Search Results: Avant-garde from Royal Books, Inc.

New York: Guggenheim Museum, 2000. First Edition. Hardcover. First Edition. Near Fine with no dust jacket as issued.

N.p.: N.p., 1971. Vintage borderless photograph of Andy Warhol lying amongst his "Cow Wallpaper" (silkscreen on wallpaper, 1971), from his May 1971 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Photograph by Jack Mitchell. Mimeo snipe on verso. The Whitney Museum of American Art's 1971 Andy Warhol Retrospective was Warhol's first major retrospective, which opened on May 1, 1971. 6.75 x 10 inches. Near Fine.

N.p.: N.p., 1979. Vintage press kit for comedian and performance artist Andy Kaufman, circa 1979. Unique or nearly so. All materials housed in a manila envelope, with Andy's Press Kit by His Mother Mrs. Stanley Kaufman stamped on the front. Press kit composed of ten pieces of printed ephemera, including newspaper clippings, copies of articles and reviews, a program for Kaufman's legendary 1979 performance at Carnegie Hall, a picture of Kaufman in character as Tony Clifton, and a biography and contact information for The Love Family, the cloyingly sweet and earnest family act which opened Kaufman's Carnegie Hall show. A gathering of ephemera purportedly assembled by his mother (though it could have just as easily been done by Kaufman himself), designed to promote the performance artist at the height of his career, much of the material relating to his infamous Carnegie Hall performance. A self-described "song and dance man," Andy Kaufman came to national prominence as a guest on the inaugural… Read More

Wroc aw: Institute of Actor's Research Laboratory Theatre, 1973. Vintage program for an English showing of the notorious 1969 Polish play. Noted experimental playwright Jerzy Grotowski's final theatrical work, a heavily allegorical, poetic pastiche, primarily made up of quotations from the Bible, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, T.S. Eliot, and Simone Weil. The play made its public premiere at the Institute of Actor's Research Laboratory Theatre (commonly known as the Laboratory Theatre) on February 11, 1969. The play's heretic sensibilities earned the animosity of the Polish right wing, culminating in Cardinal Stefan Wyszy ski calling the play "real filth" during a 1976 sermon. The production toured for years, traveling to Paris, New York, London, Sydney, Venice, Philadelphia, and Milan, eventually closing in 1979. 8 x 11.25 inches. Ten pages, in side-stapled wrappers. Very Good plus, with light foxing and toning on the wrappers.

New York: Filmmakers Newsletter / Filmmakers' Cinematheque, 1971. Archive of 41 issues of "Filmmakers Newsletter," dating from the first four years of the magazine, including Vol. I, issue 1. Early issues of the magazine are scarce, and putting together a collection of this size piecemeal would be prohibitively difficult. Founded in 1967 by experimental filmmaker Carl Linder as "New York Filmmakers' Newsletter," it was originally published out of the Filmmakers Cinematheque, and served a similar purpose as Canyon Cinema's "Canyon Cinemanews," disseminating information on screenings, festivals, and republishing articles and essays about experimental film. Suni Mallow took over as editor in early 1968, and she quickly brought a wider focus to the magazine, dropping "New York" from the title and publishing the magazine under its own imprint (although it still retained ties to the Cinematheque). This broader approach to the world of avant garde film was successful, and when Mallow sold the magazine in… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1976. Archive of six autograph letters signed and one typed letter signed from Kathy Acker to fellow experimental novelist Rudolph Wurlitzer, twenty five pages total, undated, but written during the first half of 1976 based on dates mentioned in the body of one of the letters. From the collection of Rudolph Wurlitzer, with provenance. Acker and Wurlitzer were in a relationship, begun while they were both in New York, and continuing briefly after he left the city for Nova Scotia, where he was a the time of this correspondence. Two of the letters directly address their relationship, and correspond to letters written by Wurlitzer as quoted in Chris Kraus' 2017 biography of the late writer, "After Kathy Acker." The letters offered here were not available to Kraus, something she mentions when discussing the relationship with Wurlitzer, and have never been published or previously available for sale. In addition to Acker's frank discussion of her feelings toward Wurlitzer, the letters take a… Read More

San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Art, 1947. First Edition. First Edition. An exhibition catalog for a film series presented at the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1947, featuring written pieces by Henry Miller, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Maya Deren, Luis Buñuel, and others. Very Good plus in yellow perfect-bound wrappers, with light wear at the wrapper corners, faint discoloration on the rear wrapper, and a few tiny splashes on the front endpaper.

New York: The Living Theatre, 1959. Original poster for a night of avant-garde films hosted by the Gryphon Film Group at the Living Theatre on April 27, 1959. Filmmakers were present to introduce their works, including Stan Brakhage with his landmark short "Desistfilm" (1954). The Gryphon Film Group was founded by Marie Menken and her husband Willard Maas in the mid-1950s with the help of Charles Boultenhouse and Gregory Markopoulos. It was one of the earliest attempts, with Amos and Marcia Vogel's Cinema 16, at setting up a experimental film society in the United States. The group's primary interest was furthering the poetic and lyrical qualities of film, often focusing on the perception of corporeality, which is reflected in the films presented, both of the human form, in "Geography of the Body" (Maas, 1943), and sculpted object, "Visual Variations on Noguchi" (Menken, 1945). Poster 8.5 x 12 inches. Near Fine.

Stockholm: Wahlstrom and Widstrand, 1956. First Swedish Edition, preceding all others. Number seven in the "Svenskt filmbibliotek" series. Film critic Weiss tackles notable figures of avant-garde filmmaking, including Luis Bunuel, Cocteau, Jean Vigo, Mario Peixoto, Eisenstein, Carl Dreyer, and more, with brief filmographies for each. Black-and-white photographs throughout. A few short tears and creases, with light foxing, else Near Fine in printed wrappers. 148 pages.

N.p.: N.p., 1977. Four vintage borderless small-format reference photographs from the 1977 film. Printed mimeo snipes in German affixed to the versos. A beauty salon owner moonlighting as the secret leader of a group of hit women allows a young male drifter to join her group on a trial basis. Set and shot on location in New York. 7 x 5 inches. Near Fine.

New York: Andy Warhol Film, 1967. Vintage poster for the 1967 film. The film originally screened at the Hudson Theater in a 95-minute version, although this cut is considered lost. A 109-minute version would screen in 1968 as the first film shown at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theater, renamed as such after Warhol recovered from being shot by Valerie Solanas. One of several sexploitation influenced films made by Warhol, an episodic story of a biker who has no bike, and is both eroticized by the camera and emasculated by various Warhol superstars throughout. 19 x 25 inches, rolled. Near Fine with some light soil, and an almost imperceptible professional repair to a tear at the top edge. Murphy, The Black Hole of Cinema. Warholstars.

New York: B Movies, 1978. Vintage flyer for the 1978 experimental short film. Prominent members of New York's No Wave film scene and, along with Amos Poe and Eric Mitchell, progenitors of the Cinema of Transgression, Beth and Scott B were a pivotal and galvanizing force in that era's explosion of punk-political filmmaking. The pair would make six films together between 1978 and 1981, largely dealing with themes of individuality, mind control, and sexual domination and submission, and often starring luminaries of the New York Underground. 11 x 17 inches. Folded once horizontally, else Fine.

New York: E .P. Dutton, 1972. First Edition. First Edition. Humorously INSCRIBED by avant garde composer and former Black Mountain faculty member John Cage on the front flyleaf: "This is a book I haven't read. / John Cage." A history of Black Mountain College, the experimental college located in North Carolina that, although only in existence 24 years, had a profound and lasting influence as a major incubator of the American avant garde. Cage taught at Black Mountain from 1948 to 1952, and was in residence during the summer of 1953. It was here that Cage organized the first of what would later become known as "happenings," a term coined by Cage's student Allan Kaprow some years later. Very Good plus in a Very Good dust jacket. Owner name on the front endpaper. Page edges lightly foxed, with minor fading to the board edges. Jacket has several short closed tears, a few reinforced with cello tape on the verso, light creasing, and some minor chipping.

N.p.: Bryanston Pictures, 1974. Vintage studio still photograph from the 1974 film featuring Joe Dallesandro and Roman Polanski (uncredited in the role of 'man in tavern'), here under the working title "Andy Warhol's Dracula," title visible through paper tape covering byline in bottom margin. One of Warhol's two horror films (the other being "Frankenstein," released the same year on a double bill), both USA/Italy/France co-productions, and the pinnacle of his film career in terms of popularity outside avant-garde film circles. Attempts to court commercial markets included rating the film X, and director Paul Morrissey, very much influenced by the look of the Hammer horror films of the 1960s, gave the films a lurid, shocking appeal. Set in Italy, and shot on location in Italy and Serbia. 9.75 x 8 inches. Slight diagonal trim on upper left side margin, else Near Fine. Criterion Collection 28.

N.p.: N.p., 1966. Vintage borderless double weight photograph of Michelangelo Antonioni on the set of the 1966 film, with provenance stamp of film scholar and author "J. P. Berthome" on verso. Inspired by the 1959 short story "Las Babas del Diablo" by Julio Cortazar. Michelangelo Antonioni's first English-language film, marking the beginning of the final phase of his work, co-produced by companies in Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom and featuring an international cast. The director's brash use of color, set design, non-standard editing techniques, and typical emphasis of atmosphere over plot would carry over into the two major films that followed, "Zabriskie Point" (1970) and "The Passenger" (1975). In his 2009 essay on the film, Danny Lyon notes, "It is apt that through [his established] style Antonioni made a movie that is perhaps closest to communicating the myth of the swinging Sixties scene but also the confusion of the time. ... Britain's new and very chaotic [cultural]… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1971. Vintage double weight reference photograph from the 1971 short film. Typed label snipes affixed to the verso and bottom margin of the recto, along with an annotation in manuscript ink. An early short film by noted independent director Mark Rappaport, an experimental dissection of the concept of a "blue" movie. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus, with light wear along the bottom edge.

Rollinsville, CO: Self published, 1971. Original mail order catalog for Stan Brakhage films issued in 1971. Featuring 35 8mm and 35 16mm titles, with brief descriptions for the 8mm films. 7 x 8.5 inches. Ten pages, saddle stapled in self wrappers. Very Good, with dampstaining on the front wrapper and shallow vertical and horizontal creases.

Chicago: The Goodlion, 1972. First Edition. First Edition. Inscribed by the author to publisher Barney Rosset on the front endpaper: "Dear Barney / In thanks for all you've given, made possible: / Thanks, / Stan Brakhage." Barney Rosset was the founder of the Grove Press, which, in addition to its obvious importance, helped usher Brakhage's work into institutions in the 1970s by "publishing" select short films by the artist on tiny reels that were sold to libraries and the publisher's readership. In this volume, Brakhage investigates four of the principal architects of cinema, including Sergei Eisenstein. A wonderful association, and an important collection by one of the most important cinematic artists of the 1970s. Very Good plus in paper-covered card wrappers as issued, with moderate rubbing and a bit of light wear at the extremities.

Rollinsville, CO: Self published, 1976. Original mail order catalog for Stan Brakhage films issued in 1976. Featuring 47 8mm and 72 16mm titles, with brief descriptions for each film. 9 x 6 inches. 12 pages. About Near Fine in saddle stapled, photo illustrated wrappers.

N.p.: N.p., 1964. Two vintage borderless reference photographs from the 1964 film. One photograph with the stamp of photographer Adam Woolfitt and cropping annotations in manuscript pencil on the verso. Based on the 1963 play by Kenneth H. Brown, based on his experiences in a military prison at Camp Fuji in Japan in the 1950s. Originally performed in New York by avant-garde theatre company The Living Theatre, and secretly shot by director Jonas Mekas using the company's sets shortly after the play closed. One photograph 8.25 x 6 inches, one photograph 9.5 x 8 inches. Near Fine.