ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
Catalogue 130-N: Modern Art: Rarities of the Avant-Garde
ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
Catalogue 130-N: Modern Art: Rarities of the Avant-Garde
1 ACTION
Cahiers individualistes de philosophie et d’art. Directeurs: Florent Fels et Marcel Sauvage. Nos. 1-[12], February 1920 - March/April 1922 (all published). (Issues are designated, in sequence: Nos. 1-10; Deuxième année, numéro hors série; Troisième année, mars/avril 1922.) 56-88pp. per issue. Numerous illus. hors texte. Original woodcut vignettes and culs-de-lampe throughout, by Vlaminck, Galanis, and others. 4to. (nos. 1-11) and 8vo. (no. [12]). Orig. printed wraps. Glassine d.j. Handsome new fitted slipcase (dec. boards, chemise). A complete run. Texts by Apollinaire, Cendrars, Salmon, Jacob, Huidobro, Jarry, Péret, Raynal, Vlaminck, Malraux, Satie, Gabory, Arnauld, Martin du Gard, Ehrenburg, Dermée, Artaud, Éluard, Tzara, Zbrorowski, Radiguet, Vlaminck, et al. No. 3 contains the feature "Opinions sur l’art nègre," with statements by Apollinaire, Cocteau, Gris, Lipchitz, Picasso, Salmon, Vlaminck and others (also "L’affaire dada" by Gleizes); no. 5 contains "Anthologie d’écrivains allemands contemporains." There are frequent critical texts on African art, principally by Carl Einstein. Intermittent light browning, a few covers expertly reinforced at inner hinge; a very attractive and well-preserved set.
Paris, 1920-1922. $3,500.00
Place/Vasseur III.73ff.; Chevrefils Desbiolles p. 253f.; Admussen 2
2
(ADAMS, ROBERT) Denver. Denver Art Museum
Prairie. Photographs by Robert Adams. Foreword by the photographer. (44)pp. 33 plates. Oblong 4to. Wraps. (very slightly faded at spine). Rare.
Denver, 1978. $450.00
3
ALGE
Editors: Aurel Baranga, S. (Jules) Perahim, Gherasim Luca, Sesto Pals, Paul Paun. I. Serie, Nos. 1-6 (of 7 published in all), in 5 issues. (8)pp. per issue (single sheet, folding), in oblong sm. 4to., except for No. 4, which is a large folio broadside (printed on recto only). Illus. throughout by S. Perahim, M. Teutsch, G. Luca, and M. Mizis. No. 3 printed on pink stock, Nos. 4 and 6 on pale blue. The unstated edition size is estimated by Ilk at fewer than 500 copies. "Alge wurde von Sascha Pasa als geistiges Kind von UNU genannt. (Perahim und Paul Paun veröffentlichten auch in UNU.) Mit vielen post-dadaistischen und surrealistischen Text- und Typo-Beiträgen erschien jede Nummer (wie früher 'Mecano' in Holland) auf verschiedenem farbigem Papier. Die unkonventionelle Typographie der Zeitschrift wurde von dem 16-jährigen Perahim gestaltet" (Ilk). "'Alge' fonctionne sans programe théorique déclaré. Néanmoins, les poèmes en prose ou les dessins publiés affirment la position unitaire, convulsive, parfois hystérique, toujours sans équivoque, de ce groupe à l'égard de tout ordre établi…. L'attitude qu'adopte 'Alge' va placer ses jeunes rédacteurs en conflit ouvert avec la société: il en résulte pour eux inculpation d' 'attentat aux bonnes moeurs,' confiscation des revues incendiaires et prison" (Biro/Passeron).
The final number of the first series (absent from this run) was published hors commerce, in fewer than 50 copies; a second series of 3 numbers followed in the spring of 1933. The broadside issue of No. 4 is of greatest rarity, and furthermore is unrecorded on blue paper (Ilk describes it on orange only).
Bucharest, 1930-1931. $12,500.00
Ilk K370-375, illus. pp. 73,76,77; Biro/Passeron p. 16
4
APOLLINAIRE, GUILLAUME
L’oeuvre du Marquis de Sade. Zoloé, Justine, Juliette, La Philosophie dans le boudoir, Les crimes de l’Amour, Aline et Valcour. Pages choisies, comprenant des morceaux inédits et des lettres publiées pour la première fois, tirées des Archives de la Comédie-Française. Introduction, essai bibliographique et notes par Guillaume Apollinaire. (Les Maîtres de l’Amour.) 324pp., 8 plates. Sm. 4to. Wraps. (a little worn at backstrip). Orig. glassine. Uncut.
Paris (Bibliothèque des Curieux), 1909. $300.00
5
ARAGON, LOUIS
Feu de joie. Avec un dessin de Pablo Picasso. (Collection "Littérature." 7.) (48)pp., 1 plate. Printed wraps. One of 1050 copies on vergé bouffant, from the limited edition of 1070. Aragon’s first book, published shortly after his founding "Littérature," together with Philippe Soupault. An unnumbered example. A very fine copy, unopened.
Paris (Au Sans Pareil), 1920. $350.00
Gershman p. 1; Sanouillet 5; Reynolds p. 11; Horodisch D5
6
ARP, HANS
Der Pyramidenrock. 70pp. Frontis. portrait of Arp by Modigliani. 4to. Printed wraps. Arp’s fourth book, a collection of dada poems. The 41-line 3-column mechanical repetition of the title on each cover is one of the most influential typographic inventions of the period. Paper flaw on one leaf; discreet contemporary ownership inscription; an attractive copy, with--most interestingly--two small corrections made with the insertion of single typed letters, clipped and mounted in "Schneethlehem" and "Sankt Ziegenzack Sankt Fassanbass."
Erlenbach-Zürich/ München (Eugen Rentsch) [1924]. $2,000.00
Rolandseck 89; Dada Zürich 67; Motherwell/Karpel 194; Verkauf p. 176; Düsseldorf 23; Tendenzen 3/80; Andel 70; Andel Avant-Garde Page Design 1900-1950 no. 138
7
(ARP) Paris. Galerie Surréaliste
Arp. Nov.-Dec. 1927. (16)pp. 4 full-page illus. Self-wraps. Glassine d.j. Text by André Breton. The catalogue of Arp’s first solo exhibition, featuring relief sculptures, on which Breton bestowed characteristically elegant praise. "Les ‘reliefs’ de Arp, qui participent de la lourdeur et de la légèrté d’une hirondelle qui se pose sur un fil télégraphique, ces reliefs qui empruntent dans leur savante coloration tous les ramages de l’amour et auxquels, en même temps, leur découpage hâtif confère tous les déliés de la colère, ces boucles dures ou tendres sont bien pour moi ce qui résume le mieux les chances de généralité des choses particulières, ce qui me permet de faire les plus faible état de la variante." Rare.
Paris, 1927. $900.00
Sheringham Ac146; Pompidou: Breton p. 185; Milano. p. 649
8
(ARP) Tzara, Tristan
De nos oiseaux. Poèmes par Arp. 114, (8)pp. 10 full-page illus. Orig. wraps. (light wear). First published in 1923 in an edition of only 20 copies; this second edition differs only in the paper stock used. ‘De nos oiseaux,’ with Arp’s witty drawings and its pixillated dada typography, is one of the most charming of all Dada publications.
Paris (Editions Kra) [1929]. $850.00
Rolandseck 88; Berggruen 4; Hagenbach 61; On My Way 129; DadaGlobal 219; Reynolds p. 79
9 ARP, JEAN
Vers le blanc infini. (Collection "La Rose des Vents." Il. ) (28)pp., 8 original soft-ground etchings, printed in black, hors texte. Sm. folio. Publisher's dec. slipcase and chemise (slipcase defective). All contents loose, as issued. One of 499 numbered copies on grand vélin de Rives, signed in pencil by the artist, from the limited edition of 600; the etchings printed by Georges Leblanc, the text by Fequet et Baudier. "'Vers le blanc infini' is an example of the full integration of design and content possible in a book written and illustrated by the same artist" (Garvey/Wick). A very fine copy.
Lausanne/Paris (La Rose des Vents), 1960. $2,750.00
Rolandseck 73; Basel 7; Garvey/Wick 56; Hubert pp. 85-92
10
L’ART BRUT
(Publications de la Compagnie de l’Art Brut. Dirigées par Jean Dubuffet.) Fascicules 1-20, July 1964 - October 1997. 93-182pp. per issue. Prof. illus. (numerous color plates). 4to. Wraps. Dubuffet was at pains to point out that ‘l’art brut,’ as he conceived it, was not psychopathic art per se (although more than half of the works in the collection were by asylum patients), nor naïve art, nor Surrealist art, both of which were merely offshoots of cultural art; rather "propositions of themselves wholly unpredictable and wholly invented both in medium (materials, techniques, etc.) and in their inspiration.... [We] require that the works considered...correspond to a feverish impulse and not to some episodic stimulus or caprice where exaltation plays little part." The now famous Adolf Wölfli is among the artists included (Fascicule 2 is a monograph on him alone). Dubuffet was director of the series through No. 12. A very nice set.
Paris/Lausanne, 1964-1997. $1,000.00
