Book by Smith Keith: Signed (11 results)

Condition: A very fine copy. Small folio, illustrated, original quarter leather and pictorial boards, acetate dust jacket as issued. A very fine copy. First edition, deluxe issue limited to 50 copies "printed on Curtis Rag white wove 75 lb. text, hand-bound (recessed cord with half leather cover), signed and numbered by the author" . . . all copies bound with archival materials: linen cord, wheat paste, hot glue, and conservation matt board. Ingres Antique used for the endsheets and cover paper." On the colophon, the author has numbered and signed the book "14/50 Keith summer solstice 1985." Presentation copy, inscribed on the half-title by Smith to his friends, Jonathan Williams and Thomas Meyer: "For Tom and Jonathan from [Bobby] and Keith 1 May 1987." As the colophon states: "Bobby (was) imaged on an Apple Macintosh computer. The basic composition of each page triplicated and modified for three color separation. Each modification printed out by an Apple image-writer for making negatives. Bobby printed offset in magenta, cyan, and yellow by Nexus Press . . . Michael Goodman, director, Clifton Meador, assistant director." There were 1000 copies printed on Mohawk Superfine paper, although the scarcity of Bobby in any form certainly suggests that the entire intended edition may not have been completed, or not entirely distributed, perhaps owing to its very personal character. …

Hardcover. Condition: Like New. First Edition. Rochester, 1985; limited edition signed and numbered 2/200; black cloth covered boards with a 1/2 inch of decorative floral at fore-edges and hinges; red spine; authors gilt name stamped at rear turn-in; minimal shelf wear; 8vo, 7 3/4"-9 3/4" tall; typed correspondence between author and book dealer, laid-in; Interior is clean and unmarked; not paginated. Signed by Author. …

Many black & white illus. 112 unnumbered pages. 8vo (211 x 145 mm.), printed wrappers. Rochester: Visual Studies Workshop, 1986. An uncommon collection of visual poems by the American book artist, Keith A. Smith (b. 1938); this is an early photo-digital book, created using Thunderscan. Printed offset in an edition of 500 copies on Mohawk Vellum 70 lb. There was also a leather-bound edition of 25 copies. The present example is signed by the artist on the title-page. "In Overcast/Outcast Smith takes [it] a step farther. While [Book 115] is almost entirely graphic a flat pattern on the page Outcast develops dimensionality with its verbal materials. The thematic concerns of the book homosexual identity in contemporary culture is well served by the sleight-of-hand complexities of representation and dissimulation."J. Drucker, The Century of Artists' Books (2004 ed.), p. 248. As new. ? Smith, 200 Books (2003 ed.), pp. 196-97.…

First Edition. Embossed title on first leaf. [24] leaves of thick Fabriano Rosaspina Avorio paper. Oblong folio (260 x 370 mm.), orig. cloth boards, linen cords strung through holes in paper. Barrytown: Space Heater Multiples, 1982. A book that commands it be read from beginning to end, then end to beginning. This is one of Smith?s masterpieces, also known as the ?String Book?; from a numbered edition of 50 and signed by the artist, ours is ?Copy D.? The book is noteworthy for its unique structure ? thick paper linked by linen string ? and interaction with light. Book 91 is not a printed book; one finds no ink within. Aside from the blind embossed title-page, the punched holes, which allow light through one leaf onto another, and the strings provide the only ?text.? It was featured in two exhibitions of artists? books: the first at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Keith Smith at Home (17 February-8 July 2018), the other, Artists and Their Books, Books and Their Artists, held at the Getty Research Institute (26 June-28 October 2018). Book 91 is one of the most highly sought-after American artists? books and is found in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Biblioth?que nationale de France, the Getty, Harvard University, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the New York Public Library. In his auto-bibliography 200 Books (p. 149), Smith explains this book?s interplay with light: ?This book deals with cast light and shadows. The light spots are caused by viewing the book with a single light source at a 45? angle and three feet to the left of the book. The opened book reveals punched holes with deep shadows. As each page is lifted, however, dark holes throw circular spots of light across the facing page and the close environment of the book. The focus of these spots varies according to the distance from the page to the surface upon which they are cast. Like my books containing photographic film transparencies the composition of each page is compounded and altered by the addition and the movement of the shadow forms across the page? ?The sound, cast light and shadows and their focus and movement are not part of the physical book. They are physical but they only come into existence during the act of experiencing the book, that is, turning the page.? A fine copy. It was given by Smith to a student of his in the early 1980s. ? J. Drucker, The Century of Artists? Books (2017), pp. 106-7. M. Reed & G. Phillips, Artists and Their Books, Books and Their Artists (2018), pp. 176-7.…

Signed & numbered photoetching tipped-in on recto of first blank leaf, black & white illus. throughout. [25] leaves. Oblong 4to (205 x 315 mm.), orig. three-color silk-screened dust-jacket, stiff boards, saddle-stitched & case-bound. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1977. First edition, one of 50 special copies with a large, tipped-in photoetching, signed and numbered by the artist, captioned in pencil: "I was born at twenty but died at twelve, 6/50 Keith, October 1977." This striking photoetching, depicting Smith and various representations of his younger self, was executed for the present work. Smith's photoetchings are extremely rare on the market. The artist has also signed and dated the title-page: "6/50, Keith Smith, 2 November." This book is an excellent demonstration of Keith A. Smith's ability to manipulate photographic processes to create intricate and vivid imagery. One of Smith's frequent motifs, a "tumbling block" quilt pattern, appears here several times. In the 60s and 70s, the artist experimented with adding images to quilts by photo silk-screen, etching printed onto cloth, and even gum bichromate. The present work was also printed in a regular version of 300 copies without the photoetching the same year. In his auto-bibliography, 200 Books, Smith (b. 1938) writes: "In Book 68 the technique was darkroom manipulation. I have always loved test strips. Since the first one I made under the guidance of Ken Josephson in his photography class, test strips have been as exciting as the finished print. They seem to be magic "Rubylith pin-registered stencils were made. This approach to multiple printing on a sheet is familiar to printmakers, if not photographers. By controlling the exposure to local areas of one negative, I could print the picture on one sheet of photo paper with several different exposures. Some would be under- or over-exposed. One would be the 'normal' exposure. The varying exposures would bring out shapes of the quilt which are in the exposure but not in the photograph. The resulting print elevates the characteristics of the test strip from disposable guide to an exhibited print "Book 68 contains a running text. Since I was exhibiting framed photographs with handwriting on the bottom of prints, I used this solution for text with pictures in this book. It is not as successful. Anecdotal scribbling adds contrast to a formal silver print. In a published book, text and picture on a paper page are both ink. There is less a play of opposing elements. The photo reproduction looks complete whereas the hand-printed text seems a poor substitute for typography. "When I Was Two utilizes pictures and text about events I remember from when I was two years old until an adult. It was my first public written expression of personal events. Most of the previous books were visual statements on similar experiences. As I stated when writing about Book 22, it is easier for me to reveal things through pictures than to speak or write them" In excellent and fresh condition. The photoetching is also in fine condition. The present special version of When I Was Two is now very scarce. ? Smith, 200 Books (2000), pp. 113-17. …

Black & white illus. throughout, offset-printed. [25] leaves. Oblong 4to (205 x 315 mm.), orig. three-color silk-screened dust-jacket (minor wear to the extremities), stiff boards, saddle-stitched & case-bound. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop Press, 1977. First edition. This is an excellent demonstration of Keith A. Smith's virtuosity with the manipulation of photographic processes to create intricate and vivid imagery. One of Smith's frequent motifs, a "tumbling block" quilt pattern, appears several times in this work. In the 60s and 70s, the artist experimented with adding images to quilts by photo silk-screen, etching printed directly onto cloth, and even gum bichromate. The present book was printed at the Visual Studies Workshop Press; this is the regular edition of 300 copies. A special edition of 50 copies from the same year comes with a tipped-in photoetching as the frontispiece. In 200 Books, Smith (b. 1938) writes: "In Book 68 the technique was darkroom manipulation. I have always loved test strips. Since the first one I made under the guidance of Ken Josephson in his photography class, test strips have been as exciting as the finished print. They seem to be magic "Rubylith pin-registered stencils were made. This approach to multiple printing on a sheet is familiar to printmakers, if not photographers. By controlling the exposure to local areas of one negative, I could print the picture on one sheet of photo paper with several different exposures. Some would be under- or over-exposed. One would be the 'normal' exposure. The varying exposures would bring out shapes of the quilt which are in the exposure but not in the photograph. The resulting print elevates the characteristics of the test strip from disposable guide to an exhibited print "Book 68 contains a running text. Since I was exhibiting framed photographs with handwriting on the bottom of prints, I used this solution for text with pictures in this book. It is not as successful. Anecdotal scribbling adds contrast to a formal silver print. In a published book, text and picture on a paper page are both ink. There is less a play of opposing elements. The photo reproduction looks complete whereas the hand-printed text seems a poor substitute for typography. "When I Was Two utilizes pictures and text about events I remember from when I was two years old until an adult. It was my first public written expression of personal events. Most of the previous books were visual statements on similar experiences. As I stated when writing about Book 22, it is easier for me to reveal things through pictures than to speak or write them" In near fine condition, signed by the artist on the title-page; the slightest bit of wear to the dust-jacket. A second edition of this book, with semi-stiff paper wrappers, was published in 1980, in an edition of 300 copies. ? Smith, 200 Books (2000), pp. 113-17.…

Offset printed black & white illus. throughout. Leporello format (162 x 112 mm. closed, fully extends to 2.5 meters), stiff paper boards, printed pictorial label on upper board. Rochester: Visual Studies Workshop, 1986. One of Keith A. Smith's works in leporello format, featuring a poem by the artist; printed offset in an edition of 300 and signed by the artist on the title-page. This work is dedicated to the book artist Philip Zimmerman. In his auto-bibliography 200 Books, Smith (b. 1938) explains the origin of this piece, "I was not speaking of snow, but the snow job of governments spouting the safety of nuclear power plants. I was driven by the Three Mile Island incident. The poem was written in January 1986, shortly before the Chernobyl melt down. Books 114 and 115 went to press on March 26th, the day of the Challenger disaster." The text of the poem is reproduced in 200 Books. In excellent condition, Smith's books are now very scarce on the market. Signed by the artist. ? K. Smith, 200 Books (2000), p. 200"For printing economy, Books 114 and 115 were printed on two sheets of paper, cut into three equal horizontal pieces and then glued into strips. The two sheets were printed on only one side. The first book required four strips and the second only two. To fill out Book 115, a strip of black Fabriano paper was added at each end to make the books the same width when fully extended. I also like the extent of black considering the subject matter." J. Drucker, The Century of Artists' Books (2004 ed.), pp. 247-48"Smith's Snow Job Book 115 was an early experiment with a Macintosh computer. It shows its age or rather, displays its historical moment of production at every turn. The type is full of the 'jaggies' an effect of early electronic printers' inability to deal with the visual manipulations of type, size, scale, and spatial arrangement. The text goes through every possible acrobatic maneuver available on the computer at the time it bends, twists, writhes, and floats over the pages, ending in a final 'meltdown' moment of disintegration. There is a play between the 'snowjob' of the title with its implications of hoodwinking and the references of the text which are strictly focused on real, literal snow. (Smith lives in Rochester, New York, after all and has an all too intimate relationship with snow.)".…

Eight leaves, each leaf larger by 1/2" from the previous. 8vo (202 x 148 mm.), orig. leather-backed boards, stitching on spine, title printed on upper cover. [From colophon]: Rochester: Visual Studies Workshop, 1985. An uncommon visual and interactive poem by the celebrated book artist Keith A. Smith (b. 1938), bound by the artist and printed offset in a numbered edition of 200, signed by the artist on the colophon page. Like Book 107, the intricate structure of overlapping text on each leaf requires repeated manipulation of the book and the pages. Smith writes in his auto-bibliography 200 Books (2000), "[The] text is a poem written for my dying mother. I completed the poem and placed a unique binding on it in time for one of my final drives back and forth to visit her in the hospital, 500 miles from Rochester to Fort Wayne. It was a joy to see her beam that a book had been written just for her." In fine condition, Smith's works are now very rare on the market. ? Smith, 200 Books (2000), pp. 190-91, where the text of the poem is reproduced. …

No Binding. Condition: As New. This inkjet print is hand SIGNED by Keith Smith; it is limited to 50 nummbered copies; paper size: 14 x 11in, image size: 9-1/2 x 7in; one of the images from his series of books "Book By Book"; SHORT BIO: "He is a recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a National Endowment of the Arts grant and a Pollock/Krasner Foundation grant. His work is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Center of Creative Photography, University of Arizona; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London among others."; in EXCELLENT COND. Signed by Author(s).…

Silk-screened illus. & text. 10 unnumbered leaves, several hand-cut. Oblong 4to (224 x 296 mm.), self-bound with staples. [Rochester, NY]: 1978. An uncommon early artist's book by Keith A. Smith (b. 1938), intended as a children's alphabet book. In 200 Books, he writes: "Aatis and Ping Lillstrom had their first child the year I made this book and I dedicated it to Alpha Gaylord Lillstrom, since it is an alphabet book. I called her 'Alpha Betty.' Their second daughter, Aeros Keith Lillstrom was born in 1979. These are five of several children who have given me cheer making me feel like a godfather or grandfather. I wanted to make a children's book to give to them. I silkscreened the edition, hand-cut the pages and stapled them" As new. Edition of 100 copies, signed and dated on the verso of the final leaf. The WorldCat entry for this book erroneously records the publication date as "1970." ? Smith, 200 Books (2000), p. 121.…

Offset illus. throughout. [8] leaves, printed on rectos only. Oblong 4to (218 x 287 mm.), self-bound with nuts & bolts. [Rochester, NY]: Visual Studies Workshop, 1976. Keith A. Smith's first artist's book produced in what he considered a large edition (70 copies), printed at the Visual Studies Workshop, where he taught for several years. Much of the artist's earlier books were unique or in very small editions. Starting in the late 70s and early 80s, Smith (b. 1938) created several works with edition sizes of 50 or more, including When I Was Two (Book 68, 1977), A Bee Sees (Book 71, 1978), Patterned Apart (Book 89, 1981-82), and his famous A String Book (Book 91, 1982). The present work, Book 65, is now one of Smith's rarest attainable books; we note only five North American institutions with copies. In his auto-bibliography 200 Books, Smith writes: "Moving back to Rochester in 1975 to teach at Visual Studies again, I took classes in yoga. The exercise was healthy, plus the practice helped my concentration to visualize. "Joan Lyons encouraged me to think about offset. I had wanted to publish a book for some time. The print shop at VSW had an AB Dick duplication. Her assistant, David Chappen printed this book. Nuts and bolts were used as a stab binding" In excellent condition. Signed and dated in pencil on the first leaf: "5/70 Keith A. Smith 31 Oct. 1976." ? Smith, 200 Books (2000), p. 112.…