Michael Fagan Fine Art & Rare Books (500 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. October 1928-July 1930 (all published) Octavo, wrappers, 19 numbers in 17 issues. From its first issue stating its intent as a Marxist journal of the social sciences and arts, Signals was, like almost all avant-garde activities in Latvia, driven by a social and economic agenda which incorporated the use modernist graphic design of the day. There are, among the more generally Soviet leaning essays and reviews, some interesting original wood- and linocuts and photo-collages, but the most striking aspect is the cover design, unique to each issue, which were highly original Constructivist compositions of very high quality. Artists designing these covers were A. Rentovics, V. Leimans, A. Grigels, L. Sneiders, and A. Segelins, although most were unattributed in many numbers. Signals is very rare and highly collectible. From today's perspective, the original graphic covers of Signals are the some of the most significant visual contributions from Latvia in the 20th century. Fraser, pp.133-135, illustrated. Worldcat finds one set in North America, and single issues alone are scarce are highly sought. This set near fine to fine. More photos and information on request.

Seller Inventory # 5130

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 23.3x15.2 cm., wrappers, 1928-1930, 18 numbers (all published). Cover designs by Ernests Kalis. A bimonthly journal, considered to be one of Laicens' most important publications and the most significant journal of the era along with SIGNALS but esteemed to be of higher literary quality and thought. Striking abstract linocut covers, highly original, in bright colors unique for each issue. As with almost all of the liberal to left wing culture in Latvia, there is a strongly Soviet orientation, and the journal was most likely financed, at the outset, with funds from the USSR. Every issue is illustrated, including some photomontage and graphics. In addition to being a vehicle of contrarian social commentary and promoting open discourse, KREISA FRONTE also was a publishing house which issued poetry and literary books. Linards Laicens (1883-1938) was highly individual, prolific writer in all literary forms, editor and publisher, going against all currents of the day, leftist and of increasingly Marxist-Leninist persuasion. Somewhat the ingenue in matters of Soviet power, he emigrated to the USSR where he became a victim of the purges in Moscow in 1938 along with fellow Latvians. KREISA FRONTEwas published from 1928-1930. There are no library holdings of this most important journal outside of Latvia. The present set is clothbound, preserving original wrappers.

Seller Inventory # 5135

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. (Moscow Under Reconstruction, an Album of Diagrams, Topograms, and Photography of the Reconstruction of the City of Moscow).Quarto 33.4x34 cm., embossed cloth, 256pp., profusely illustrated with maps, foldouts, and visual schematics. Text by Viktor Shklovskii, art and book design by Aleksandr Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova. Photography by Georgii Zelma, Georgii Pretrusov, E. Langman, Ia.Khalip, E. Baldyrev. Includes plans and graphs as color lithographs, photogravures in sepia, blue or green, overlays of maps, foldouts, layered pages. This work by Aleksandr Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova is one of the most wonderful collaborations in the history of Russian photobooks. It was executed by them concurrently with The Red Army, but is much more complex, dynamic, and elaborate than the latter. It was the most ambitious of any of the Soviet photography books that were produced in the 1930s. Every one of the contributors --- verbal, photographic, in design and execution --- are significant in their own right. Simply put, the most breathtaking, brilliant of photobooks in the era of great Soviet photobooks, a masterpiece of book production. Karasik 252-257, The Photobook I, pp. 168-169, This copy near fine. Please contact us for further information, photos.

Seller Inventory # 5112

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Numbers 1-3. Each is quarto 26x17 cm., wrappers, 80, 80, 83 pp. No. 1 released in 3000 copies, No. 3 notes 2000. Cover design by Mark Chagall, who also provided a statement in No. 1. A literary-artistic journal, Shtrom was an organ of the Kultur-Lige which moved from Kyiv to Moscow in 1921. While not an official state publication, it is the first Yiddish serial to appear in the USSR. Poetry and prose by Peretz Markish, der Nister (Pinchas Kahanowitz), David Hofshtein, Naum Auslander (Nokhem Oyslender), David Bergelson, Itsik Kipnis, N. Daniel, and Shmuel Nisn-Gordiner, inter alia. Shtrom aspired to be international in scope, drawing on Yiddish writers worldwide, but over time it published writers of the Soviet Union. The last 3 numbers came under Party control, and it failed to maintain sufficient financial support to continue. OCLC traces only a holding in microfiche (Harvard), but MOMA has 1-4. Refs: Shneer: Yiddish and the Creation of Soviet Jewish Culture, 2004; Tradition and Revolution, p. 151; MOMA 372).

Seller Inventory # 5084

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. (Architectural Fantasies, 101 Compositions in Color. Architectural Miniatures, Realized with the Participation of D. Kampanitsyn and E. Pavlov) Quarto 30.5x21.5 cm., embossed cloth, altogether 303pp, which consists of 102pp. text with 113 illustrations, plus 101 leaves with plates of full page color plates hors text, released in 3000 copies. Iakov Chernikhov (1889-1951) is known for his theoretical works which are encapsulated in the books he published from 1927 to 1933. As an architect, very few of his conceptions were realized and he spent most of his life in teaching positions at design institutes throughout his professional life. The present work is acknowledged to be the last publication of avant-garde design in Stalinist Russia. It is an amazing feat, with 101 color plates of visionary drawings executed by the author and two design assistants. It also contains numerous black & white renderings, equally remarkable in daring and scope. This work, a statement of publishing excellence and daring architectural vision appeared in spite of the narrowing options left for designers under increased Party dictated strictures. They would soon jell into the dreary Neoclassicism that pervaded the USSR under Stalin. Chernikhov was censured soon after the book's release. One later work, The Construction of Letter Forms, appeared posthumously in 1959. As a working contemporary with Soviet designers, Chernikhov had a great interest in Futurism, Constructivism, and a real affinity with Suprematism; he was a friend of Malevich. But he was too much of an individual with many visual concerns and dimensions to explore to be subsumed into a school other than his own. He emphasized that design must start with pure abstraction. Many of the architectural fantasies in this book are sheer exercises in pure form. These were meant to serve for the bases of extraordinary structures, most beyond the technology of the day for realization. These and other Chernikhov designs have inspired architects and designers starting in the 1980s when there was a reevaluation of Constructivism and Suprematism in Post-modernist circles and individual design pioneers which continue to the present day. Senkevich 205, MOMA 1022 This copy with slight spine fading, else fine. A highly collectible, Russian art book treasure.

Seller Inventory # 4411

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 19.8x16 cm., 10 (2) pp. Original illustrated wrappers, with title page and 8 illustrations by Lissitzky. Mild toning, rubber stamp to front wrapper and p. 5. 10, [2] p. Unknown edition size. After 1923, Lissitzky ceased illustrating Yiddish books and concentrated his great talents on Constructivism, photomontage and architectural design, making significant contributions in all of them. His illustrated Yiddish books remain unsurpassed to this day. (Tradition and Revolution, p. 66) Although this side of his work was little known until fairly recently, Lissitzky produced several extraordinary Yiddish children s books while living and working in Kiev soon after the Revolution. As a member of IZO Narkompros (People s Commissariat of Enlightenment), he helped set up the Kultur-Lige there. In 1919, he and the writer Ben Zion Raskin signed a contract with Yidisher Folks Farlag Kooperativ for 11 children s books in the Kinder Gorten series. Only two titles other than this one were ever published: The Miller, his Wife and the Millstones and The Hen that Wanted a Comb. These Yiddish children s books are extremely rare as many disappeared when Yiddish publications were officially banned by the Soviet State. OCLC locates 1 copy, at Getty. Nisbet, El Lissitzky 1919/3. Tradition and Revolution: The Jewish Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art, cat. 94, illustrated pp. 186 187. Futur-anterieur, 123. Faint deaccession stamp on cover, else NF.

Seller Inventory # 5162

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Quartos, generally 30x23 cm., bound and in wrappers, various paginations. Editors include Zdenek Wirth, Otokar Novotný, Pavel Janák, Vilém Dvorák inter alia. All the editorial staff throughout its life were working architects. From its inception, Styl was a major architecture and design journal, engaging the pioneering architects of the Secessionist and Czech Cubist period through Rondo-cubism, experimental trials and into Functionalism. The first years of Styl were based on the Secessionist and early experiments of Cubist design. The first year is a sumptuous production, with metallic color lithographs and tissue guards on all full-page illustrations and photographs printed on heavy paper. As time went on it had to curtail these luxury elements due to financial considerations. Edited and later published by the Společnost architektu v Praze (Society of Architects in Prague), it maintained a superior standard of discourse and analysis of the work presented on its pages. The members of the Society were the classic designers from the Secessionist and Cubist eras (Gočár, Novotný, Janák, Kotěra, Plečnik, Chochol, etc., many of them students of Otto Wagner), all individuals of unique talents whose work, supported by sumptuous commissions, bestowed a rich legacy which contributed to make Prague a capital city of architecture and design. Eventually with an ageing Functionalist editorial staff and chronically short of funds, Styl met the same fate as its fellow Czech design journals Stavitel, Stavba and Architekt SIA; by 1939 they had all amalgamated into the single publication of the day, Architektura. The present collection is all published. The Year I (1908/09) contains several inserts, including an important statement by Artel as a broadsheet, a highly collectible item in its own right. Both it and Year II (1910, extremely rare in itself) are boxed in elegant, Secessionist casings with ties as a deluxe edition holding the issues in original wrappers. They are both Ex-Libris Marie Fischerová-Kvechová (1892-1984), Czech impressionist and children's book illustrator. Several annuals are the publisher's cloth release, a few are in private bindings and the rest are in the original wrappers; Year XVIII is unbound, with front covers and inserts, slipcased. OCLC locates three institutional holdings in North America, all partial (Columbia, Getty, Art Inst Chicago); the Beinecke at Yale holds a complete set. The full set of all published is rarely encountered. All issues in very good to fine condition. More information and photos available on request.

Seller Inventory # 5124

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 24.5x18 cm., wrappers, 20(1)pp., loose as issued. No. 791 of 1000 copies on velin of 1220 overall. A very successful collaboration of poet and photographer, with extraordinary sensuous photos of Eluard s wife Nusch coupled with page design incorporating the poetry cycle therein. It is rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest surrealist publications. This is a fine, crisp copy, in custom clambshell box bearing hand-tooled leather spine.

Seller Inventory # 4171

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 23x18 cm, original wrappers, 28 (ii), 6 color lithographs. Unknown edition. Exodus refers to leaving Penza, where Mariengof lived as a student. This is a Futurist work, with superb examples of artwork by Mariengof s fellow student Vitalii Usenko (dates and biographical info unknown). It is late Futurism, and traces the link Mariengof used to connect to Imagism, which morphed into Imaginism by 1920 and for which the poet is most renowned. The almanac includes an assortment of work by other poets (Startsev, Stotov, Vigranskii), with the most notable being the first appearance of Osip Mandel shtam s Dekabristy from 1917---a striking anomaly (it would be first published officially in Tristia in 1922). Copies of this work found in Yale, Getty (260), MOMA 208. A very fine copy, near new.

Seller Inventory # 5053

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Two Folios 42 x 31.8 cm, stiff card covers, holding publisher's orange wrappers with descriptive index on rear flap; containing 44 sheets (Blätter) which include numbered fascicules and plates. These are all loose as issued and are complete. This fourth volume of Wagner's works, "Some Sketches, Projects and Completed Buildings," which the architect issued was published in six numbers from 1910 through 1922. The contents here include the Competition Projects for the Reichsministerium and the Technical Museum, an apartment house, the Palace of Peace in den Haag, extensive elevations and plans with gardens for the Karlsplatz and Kaiser Franz-Josef-Stadt Museum (Wagner's Opus=IV), the reconstruction of the Vienna University Library, the Villa Wagner, the reconstruction of the Royal Art Academy of Vienna, the House of Glory, the Hotel Wien. All these are accompanied by fine full-size plates of photographs and drawings of elevations, details, interiors of public buildings, monuments and residences. Many of the plates are original engravings and incorporate metallic inks. These engravings, the book design and the magnitude of architectural thinking make this publication a Secessionist masterpiece. Outer covers with minor wear, interior orange wrappers and all contents near fine. There is one library holding in North America (Columbia) for the fourth collection in the original edition. A splendid document of the era and a summit in the history of architectural publishing, with some of the architect's greatest works, rarely encountered in the market. More photos available on request.

Seller Inventory # 6569

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 24x17 cm., wrappers, Numbers 1-8 (all published); illustrated. A surrealist literary journal. The title is roughly equivalent to the French témoignage, a loaded surrealist term for testimony. Svedocanstva emerged as the first surrealist journal in Yugoslavia, and stands with the single-issue Nemoguce (L'Impossible) as the chief outlet and documentary source for surrealist activity in the Balkans. Contributors include Yugoslav authors Marko Ristic, Milan Dedinac, Alksandar Vuco, Mladen Dimitrevic;, Milovoje Stepanovic;, Milan Dedinac, Tin Ujevic, in addition to editors Matic, Vuco and Petrovic; some exchanges with French surrealists Breton, Henri Nouveau inter alia, illustrations by Surrealist artists including Picasso which he contributed specifically for this journal. Issue no. 1 from November 1924 with the article Nadrealizam is considered the starting point of Serbian surrealism. This number also include Breton's first Manifesto and the first news about the founding of the Bureau of Surrealist Research (Centrale surréaliste) ten days earlier than it was published in the first number of La revolution surréaliste on December 1 1924. The rear cover of the final issue has a drawing by Picasso. Svedocanstva was published once every ten days; each number was devoted to different topics. It was distributed in Yugoslavian major cities, in Paris and Frankfurt. OCLC finds four complete sets in North American libraries and four partial holdings. This set very fine; six numbers are with uncut signatures.

Seller Inventory # 4113

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 27x19.5 cm, wrappers, 30(2)pp. Tibor Déry was a novelist who aligned with Kassák's MA group in both Budapest and later Vienna, and lived peripatetically until settling in Hungary in 1935. Like Kassák, he was an outsider of leftist vision, eventually becoming a communist and suffering suppression under both fascist and communist régimes. He was imprisoned after the 1956 revolution. He is acknowledged as a 20th-century great writer winning praise from György Lukács as "The greatest depictor of human beings in our time." In this work, Déry creates a surrealist narrative of rebellion against society, the universe, and reality itself. A final statement in it declares, "The truth is a lie!" After this, Déry joined Kassak's Dokumentum group in Budapest and leaned toward constructivist and humanist work in the next decade, in line with the Munka vision. Cover design by Lajos Kassák. OCLC finds only one institutional holding in North America.

Seller Inventory # 4167

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Octavo 17,8x 12 cm., wrappers, (26) pp.The All-Russian Union of Poets was organized in Moscow in 1918 and continued to 1929 when it was absorbed into All Russian Union of Writers. In 1922 it came under the scrutiny of the NKVD who forced it to change the charter of its aims This collection consists of exponents of various schools due to the extreme dubiousness of the goals and revolutionary objectives pursued by the Union, as well as harmful activities to the ranks of youth. This is the second poetry collection issued by the Union. Poets representing various isms are found here with Mandel shtam (Sestry), Tsvetaeva (Kon -Khrom), Pasternak (Mne v sumerki ty vse.), Sel vinskii and Boguslavskii, among others. Rare, Getty 827,MOMA 394. Printed on heavy van Gelder, This copy very crisp, near fine. With very fine cover by Gustav Klutsis, one of his earliest works.

Seller Inventory # 5057

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Quarto, octavo, various original bindings (boards, cloth and wrappers). Zivot (Life) was an important art journal, various editors, running from 1921 to 1948 except for 1945. In 1922 under the editorship of architect Jaroslav Krejcar and Karel Teige, it became briefly a flagship of the avant-garde and arm of Devetsil, and that annual is much sought-after with important articles and graphics heralding the Devetsil movement. There it announced Czech art and design to be in synch with the leading experiments in international modernism. Some years were released as annuals alone, others came in segments of ten issues. The journal s subtitle ranges from Art Review to Review of Art & Literature to Papers on the Fine Arts and Artistic Culture with a few further variants. Aside from the 1922 edition, it was generally dedicated to all aspects of art history, with emphasis on more recent developments but as a continuum with past traditions. There are a host of original graphics by Czech artists throughout, including a signed woodcut by Josef íma and stamped litho by Franti ek Tichý, a number of linocuts by Josef Capek, original woodcuts by Sedlácek and others. While the greatest emphasis was on painting, graphics and sculpture of all periods in art history, there are also interesting treatments of current architectural and stage design. There are also important poems, treatises and critical reviews by the Czech illuminati of the day. Complete, all published. Very uncommon, with one incomplete holding in North America.

Seller Inventory # 6602

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Monte-Carlo/NY: Braziller, 1960 (I) Monte-Carlo/Boston: Boston Book & Art Shop, 1963 (II) Monte-Carlo: Fernand Mourlot & Andre Sauret, 1969 (III) New York: Crown Publishers, 1974 (IV); 1984 (V); 1986 (VI) All quarto 33x25 cm., embossed cloth, 221, 209, 181, 180, 251, 225 pp., each with original dust wrapper, Vols IV and V in original slipcases. The set includes 24 original lithographs, with an additional four on the dust jackets of vols. I to IV. Volume III is the French language edition. Dust wrapper on Vol I chipped and worn at edges, else all volumes fine/fine. Vols. II-VI in original glassine covers. A magnificent publication, detailing the life and graphic work of Marc Chagall throughout his long, productive life. A well preserved set.

Seller Inventory # 5163

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Prague-Smichov: Veraikon, 1921-1934. 107 numbers, from No. 1921 no. 1 to 1934 No. 5. Quartos and octavos, all in original wrappers, 12 complete years of issue from 1921 to 1933, and 5 numbers from 1934. . Editions were released in limited quantity, certainly under 500. This collection includes scores of original lithographs, woodcuts, linocuts, and hundreds of reproductions documenting the contemporary art movements of Czechoslovakia, France, Russia and Yugoslavia, with the emphasis of course on the art of Czechoslovakia, and featuring work of well-known and lesser-known artists of the day. This includes important essays on contemporary art topics by Emil Pacovsky, Jiri Kroha, Jaroslav Jira, Vaclav Vancura, inter alia --- almost all by working artists themselves. Several numbers are devoted to new Czech architecture, and a good number focusing entirely on the work of women artists, rather uncommon in the era. Included are original woodcuts, linocuts and engravings by Josef Sima (3), Jan Rambousek, Vojtech Preissig (3), Václav Spala (2), Karel Teige (2), Josef Capek (5), Zdenek Rykr (3), Rudolf Adamek (2), Josef Bartuska (5) and many more by Mackova, Hoffmeister, Vlastislav Hofman, Kotík, etc. Each issue reviews the work of artists, architects and designers, and there are some important first appearances of essays by Teige, the architects Vit Obrtel, Bohuslav Fuchs, Jan Kotera, Jaroslav Krejcar, etc., with design drawings by them as well. Three numbers includes a survey of contemporary and traditional art developments in Slovenia, documenting the work of Pilon, Kralj, Vidmar, Stuplovsek, Zupan and Zakac; these artists of the Slovenian avant-garde were generally ignored by the Yugoslav establishment and public; this is one of the few contemporary discussion of them outside of Ljubljana. Many of the issues are uncut, most are in very good to fine; a few have loose covers but the interiors of all of them are all near fine with no markings, paper loss or stains. Veraikon was a premier journal of the graphic and fine arts which ran from 1913 to 1937 for a total of 23 years. Unbound copies are quite scarce, preserving the original wrappers and including all the supplemental issues of original graphics. Many numbers offered here are unopened, with signatures uncut. Some numbers have detached wrappers. Overall very good to fine; an uncommon offering. More photos and information furnished on request.

Seller Inventory # 5123

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Octavo 19x13.5 cm, wrappers, 22pp. stapled. Edition of 165. Stenciled text by the artist with six original engravings: Three linocuts and three woodcuts made on lids of Camembert cheese boxes. Handwritten text by Dubuffet spelled phonetically, humorous and nonsensical. Early, uncommon art brut production. OCLC finds this in 8 North American libraries. This copy near fine, with France stamp on cover.

Seller Inventory # 4172

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Quarto 28x20.5 cm., wrappers, 20 leaves, edition of 400 copies. Han geijutsu was a periodical which featured graphics by contemporary Japanese artists from 1930 to 1936. This issue is devoted to Onchi Koshiro, with a two-color woodcut cover and twenty woodcuts, all starkly modernist and abstract. No library holdings for this issue found outside of Japan. This copy with light foxing on front cover, interior near fine.

Seller Inventory # 4114

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Large quarto 34.5x27 cm., wrappers, 30(2) pp. Joseph Chaikov (1888-1979) is one of the most important artists of the Yiddish avant-garde. He worked extensively as a graphic artist during the heyday of Yiddish experimental modernism; he is noted for his sculpture in his later years. Here he has rendered a superb color zincograph cover here for a score of children's songs written by Itzhak Peretz (Yitzkhok Leybush Peretz) and set to music by Moses (Moshe) Mil'ner. Milner (1886-1953) is noted for composing the first Yiddish opera in Russia, "Die Himlen Brenen.". It was denounced as reactionary after two performances and suppressed. He wrote theater music that was performed throughout the Soviet Union and was director of the Jewish Voice Ensemble (Evokans) in Leningrad. Refs: Futur-anterieur 196, but which notes a smaller version; Tradition & Revolution 60; Shmeruk 1084. Rare, with no worldcat listings found (but a copy held at the Jewish National & University Library). A near fine copy.

Seller Inventory # 5086

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Oblong octavo 15x21 cm., four numbers per year. Vytvarna Vychova (Art Education, Anthology of Artwork, Design and Visual Training) was a series of books issued from 1935 to 1944 in four numbers per year. Each number holds 56 pages of instructions, lessons, and discussion of art and design principles, with copious illustrations throughout, many in color. Edited by Josef Vydra (1884-1959) artist, ethnologist, art theorist. Vydra was an art educator of first magnitude working in Bratislava and Brno. He teamed with legendary Ladislav Sutnar (1897-1976) who had longtime interests in art education, toys and crafts as learning tools, and Karel Herain (1890-1953), art historian and Curator of the Decorative Arts Museum (Umeleckoprumyslové Muzeum) in Prague to assemble some of the best minds and talents of Czechoslovakia and beyond to produce a series of ideas and practicalities in visual design. Contributors included Zdenek Rossmann, Antonín Heythun, Ernst Kállai, L'udovit Fulla, Mikulas Galanda, Ladislav Zak, Fernand Léger, Jan Tschichold, Zdenek Pesánek, V.V. Stech, Karel Capek, Sutnar and Vydra among many others--- artists, teachers and designers, historians and theorists--- whose names cited above reflect the highest quality of imparting artistic skills to students, young and old. All manner of a fine and industrial arts curriculum will be found in these pages, from painting, drawing, sculpture, drafting, furniture design and making, toys (a Sutnar specialty), photography and film, graphic art and design, crafts, etc., -- in short, what engages the eyes, hands, and tools for creation and production. The quality of care and attention to all areas of visual art that are found here is a testimony to the variegated, thriving culture in interwar Czechoslovakia that engaged so much of the population. The present collection includes 29 of the 40 numbers published: 1935 Year I 1-4 (complete) 1936 Year II 1-4 (complete) 1937 Year III 1-2,4; 1938 Year IV 2-4; 1939 Year V 1-2, 4; 1940 Year VI 1, 1941 Year VII 1,3; 1942 Year VIII 1; 1943 Year IX 1-4 (complete) 1944 Year X 1-4.(complete) Further details furnished on request. This is a sheer delight of invention and visual learning. Very uncommon, with OCLC finding only one partial holding in North America (Virginia Museum of Fine Art). Copies very good to fine, some near new.

Seller Inventory # 5134

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Octavo 17x12.5 cm., Illustrated wrappers by Mark Epshteyn; covers slightly soiled, 18, [1] pp. A one-act children s play, Di farshterte khasene is about the bear's wedding, featuring the traditional Jewish figures of the shadkhn (matchmaker), badkhn (traditional wedding entertainer), and a klezmer band. In this story, the wedding is disrupted by insects who steal honey from the party. Kipnis (1896 1974) was a Jewish Ukrainian writer, noted for his contributions to Soviet Yiddish literature and his writing for children. Epshteyn (1899 1949) was a sculptor, painter, and stage designer who worked with Chagall, Lissitzky, and Altman. Futur anterieur: l avant-garde et le livre yiddish (Paris: Skira-Flammarion, 2009), cat. 95 (illustrated on p. 119). Worldcat finds four copies in North American libraries.

Seller Inventory # 3400

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Octavo, original wrappers bound in full calf boards, top edge gilt, 123(v)pp. No. 68 of 150 copies on antique paper, from an edition of 300 numbered copies. Selected poems from Lautréamont's proto-surrealist classic, translated into Czech by Jindrich Horejsí with Karel Teige's and Philippe Soupault's collaboration. The first illustrated edition to reach publication, with twelve 2-color lithographs by Jindrich Styrský. It includes a 30-page postscript by Teige who also designed the cover, typography and plates. The book was released in the early spring of 1929 and sold out before it was censored by authorities a few months later. The belated censorship and confiscation attempts resulted in an uproar. This is a landmark publication and a fine document of the creative ferment of the Czech avant-garde. It signaled a shift of focus in the movement of the Poetism spearheaded by Teige, Toyen and Nezval in the Devetsil movement to embracing deeper psychological and mythic undercurrents. As a visual statement it comprises some of Styrský's finest artwork to appear in book form. The imagery and execution herald a shift in Styrský's work from his Artificialism he had developed a few years earlier to a definite incorporation of surrealist and chance elements in his highly individual approach which would inform and characterize the artist's output for the remainder of his life. Notwithstanding the debt of the artist to the poet, the images pay no direct relationship to the text. Styrský wrote at this time, The graphic description of verbal metaphors is distracting to true lovers of poetry. Maldoror's author figured prominently in tyrský's psyche and he returned to Lautréamont's themes again and again. In 1939 he stated that Lautréamont was the greatest of modern poets. The entire book and contents fine, very crisp. Worldcat finds this in 10 North American libraries. Refs: Teige, ed: ReD 3, 1929-1931, No.1 pp. 3-5; No.2 pp4-48; Byd ovská & Srp: Jindrich Styrský, 2007 pp. 159-164, inter alia; Lenka Bydzovská: Lautréamont vu par Jindrich Styrský, in Revue des études slaves, 74-1, 2002.

Seller Inventory # 3929

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Octavo 20x13 cm., original wrappers, 62pp. Ten full-page xylographic collages by Jindrich Styrský. Edition of 138 numbered copies, this being no. 94 printed on simulated Japan paper. Privately printed and only distributed by Styrsky to his friends and collectors, the Edice 69 was edited by Styrský and Toyen with Nezval. None of the titles were not released for public consumption. All their publications explored eroticism without inhibition. Subtitled A Tale of Illusion Unmasked, this is a account of an teenage boy's initiation into sexuality through a machine, with a full range of fantasies and untested ideas. It is an autobiographical recovery of Nezval s adolescence and sexual awakening in the arena of the provincial morals where he spent his upbringing, recovered in a surrealist mental collage which includes themes of voyeurism and castration. Styrský's illustrations, which came about through a mutual collaboration with Nezval, are done deliberately in the style of Max Ernst and are startling, comic and superb; they have become signature pieces in tje pantheon of classic erotica. This spurred Styrský to go much further in his subsequent work in collage. Worldcat finds nine North American library holdings. This copy is in a clamshell box, and is in fine condition. Refs: Karel Srp, Lenka Byd ovská: Jindrich tyrsky, pp. 227-233.

Seller Inventory # 4129

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 21.5x17 cm., wrappers, 12pp. One of 50 copies with engraved frontispiece by Yves Tanguy and gold foil wrapper with a collage of black paper and gold ink by Hugnet, out of 100 copies altogether ---35 with a different cover and signed by author and illustrator, another 15 on teinte Bourgogne paper and bearing one of 15 letters of the alphabet. The collage of the first 35 include a blond wig floating on the black paper, referring to Nusch Éluard, subject and dedicatee of this work. Nusch had posed with Sonia Mossé for Man Ray with Sonia s blond hair falling over Nusch which imparts a charge of outré (for the era) sexuality and provided Hugnet with a dream he articulates in the present work, which is also dedicated to Paul Éluard. Each of the collage covers is unique. OCLC finds no North American institutional holdings, with 4 in Europe. This copy uncut and fine with no scratches or wear on cover.

Seller Inventory # 4170

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Quarto 30.5x21.5 cm., original wrappers. 20 of 22 numbers all published (lacks 1931 No. 5 and 1932 No. 6). This journal was the Organ for the Association for Proletarian Artists (RAPKh) and was published from 1931-1932 as a continuation of Iskusstvo v massy, under the auspices of the Association of the Artists of the Revolution (AKhR), which appeared from 1929-1930. In 1930 the right-wing art sector, including self-taught and younger students fresh out of Vkhutein, eager to jettison the bourgeois notion of high art altogether, coalesced here in the seminal Project of a Platform Consolidating Proletarian Forces, which served as the basis for the journal to be published in the coming months. The journal defined itself as an abrupt shift from an experimental period of abstraction and individual exploration which came under criticism as formalist. In its place the RAPKh embraced a ruder people's art, less refined which the worker would easily understand. It aligned itself with LEF, at least theoretically, and it employed the constructivist design principles which still reigned in architecture and graphic design. The journal includes all manner of visual art, industrial design and textiles, painting, sculpture, book production and poster art. Artists such as Klutsis, Moor, Deneika, even Filonov occasionally grace the pages with a host of new talents exploring the next steps of engaging a socialist society and common visual language. (The textile designs are, incidentally, wonderful). However, the journal was shut down in 1932 as a stricter Socialist Realism and Soviet classicism crystallized into state policy and increasing regimentation. An important document of this transitional period, richly illustrated throughout. Institutional holdings in North America of found in Univ Chicago, Amherst, Yale, Columbia, Ohio State and Getty. Condition: all copies fresh, very good+ to fine. Rare to also include the Platform, only found at Yale and Stanford.

Seller Inventory # 4341

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. 12mo 13x9 cm., wrappers, 64pp. The Guide to the Leningrad Zoo is a marvelous constructivist work, consisting of two-color collages on every page by Dmitrii Bulanov. It is a natural history of animals in the zoo for young readers. Bulanov (1898-1942) was a talented Soviet artist and graphic designer. He was principal designer of the Life of Art magazine (1923), collaborated with publishing houses, illustrating children s books and magazines (1924 26). Headed the technical section of the State Advertising Board (1926 28). Designed very fine political posters and advertisements for Leningrad Zoo (1927 32) and worked for the Maly Theatre of Opera (1930s). Arrested and sentenced to ten years in corrective labor camps (1941). He died in prison hospital at Zlatoust (1942). The present work is a masterpiece of children s books for the era. Rare, OCLC locates the only holding at the Staatsbibiothek zu Berlin.

Seller Inventory # 5056

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Quarto (31 x 22.5 cm), wrappers, (viii) 20 linocuts, in an edition of 100 copies, signed by the artists. Josef Bartu ka (1898-1963) and Oldrich Nouza (1903-1974) were two multi-talented members of the Linie Group which they co-founded in Ceske Budejovice in 1931. The group operated as a cooperative of twelve members who contributed to a plethora of arts and educational projects there, and flourished through 1939. Bartuska was a poet, journalist, critic, editor, author of poetic opera librettos and film scripts, photographer, painter, graphic artist, theorist, stage designer, musician, amateur film-maker and teacher. A number of his books have hand-painted graphics; his graphic designs of the 1930s anticipated the flavor graphic design in postwar Europe and the USA. Nouza was a poet, painter, photographer, teacher and journalist. Together with Bartuska he wrote the manifesto published in 1931 titled Poesie imaginerniho prostoru (The Poetry of Imaginary Space). He also publshed with Bartu ka a series of artist books title Infinitivy (Intfinitives) Kornout (Cone) and in 1934 the twenty linocuts of the present book. Like Bartu ka, his most innovative and productive period ranged from the 1920s through the 30s, where he excelled in new photography and painting. All publications of the Linea Group are very scarce, published in limited quantity and moreover became the focus of suppression under the Nazis; many publications were destroyed. This issue is a major highlight of the publishing ventures there Uncommon, with only two libraries holding copies in North America. Cover of this copy has chipped edges, very good interior. Rare. References: Andel: The avant-garde across media: Josef Bartuska and the Linea Group 1931-1939. Refs: Avant-garde Across Media, Obecný Dum, 2004, passim. Birgus: The Czech Photographic Avant-garde 1918-1948. Signed by Author(s).

Seller Inventory # 251

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Quarto 26.8x20 cm., wrappers, 94, xxiv pp., 13 plates with tissue guards. Cover and catalogue design by Aleksandr Rodchenko, who won the silver medal for the maquette. The catalogue includes more traditional arts and crafts, but with Rodchenko at the helm for the show work was included by Lebedev, Sternberg, Arkin, Altman, Vesnin, and a host of others. With Constructivist theater, new architecture, and a full dose of new visual experiments. Rebuilt spine. MOMA 618, Getty 187.

Seller Inventory # 5087

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Four of five years of this journal which ceased publication in September 1938. A review of art glass, which featured the manufacturing innovations and process as well as production of fine art glass by both Czech and international designers, this is a unique documentation of glass production during the First Republic and the contemporary trends in fine glass production in the interwar era. Emphasized throughout is glass as a building material, with ample illustrations of its use in modernist design. There is no equivalent reference of glass production in Czechoslovakia for this era recorded and it holds a unique place in architectural and construction journals. Very rare. Worldcat locates it in two libraries (NYPL, Bard), with one of the sets missing.

Seller Inventory # 7000

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Quarto 22.5x16.5 cm., wrappers, 140(2) pp. Cover by Fernand Léger with three line drawings he executed with Jean Charlot, 16 plates hors-text of ½-tone photos, drawings by Tatlin and Rodchenko. "And Yet the World Turns." Il'ia Erenburg's examination of the avant-garde in visual and literary arts as they stood at that time, a celebration of the mechanical age personified in the presence of Charlie Chaplin. Erenburg understood this as a global phenomenon, noting esthetic manifestos underlying painting and architecture, and listing journals that were spearheading new ideas in Europe and the West. This was an interesting summary of these dynamics to the Russian reader, with works by Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Tatlin in Russia, van Doesberg and others in the West, and numerous photos of airplane engineering. Replete with typographical experiments, unusual juxtapositions of image, text and typeface. Twelve institutional holdings in North America recorded by OCLC. Compton 64, MOMA 401. A very nice copy of the trade edition of 500, housed in a custom 1/2-leather box.

Seller Inventory # 4327