the book between 2011 and 2015 and they were made to be used in the Met production by being projected onto the set. As is typical of much of Kentridge's work there is a strong cinematic influence. Andrew Hoyem has accompanied Kentridge's illustrations with bold typography in black and red, creating a strikingly modern book while at the same time rendering homage… Read More

1990. [LE ROUGE, George Louis]. Le Désert de Retz: Le Jardin Pittoresque de Monsieur de Monville; A Late Eighteenth-Century French Folly Garden. By Diana Ketcham. Preface by Olivier Choppin de Janvry. Text in English and French. 120 pp. Illustrated with historical views of the park, a facsimile of 26 engravings by Le Rouge issued in 1785, and 32 new photographs of the garden sites by Michael Kenna. Oblong folio, 255 x 405 mm, bound in original blue cloth. San Francisco: The Arion Press, 1990. The de Monville estate, known as the Désert de Retz, was constructed as a gigantic broken column, an eighteenth-century fantasy meant to reveal the essence of architecture in ruins. This "magic realm" served to influence Thomas Jefferson, King Gustavus of Sweden, Marie Antoinette, and later, the Surrealists. This handsomely printed book presents Monsieur de Monville's fanciful landscape garden and its architectural monuments in a pleasing deluxe format. The new… Read More

KIMURA, Gyokusen. Saisho shitsu. 48 plates, of which 24 are kimonos and 24 are designs. 300 x 218 mm. N.p.: Happodo, n.d. A stunning collection of designs by Gyokusen Kimura. The 24 plates showing the kimonos are spectacular. The silk covering of the boards is worn, but the book is internally clean. Rare and not listed on OCLC.

1934. KIMURA, Gyokusen. Hikanoko. Illustrated with 31 mounted colour woodblock prints, on double leaves folded accordion style (orihon). Folio, 435 x 320 mm., bound in publisher's silk over boards in a new chitsu case. Kyoto: Happodo, 1935. A magnificent volume of colour woodblock prints featuring elaborate maiko hair ornaments, called kanzashi. A spectacular example of the woodblock maker's art. Rare with no listing on OCLC.

1914. EXCEPTIONAL DELUXE BINDING KIPLING, Rudyard. The Works of Rudyard Kipling. Twenty-seven volumes expanded to fifty-one. 8vo., 237 x 152 mm, bound in full deluxe red morocco, elaborate gilt borders, spines elaborately gilt, silk moire endleaves, turn-ins inlaid with blue morocco, gilt extra with wide dentelles composed of small ornamental tools and large flowers, t.e.g. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1914-1920. The Seven Seas Edition, one of 1050 sets printed, signed by the author. An extremely fine copy in a full red morocco binding of the absolute highest quality. Leather bound sets of this quality are very rarely seen on the market. The Seven Seas Edition is one of the most respected and sought-after collected works of Kipling ever printed. It includes: Wee Willie Winkie, The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Stories, Captains Courageous, The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book, Puck of Pook's Hill, Plain Tales from the Hills, Life's Handicap, The Day's… Read More

1932. KIRK, Hans. Jorgens Hjul. Unpaginated [8 ff]. Illustrated throughout many pages with photomontage by Arne Ungermann. Small 4to., bound in original illustrated boards, preserved in a new blue cloth folding box. Copenhagen: Mondes Forlag a/s, 1932. A classic avant-garde children's book, which was almost certainly influenced by the work of such Russian artists as Lebedev, especially with the striking use of photomontages, which are juxtaposed with Ungermann's lithographic illustrations. The work is essentially a potted history of transportation for children, done in such a bold andimaginative way to create a book for adults to delight in as well. A rare book with OCLC listing only 3 copies in the US, at Princeton, Yale and the University of Washington. Andel, Avant Garde Page Design 359

1930. TELINGATER, Solomon. Slovo Predostaviliaetsia Kirsanovu. By Semen Kirsanov. Small 8vo., bound in original illustrated wrappers, in a new cloth folding box. Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1930. A fine copy of this rare and spectacular example of avant-garde book design from the complex cover, which combines collage and typography, to the intricate typographical layout, reminiscent of the works of Iliazd. rarely found thus. Bibliotheca Wittockiana, Russian Book Art 66. Rowell and Wye, 913.

1930. KIRSANOV, Semen Isaakovich. Poslednii sovremennik. [The Last Contemporary]. 95 pp. 8vo, 180 x 130 mm., bound in publisher's two-color Constructivist wrappers designed by Aleksander Rodchenko, in a new cloth folding box. Moscow: Federatsiya, 1930. A fine copy of this typical example of Rodchenko's work as a book designer. The author of the work, Semen Kirsanov, became a member of Vladmir Mayakovsky's group LEF. In the 1930s he used his poetry to further the propaganda and agitation goals of the Soviet government. He later created a number of famous slogans for factories and construction sites. OCLC lists: Columbia, Cornell, Getty, Amherst, Harvard Stanford, U. of Chicago, Waseda and Art Gallery of Ontario.

1858. SHIGEMASA, Kitao and Katsukawa SHUNSHO. Seiro Bijin Awase Sugata Kagami. Three volumes. Xylographically printed and illustrated throughout, including mostly double-page woodcut illustrations. 4to., 175 x 280 mm, bound alike in original gray-green wrappers in glassine, sewn Japanese-style, together in a new patterned silk chitsu box. Tokyo: Yamakazi Kinbei and Tsutaya Juzaburo, 1858. Later edition of one of "the finest of all [Japanese] colour-printed picture-books" (Hillier). A Mirror of the Forms of Rival Beauties of the Green Houses is a behind-the-scenes study of geisha life, the "crowning achievement in books" of ukiyo-e artists Shigemasa (1739-1820) and Shunsho (1726-1793). Best known for geisha paintings, haikai (poetry), and shodo (calligraphy), Shigemasa primarily created books, though he did produce separate prints. He may have been a pupil of Nishimura Shigenaga but little else is known about his education. Katsukawa Shunsho, Shigemasa's… Read More

1920. KLEE, Paul. Potstdamer Platz. By Curt Corinth. Illustrated with 10 lithographs by Klee. 8vo., bound in later 3/4 maroon morocco over decorative paper boards, title gilt on spine. Munich: Georg Müller Verlag, 1920. Klee's only attempt at book-illustration using original prints. Klee's only other book, Kandide, is illustrated with reproductions of his drawings. This is an extremely rare volume which virtually never appears on the market. The Artist and the Book 144.