DIVIDING LINE BOOKS Catalog No. 5: Artists' Books
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DIVIDING LINE BOOKS Catalog No. 5: Artists’ Books April 2021 Inquiries: [email protected] Full terms at rear 1. Libro Illeggibile N.Y. 1 by Bruno Munari 1967 One of the world’s most iconic artist’s books, by the legendary Italian designer. The best-known iteration of Munari’s “unreadable” artist’s books, published in an edition of 2,000 copies by The Museum of Modern Art in 1967. This copy hand- numbered No. 1,756 at base of final leaf. Saddle-stapled in black wraps and laminated red jacket. A very good copy, whose vellum leaves show off-setting from the printed black circles and moderate toning around the edges. Jacket has a diagonal crease to the front bottom flap and some incidental laminate lifting along hinges. Quite attractive. $500— 2. 3. FIRSTHAND ROOMS P.S. 1: June 9-26, 1976 by Cecile Abish edited by Stephen Alexander and Eugenie Diserio 1978 1977 A visual treatise on perception and the Exhibition catalogue for the first show at the Long multiplicities contained within an ostensibly Island City contemporary art space now known as singular image. MoMA PS1. An artist’s book consisting of jigsaw-like permutations Black-and-white photographs of the site-specific works, with on two photographs of a building in New Jersey. notes and comments by the seventy-eight artists at rear. With Published in conjunction with Abish’s 1978 sculptural a brief statement by curator and P.S. 1 executive director installation at Wright State University. Alanna Heiss at front, and another at rear by program director Linda Blumberg. Artists represented include Vito Acconci, John Dayton, OH: Fine Arts Gallery, Inc., 1978. Saddle- Baldessari, Jennifer Bartlett, Peter Downsbrough, Suzanne Harris, stapled in printed black-and-white wraps. Square octavo Joseph Kosuth, Gordon Matta-Clark, Bruce Nauman, Nam June (8 x 8 in.); unpaginated (~40pp.). This copy inscribed Paik, Judith Shea, Susan Weil, and others. on the title page by William Spurlock, then-director of the Fine Arts Gallery at Wright State University, who NY: The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, 1977. Perfect- also contributed a brief introduction. With an essay by bound in wraps; 10.5 x 10 in.; 127pp. First edition. Near fine Abish’s husband Walter. condition, with two white surface abrasions to the front cover, and some quite minor rippling to the front fore-edge. A nice copy. $75— $175— 4. HOUSESCAPES by Laurel Beckman 1982 5. A handsomely conceived artist’s book sugges- ROLYWHOLYOVER: A CIRCUS tive of the ways in which narrative and desire By John Cage overlay the more prosaic aspects of contem- 1993 porary housing. Los Angeles: Helix Press, 1982. Edition of 100. Spiral- bound with wire; 9 x 7 in. ; unpaginated. Four sets of briefly captioned images offset printed in color and black-and-white on vellum and paper, respectively. $100— A treasure trove of materials by, about, and important to the American avant-garde composer, issued in conjunction with a museum tour of his last major work. Includes plates and pamphlets of Cage’s own work, along with reprints of texts and visual works which were meaningful to him and scholarly essays about his work by Anne d’Harnoncourt, Laura Kuhn, John Rellack, and others. Published as an independent component of the exhibit of the same name, conceived by Cage as a “composition for museum,” which premiered at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in September 1993. Los Angeles / New York: The Museum of Contemporary Art / Rizzoli International Publications, 1993. Edited by Russell Ferguson. Designed by Catherine Lorenz. Mirrored metal box, 11.5 x 10 in., containing several dozen printed materials in various formats. Moderate scuffing to the box. Contents mostly fine, with some light toning to some of the translucent paper and a few minor creases here and there. $100— 6. Small archive of materials by the Italian Neo-Dadaist Guglielmo Achille Cavellini 1972–1981 Cavellini (1914–1990) was an Italian collector and artist best known for the program of “self-historification” that he began in the 1970s as a way to insert himself in the canon of modern art. The work took many forms—performance, mail art, autobiography, Neo- Dada provocations—always countering its absurd premise with an unwaveringly earnest approach. The materials in this archive, which comes from the collection of American mail artist David Greenberger, are all exemplary of this “autostoricizzazione” phase of Cavellini’s output. Contents as follows. Four stickers, including Cavellini’s iconic 1914–2014 design and “Informazione,” a diagram of modern artists as cuts of beef; one 10 x 8 in. color photograph of Cavellini wearing his autobiography coat and holding a metal postage box; seven postcards, including one duplicate card bearing a handwritten note from Cavellini in which he asks Greenberger (unnamed) how many stickers he wants “for the Boston performance.” Dated Jan. 31, 1980 and signed “gac.” 7 Autoritratti di Cavellini. One color plate, else black-and-white images of Cavellini’s postage stamp self-portraits, published in conjunction with an exhibition at the galleria d’arte in Pesaro, Italy. Milan, 1972. Saddle-stapled in wraps; 8 x 8 in.; unpaginated (~20pp.). Light foxing to wraps and occasionally to interior. Laid in is a small printed card apologizing to anyone who has received more than one copy: “I don’t have the time to reorganize my mailing list.” 1946–1976: In the Jungle of Art. Cavellini’s stream-of-consciousness memoirs, a single run-on sentence printed in columns and here translated into the English by Henry Martin. Johann Gutenberg Editor, [circa 1979]. Signature-bound in white printed wraps; 11.5 x 8.25 in.; 86pp. Laid in is a 4.5 x 3.5 in. card offering to send additional copies on request. Lightly bumped at top corner, with some foxing to the wraps. In its original cardboard mailer, addressed to Greenberger. L’altro Panorama, a supplement included with Panorama magazine no. 782, published April 13, 1981. Includes a one page profile of Cavellini, “L’utopia è uno spettacolo quotidiano,” by Tommaso Trini. Unbound, 16.5 11.25 in., folded once. Very good, rubbed along hinges. Text in Italian. Laid in is a reproduced three-page English-language translation of the article. Sold— 7. DIVIDE DENMARK by Knud Pedersen, Eric Andersen, Robert Filliou, and Pino Paschali A folder of unbound works by four members of the international Fluxus movement, apparently as organized by Danish artist and organizer Knud Pedersen (1925–2014). Eric Andersen’s “Decision-Set” consists of nine sheets of transparent paper printed in black text (English language), along with a title page instructing readers to combine the sheets until reaching “any relevant statement” on a chosen topic. Robert Filliou’s “Exchange of War Memorials,” repeats on a single sheet the brief text of a speech delivered at the Copenhagen Museum for Modern Art, January 2, 1971. Pino Paschali’s “Sale of Ground 1 D. Kr. Cheaper Pr. Square Metre with Every Transaction,” is a single-sheet “advertisement” for a one square meter parcel of land, sold with the stipulation that the price be lowered for each subsequent sale. Knud Pedersen’s “Medium” contains instructions for a telephone-based project where callers could leave and/or listen to recorded messages. He also contributed four sheets with various 8. images/text, all of which contain the phrase “part of poster for wall- GEM DUCK mounting” in either English of Danish. by Alison Knowles Three of the four sheets are printed 1977 on sticker sheets (as is, perhaps mistakenly, the Paschali sheet). Signed [Copenhagen]: Vintens Forlag Og Artist’s book on the theme of shoes by one Kunstbiblioteket, [1972]. Seventeen of the founding members of Fluxus. loose sheets in printed white folder, 11.75 x 8.25 in.The good condition Signed, dated, and briefly inscribed by Knowles on the folder shows moderate toning and half-title. foxing, with a three-inch split to the bottom rear corner and a short split Cavriago: Edizioni Pari & Dispari, 1977. Signature-bound in at base of spine. Contents are very printed wraps; 8.75 x 6.5 in.; unpaginated (~130pp.). Offset good, with occasional light perimeter in silver-grey ink on glossy paperstock. From an edition of toning and a few instances of foxing. 1,000. Condition: very good, with some bumping at head An uncommon artifact of the Danish of spine, light soiling and perimeter wear to wraps. Fluxus scene. $200— $225— 9. HOMAGE TO CAVAFY by Duane Michals 1978 Signed Photos by the American photographer accompa- nying poems by the 20th century Greek poet. From the collection of the late San Francisco artist and graphic designer Richard Zybert (1947–2017), to whom Michals has inscribed and signed the title-page: “For Richard, OK!” Ten captioned photographs by Michals and ten poems by Cavafy, with Michals’ contribution intended not as illustra- tions of Cavafy’s work but as “separate and sympathetic” explorations on the theme of gay love. Danbury, NH: Addison House, 1978. First trade edition (as distinct from the limited slipcased edition). Signature-bound in glossy white wraps, in printed parchment jacket. 8.25 x 6 in. 10. Unpaginated (~43pp.) Jacket shows the usual slightly uneven darkening, else a fine copy. SLEEP AND DREAM by Duane Michals $100— 1984 Signed NY: Lustrum Press, 1984. Perfect-bound in glossy printed wraps. 8.25 x 6 in. 64pp. Signed and inscribed by Michals, “For Richard, wake up!” on the title page. Poems and black-and-white photos by Michals. From the collection of the late San Francisco artist and graphic designer Richard Zybert (1947–2017). $60— Two scarce self-published works by Davi Det Hompson (1939–1996), an artist variously associated with Fluxus, concrete poetry, mail art, and other avant-garde movements of the 20th century.