Rare books from Arcana: Books on the Arts

(HIRST, DAMIEN). Hirst, Damien, Iwona Blazwick, Charles Hall & Sophie Calle. DAMIEN HIRST - A SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY FROM THE ARTIST WITH A DRAWING. Signed Presentation Copy - with a Drawing. London: Institute of Contemporary Art & Jay Jopling, 1991. First Edition 1/1750. Small 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Artist Monograph. Near Fine. np (64pp), profusely illustrated in color and b&w. Designed by Form, London. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper. This is the catalogue issued on the occasion of Damien Hirst's tour-de-force 1991 Institute of Contemporary Art London exhibition - the enfant terrible of the New British Art scene's very first one-man museum presentation. The first monographic publication on his work, this elegant document reproduces each of the exhibited butterfly paintings, dot paintings and glass vitrine pieces, and includes a transcribed interview between Hirst and Sophie Calle. A handsome example from an edition of one thousand, seven hundred and fifty… Read More

(TOMATSU, SHOMEI) (DOMON, KEN). Tomatsu, Shomei, Ken Domon, Kiyoshi Sakuma, Nobuo Kusano & Toshio Hata. HIROSHIMA - NAGASAKI DOCUMENT 1961. Tokyo: The Japan Council Against the A and H Bombs, 1961. First Edition. Large Square 4to. Decorative Cloth + Wrappers. Photography Monograph. Good./No Jacket - As Issued.. np + 54pp, profusely illustrated in duotone. Text in English. Designed by Kohei Sugiura. In protective clear acetate dustwrappers. This is Ken Domon and Shomei Tomatsu's remarkable book of photographs reflecting the aftermath of the atomic bombs the US dropped on The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to hasten the end World War II. In addition to the gripping hardbound volume of images, it contains a second English language publication in wrappers reprinting scholarly articles by Kiyoshi Sakuma, Nobuo Kusano, Toshio Hata on the radiation and its effects. A serviceable example only of this remarkable Post-War Japanese photographic book (cited on pages 274-75 of Martin Parr and… Read More

(RYDEN, MARK). Ryden, Mark. Introduction by Carlo McCormick. MARK RYDEN: ANIMA MUNDI - SIGNED LIMITED BOXED EDITION WITH A SIGNED PRINT. Signed by the Artist - with a Giclee Print Laid in. Sierra Madre & San Francisco, CA: Porterhouse Fine Art Editions & Last Gasp, 2001. First Edition 1/500 Deluxe. Square 4to. Boards in Clamshell Box. Artist Monograph. As New./No Jacket - As Issued. 134pp, profusely illustrated in color. The near-perfect distillation of childhood creepiness transformed into adult fine art, this first monograph on Mark Ryden sold out of its initial print run almost immediately. See Jimi Hendrix, Abe Lincoln, Christina Ricci, Leonardo Di Caprio, Colonel Sanders, the Teletubbies, Big Boy, Speedy Alka-Seltzer, and so many more in ways you've never imagined - not to mention the requisite Bees, Bunnies and Meat. A brand new, pristine unopened example of the deluxe edition limited to five hundred copies acquired directly from the artist featuring a copy of the book SIGNED AND… Read More

(MIRO, JOAN) (DERRIERE LE MIROIR). Miro, Joan, Jacques Dupin & Rene Char. DERRIERE LE MIROIR (DLM) NO. 14-15 + 29-30 + 57-58-59 + 87-88-89: MIRO - WITH THIRTY-FOUR COLOR LITHOGRAPHS. Paris. 1948, 1950, 1953 & 1956.: Maeght Editeur, First Edition Thus. Folio. Wrappers Bound in Cloth. Artist Monograph. Fine/No Jacket - As Issued. np + np + np + np, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. Text in French. This is a compilation of four issues of Maeght's legendary periodical "Derriere Le Miroir" (featuring the great artists and writers of the 20th Century) devoted solely to Joan Miro. Bound by Maeght in dark blue cloth-over-boards with debossed white lettering in 1956, it collects the complete contents of DLM numbers 14-15 (Novembre - Decembre 1948): "Joan Miro"; 29-30 (Mai - Juin 1950): "Miro"; 57-58-59 (Juin - Julliet - Aout 1953): "Miro"; and 87-88-89 (Juin - Julliet - Aout 1956): "Miro Artigas". An internally spectacularly bright, most… Read More

(CRUMB, R.). Crumb, Robert. Dian Hanson, Editor. ROBERT CRUMB'S SEXUAL OBSESSIONS - DELUXE LIMITED SIGNED EDITION WITH A COLOR SERIGRAPHIC PRINT. Signed by the Artist - with a Serigraph. Koln, GERMANY: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 2007. First Edition 1/1000 Deluxe. Stout 4to. Illustrated Boards in Slipcase. Artist Monographs. As New/No Jacket - As Issued. 258pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. Text in English. " R. Crumb has selected his most intimately revealing comic strips and single page drawings to create a two hundred and fifty-eight page encyclopedic trip through his sexual psyche. All images were created between 1980 and 2006, and all strips are hand-colored for a lush vibrancy never seen in his comic books. In total, "Robert Crumb's Sex Obsessions" features fourteen complete stories, including "My Troubles With Women", "If I Were a King", "A Bitchin' Bod", and "How To Have Fun With a Strong Girl", as well as sixty… Read More

(RUSCHA, EDWARD). Ruscha, Edward. FLIPPING, KICKING, HOWLING, ROLLING, SITTING, STANDING, CLIMBING, TELLING. Signed and Numbered by the Artist with 8 Etchings. Los Angeles: The Lapis Press, 1988. First Edition 1/35. Elephant Folio. Full Leather in Slipcase. Artist's Book. Very Good/No Jacket - As Issued. np (28pp), 1 letterpress colophon + title page, 8 color etchings. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper. "Flipping, Kicking, Howling, Rolling, Sitting, Standing, Climbing, Telling" is the oversized, extraordinarily luxe artist's book published in 1988 by Sam Francis' Lapis Press containing eight original etchings by Edward Ruscha. Each "silhouette" image was pulled by master printer Jacob Samuel at The Litho Shop on a 20 x 16" sheet of Rives BFK paper. The title and colophon pages are printed by hand-letterpress, and along with the etchings, four blank preliminaries, and endpapers have been hand-bound by Klaus Ullrich S. Rotzscher in an exquisite debossed,… Read More

(RUSCHA, EDWARD). Ruscha, Edward. EVERY BUILDING ON THE SUNSET STRIP - SIGNED BY EDWARD RUSCHA. Signed by the Artist. Los Angeles. 1966 (1970).: Self-Published, Second Printing 1/5000. 8vo. Leporello Wrappers in Slipcase. Artist's Book. Near Fine./No Jacket - As Issued.. One continuous accordion-fold page composed of glued paper segments extending to 296 ½" in length housed in a white paper and silver Mylar-over-cardboard slipcase. "Every Building on the Sunset Strip" is Ed Ruscha's innovative 1966 photographic study that pictures sequentially each architectural facade on both the North and South sides of the fabled Sunset Strip from 8101 - the still extant Jaguar dealership - to 9156 - the late, great Schwab's Pharmacy. Pandora's Box lives! A bright white, most handsome example of the 1970 second printing (entry B4 in Siri Engberg's "Edward Ruscha: Editions 1959-1999", and whose 1966 edition is cited on pages 142-143 of Martin Parr and Gerry… Read More

(RUSCHA, EDWARD). Ruscha, Edward. EVERY BUILDING ON THE SUNSET STRIP - SIGNED BY EDWARD RUSCHA. Signed by the Artist. Los Angeles. 1966 (1970).: Self-Published, Second Printing 1/5000. 8vo. Leporello Wrappers in Slipcase. Artist's Book. Near Fine./No Jacket - As Issued.. One continuous accordion-fold page composed of glued paper segments extending to 296 ½" in length housed in a white paper and silver Mylar-over-cardboard slipcase. "Every Building on the Sunset Strip" is Ed Ruscha's innovative 1966 photographic study that pictures sequentially each architectural facade on both the North and South sides of the fabled Sunset Strip from 8101 - the still extant Jaguar dealership - to 9156 - the late, great Schwab's Pharmacy. Pandora's Box lives! A bright white, most handsome example of the 1970 second printing (entry B4 in Siri Engberg's "Edward Ruscha: Editions 1959-1999", and whose 1966 edition is cited on pages 142-143 of Martin Parr and Gerry… Read More

(SAMMALLAHTI, PENTTI). Demos, John & Mario Peliti, Editors. Preface by Finn Thrane. PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI: HERE FAR AWAY - PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE YEARS 1964-2011 - SIGNED COLLECTORS' EDITION WITH A SIGNED PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT. Signed by the Photographer - with a b&w Photograph. London & Santa Monica, CA: Dewi Lewis Publishing & Peter Fetterman Gallery, 2012. First Edition 1/45 Deluxe. Oblong 4to. Cloth in Clamshell Box. Photography Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued. 256pp, 200 illustrations in duotone and color. Text in English. With a biography and bibliography. Published in 2012, "Here Far Away" is the exquisitely beautifully produced book that is the most comprehensive survey to date on the work of renowned Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti. A brand new, pristine example of the deluxe 2013 first printing issued by the Peter Fetterman Gallery as a "Collectors' Edition" limited to forty-five copies of the first English language edition of the book… Read More

(BEARD, PETER) (BLIXEN, KAREN). Beard, Peter, Kamante & Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen). LONGING FOR DARKNESS: KAMANTE'S TALES FROM OUT OF AFRICA (WITH ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND QUOTATIONS COLLECTED BY PETER BEARD) - A UNIQUE COPY ELABORATELY INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY PETER BEARD. Elaborately Inscribed and Signed by Peter Beard. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1990. First Edition Thus. 4to. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. Fine/Near Fine. np, profusely illustrated in duotone and b&w. Designed by Peter Beard and Marvin Israel. "Isak Dinesen and the land and people she loved are nowhere so real and compelling as in "Longing For Darkness", written by Dinesen's majordomo, Kamante. Readers familiar with "Out of Africa" may recognize many of these enchanting stories - retold here from Kamante's perspective to famed photographer Peter Beard - and enhanced with his drawings, letters, Dinesen's words and snapshots, and photographs by Beard… Read More

(BUKOWSKI, CHARLES). Bukowski, Charles & Noel Rockmore. CHARLES BUKOWSKI: CRUCIFIX IN A DEATHHAND: NEW POEMS 1963-65 - WITH A FULL PAGE PAINTING SIGNED AND DATED AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION. Signed and Dated with a Painting. New York & New Orleans: Lyle Stuart Inc. & The Loujon Press, 1965. First Edition 1/3100. Tall 4to. Illustrated Wrappers. Poetry Monograph. Very Good./Very Good -.. 101pp. illustrated in b&w + b&w covers. With 4 b&w etchings bound in. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper. "Crucifix in a Deathhand" is the elaborately designed and bound 1965 collection of poetry by hard-living Angeleno Charles Bukowski fabricated by Louise "Gypsy Lou" and Jon Webb at their Loujon Press in New Orleans, and published with the imprint of Lyle Stuart. The author's sixth book, it was issued as a "Loujon Press Award Book" (Gypsy Lou Series #2). Printed by hand-letterpress on seven shades of heavy Spectra Linweave paper with deckle edges and… Read More

(ALBERS, JOSEF). Albers, Josef. ALBERS: HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE (40 NEW PAINTINGS BY JOSEF ALBERS, SEPTEMBER 28 THROUGH OCTOBER 24, 1964, SIDNEY JANIS, 15 EAST 57, NEW YORK). New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1964. First Edition. Oblong 4to. Printed Wrappers. Artist Monograph. Good. np (10pp), 4 color screenprint illustrations. In a protective clear acetate dustwrapper. This is the elegantly minimal publication that accompanied legendary abstract artist, Bauhaus design teacher, and Yale University Art department chair Josef Albers' 1964 exhibition of forty "Homage to the Square" paintings held at New York's Sidney Janis Gallery. It reproduces a brief text by the artist as well as four exhibited works in the form of vibrantly colored, unsigned individual screenprints. An internally bright, handsome example with crisp plates - one of which has an unobtrusive tiny pinhole through the far edge of the right hand margin not affecting the image in any way - showing showing some moderate wear,… Read More

(WARHOL, ANDY). Warhol, Andy. THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANDY WARHOL (FROM A-B & BACK AGAIN) - SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY WITH A CAMPBELL'S SOUP CAN DRAWING. Signed Presentation Copy with a Soup Can Drawing. London: Cassell London / A Michael Dempsey Book, 1975. First British Edition. 8vo. Cloth Over Boards in Jacket. Artist Autobiography. Fine/Near Fine. 242pp, no illustrations. Dust jacket design by Julian Rothenstein with a photograph by David Bailey. "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (A-B & Back Again)" is the charming 1975 confessional autobiography cum successful artist's instruction manual penned by Andy Warhol with the assistance of Pat Hackett, Brigid Polk and Bob Colacello. It combines the Pop Art titan's ephemeral musings and concrete business suggestions intertwined with hilarious transcribed excerpts from his ever-present daily telephone calls. A most handsome example of the stated 1975 British first edition of this inspirational and aspirational tome additionally bearing… Read More

(WARHOL, ANDY). Frei, Georg & Neil Prinz, Editors. THE ANDY WARHOL CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ: PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURE 1961-1963 (VOLUME 01). London & New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002. First Edition. Stout Oblong 4to. Boards in Printed Slipcase. Catalogue Raisonné. Near Fine/No Jacket - As Issued. 504pp, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. Designed by Julia Hasting. With appendices and a title index.. Sponsored by Thomas Ammann Fine Art and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., this the massive first installment of the catalogue raisonné of the paintings and sculpture of Andy Warhol. Included are fully detailed and illustrated entries for five hundred and forty-six unique works created by the late Pop Art icon between 1961 and 1963. An internally most handsome example of the now unavailable 2002 first edition of this invaluable document whose slipcase shows a bit of wear and discoloration. It has been priced accordingly. PLEASE NOTE: Additional… Read More

(WARHOL, ANDY). Warhol, Andy. ANDY WARHOL: POSTER FOR A 1967 FILM SCREENING AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE AT THE TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER - BOLDLY SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. Signed by Andy Warhol. Tucson, AZ: Tucson Jewish Community Center, 1967. First Edition. 4to. Printed Poster. Exhibition Poster. Near Fine. One 14 x 10 ¼" paper sheet printed black and white offset, recto only, 1 b&w illustration. This is the poster published in conjunction with a November 5th, 1967 Andy Warhol lecture and film screening at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Warhol was in Arizona as part of a college lecture tour two months prior to shooting what turned out to be his final independent film "Lonesome Cowboys" - which featured Factory Superstars Joe Dallesandro, Viva, Eric Emerson, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, and Tom Hompertz, To defray costs of the trip, the always-thrifty artist scheduled a paid college Film Department appearance at nearby Arizona State University. When a similar booking did… Read More