Rare books from Harper's Books, Inc.

[New York: n.p., 1983-1987]. Contents uniformly in near fine to fine condition.. Collection of 120 flyers and posters from New York's hottest and most inventive nightclub, Area, during the mid-1980s. Although it was a disco, Area was a purely visual, happenings-based venue, where New York's art, music, design, fashion, and literary worlds collided; Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, or Jean-Michel Basquiat might be brushing up against Michael Forbes, David Byrne, or Georgio Armani, and Stephen Saban would be there to remind them what happened afterwards in his Details magazine column. Unlike other downtown clubs that focused on music or dancing, Area was driven by art and the scene that it engendered, through its theme nights, elaborate installations, and inventive flyers that seemed to embody Warhol's concept of business art. This archive includes Area's famously unconventional invitations, posters, articles, booklets, and other ephemera from the nightclub's short-lived, yet significant, four-year history.… Read More

New York: Joe McKenna, 1992. Both issues fine in illustrated wrappers, still in the publisher's shrinkwrap. Rare in perfect condition.. First Editions. Folios. Complete run of the legendary 1990s journal Joe's Magazine, compiled and published by Joe McKenna in tribute to the era's most influential figures in fashion and fashion photography. Features contributions by Craig McDean, Juergen Teller, Mario Sorrenti, Paolo Roversi, Steven Meisel, David Sims, and Bruce Weber, among others. One of the most sought after fashion publications of the 1990s.

London: Longmans, 1932. Cloth worn through at the spine heel and tips of the bottom boards, else near fine in a very good example of the rare jacket, lightly soiled, faded at the spine, with several small edge tears and tiny chips, but sound and complete.. First Edition. Small square quarto. A document of Frank Lloyd Wright's early career, with a section of photographs at the rear. Uncommon in jacket.

Torino: Pressa la Casa Editrice Chiantore di Torino, 1949. Rear hinge split with a small divot to the rear spine gutter (not affecting pages), front hinge has a smaller split, foxed at top edge; a very good copy (binding is tight) in an almost very good jacket, worn but complete, with the publisher's bellyband (worn).. First Edition. Large quarto. Text in Italian. Mollino's important survey of photography from its inception to the date of publication, including reproductions of his own work, and photographs by Man Ray, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, and very early Richard Avedon, among others. With 15 tipped-in color plates. This elegantly designed book is widely considered one the best Italian photobooks of the 20th century. Laid in are three original photographs by Mollino, each 7 x 9 1/4 inches, possibly vintage. One of the three images appears in the book on page 224 and is noted as such on the verso; the other two are from the same period.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941. Some scuffing to black cloth boards, with minor blemish at joint; close to near fine. In near fine copy of the illustrated jacket, with typical fading to spine, and minor edge-wear.. First Edition. Thick octavo. It's a testament to Evans' vision that thirty-one of his photographs, bound in the front of a book published with little fanfare, and set against the backdrop of over 450 pages of verbose text, could have had such an influence on the history of documentary photograph. (Parr / Badger, v1, 44; Roth 108-109).

(Los Angeles): Edward Ruscha, 1967. Very faint discoloration to the covers along the bottom edges, otherwise near fine in wrappers in an almost very good glassine jacket with a few spots of soiling, a 4-inch closed tear at the bottom of the back cover, a 1 inch by 1/2-inch chip at the top of the spine, and a smaller chip at the top of the front fold.. First Edition. Small quarto. One of 2413 copies. SIGNED by Ed Ruscha, briefly inscribed, and date-stamped "Jan 28 1968" at a book-signing party for this title at Irving Blum Gallery. Ruscha's fifth book, with thirty-four captioned aerial images of parking lots shot by photographer Art Alanis. A book of striking conceptual beauty and simplicity. Invitation card and small poster advertising Ruscha's appearance laid in; the poster, folded neatly in four, is an image of a Western Union Telegram announcing the event. Ruscha's work has become so much a part of contemporary art culture that it easy to forget how brilliant it is.

Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1968. Fine in a near fine jacket with a few edge nicks and a subtle vertical crease to the front flap. A remarkable preservation of a jacket that is usually missing or significantly perished: one of the best copies I have seen. Housed in a custom clamshell box.. First Edition. Folio. Errata slip laid in. In 1968, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour taught a third year studio graduate class at Yale that would have great implications on the study of architecture in the postmodern era. The class was called Learning from Las Vegas, or Form Analysis as Design Research. There were 13 students in total. In the end, their work would comprise the basis for the landmark architectural work Learning from Las Vegas, authored by Venturi, Brown, and Izenour, but compiled, researched and photographed by the students themselves. The seminal architectural text of its era, right there with Ruscha in terms of prescience and influence.

Hartford and (New York) / Paris: James Thrall Soby (Random House) / Cahiers d'Art, 1934. Area of adhesive residue or possibly paint to a section of the spiral-binding (hard-to-detect), else near fine in the distinctive photo-illustrated wrappers, with all spirals intact; fresh copy.. Second Edition with the replaced title page. Spiral-bound quarto. Text in French and English. Illustrated with 104 photographs printed in a lush gravure, divided into five sections, and comprising many of Man Ray's iconic images, with nineteen rayographs. (Roth 80-81).

Los Angeles: Mason Williams and Edward Ruscha, 1967. Touch of soiling and wear to the covers, else near fine in spiral-bound printed wrappers. The first edition of this title has become scarcer of late.. First Edition. Spiral-bound octavo. 1000 copies printed. The glorious destruction of the typewriter.

Tokyo: Yugensha, 2009. All elements fine.. Deluxe Edition. Loose plates in portfolio and box. Number 34 of 300 numbered copies. Sumptuous publication by Kazuhiko Motomura, compiling 81 contact sheets Robert Frank used in production of The Americans. Plates measure 20 1/4 x 16- 5/8 inches and are wrapped in custom Japanese paper and laid into a silver folder with colophon information printed on the inside and Frank's name debossed on the outside. Housed in a special box made from Paulowina wood and enclosed in a black cardboard box with the edition label on the side. 24 page pamphlet laid in. Complete in publisher's original shipping carton. The last of three collaborations between Motomura and Frank.

Paris: Paris-Publications, N.d. (c. 1934). Lacking spirals (most copies with intact spiral bindings are not original); a very good copy, creased at the top edge, with soiling to the distinctive orange wrappers.. Presumed second issue of Brassai's first book, disavowed due to contractual conflicts. Thin quarto, spiral-bound. With 38 photographs of Parisian nightlife that while chaste now, were deemed to racy for inclusion in "Paris de Nuit". SIGNED by Brassai and inscribed to publisher Nicholas Callaway: "Pour Nicholas / Callaway / un livre [?] / à hion insu / bien amicalement / le 3 mai 1981. Brassai." Very uncommon signed.

New York: Ace Books, 1953. Tight binding, with minimal rubbing to vibrant illustrated wrappers; a near fine copy of the author's first novel.. First Edition. Duodecimo. A remarkably sharp copy of Burroughs' semi-autobiographical novel about the New York heroin scene of the early 1950s. Published under the pseudonym of William Lee and bound tête-beche with Maurice Helbrant's Narcotic Agent.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952. A pleasing copy, with minor toning to wrappers, else near fine. Housed in quarter-leather slipcase, with pull-tab chemise.. First Edition. Octavo. An advance review copy, in wrappers, duplicating George W. Thompson's classic jacket design. With the text from the jacket flaps pasted as two panels to verso of front cover and front endpaper. One of an estimated 30 such copies (Klinkowitz AA1).

New York: The Viking Press, 1939. Navy blue cloth boards with gilt lettering to front panel and spine and turqoise topstain; minor scuffing to textblock edges, else near fine. In unclipped typographic jacket, with some scuffing and light creasing at edges, with minor chipping to lower edge of front panel; thus close to near fine. A pleasing copy.. First American Edition. Thick octavo. The final state of Joyce's long-gestating "Work in Progress," published in the same year as the signed Limited Edition co-published by Viking with Faber & Faber.

New York: Second Half Publishing Company, 1958-1965. Aside from some minor scuffing to illustrated wrappers, and short edge tear to front panel of issue 5, this set in near fine condition; first five issues in illustrated wrappers, with the sixth in plain wrappers and brown card jacket, printed in black and copper ink. Full sets uncommon, with fewer than a dozen OCLC records located in North America.. First Editions. Quartos. Six issues (all published) of the influential magazine founded by sculptor and polemicist Philip Pavia, committed to "catalyze and catalogue" the development of Abstract Expressionism. With contributions-whether textual statements, panel transcripts, or reproductions of works-from the likes of Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Philip Guston, Franz Kline, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, "P.G." Pavia, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, Larry Rivers, Milton Resnick, Mark Rothko, Salvatore Scarpitta, Walasse Ting, Mark Tobey,… Read More