ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
Catalogue 130-N: Modern Art: Rarities of the Avant-Garde
172
(KULAGINA) Kruchenykh, Alexei E.
Zaumnyi iazyk [Transrational Language], u Seifullinoi, Vs. Ivanova, Leonova, Babelia, I. Sel’vinskogo, A. Veselogo, i dr. [in Seifullina, Vsevolod Ivanov, Leonov, Babel’ Il’ia Sel’vinskii, A. Veselyi, and others]. 59, (5)pp. 2 tailpieces by Kulagina. Wraps. Glassine d.j. The handsome typographic cover design, printed in red and black, and two tailpieces within, printed in black, are the work of Valentina Kulagina (1902-1987). "Kulagina designed a cover for Kruchenykh’s book ‘Transrational Language’ (‘Zaumnyi iazyk) which makes a good stylistic comparison with Rodchenko’s design for Mayakovsky’s poem ‘Mayakovsky Smiles, Mayakovsky Laughs, Mayakovsky Jeers’.... She purposely made some of the title appear ‘out of key’ by allowing some letters to read out of register where the background color changes from red to black, thus emphasizing their meaning. In contrast, Rodchenko strove to convey the greatest possible sense of order in his carefully spaced lettering..." (Compton). Small early stamp inside back cover; a trifle worn.
Moskva (Vseros. Soiuz Poetov), 1925. $750.00
MOMA 599; Getty 392; Compton: 1917-1934, p. 79f. (full-page illus. 42)
173
KUPKA, FRANTISEK
Abstrakce Kreslil Frantisek Kupka. Introduction by Jan Loris. (Malá Edice Mistru. 5.) (4)pp., 16 plates. Lrg. 8vo. Portfolio (wraps.). Contents loose, as issued. "According to Fédit, these drawings were probably worked on in the period 1928-1932, at a time when Kupka was attempting to purify his forms. The first twelve of the total of sixteen were originally published on a single page in ‘Abstraction-Création’ no. 2, 1933, p. 26. This repertory of forms will be found developed in diverse manners throughout the 1930s. Many of the original gouaches and related studies are in the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris. In 1948, the entire sixteen were published on separate sheets in the small book exhibited here" (Margaret Rowell, in the catalogue of the Guggenheim retrospective, 1975).
Praha (Vladímir Zikes), 1948. $1,200.00
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: Frantisek Kupka, 1871-1957: A Retrospective (1975), no. 170
174
KUSIKOV, ALEKSANDR
Koevangelieran [Ko-gospels-ran]. Illustrations by Boris Erdman. (32)pp. 3 illus. 4to. Wraps. (separating at backstrip). The first edition of this collection of verse. Kusikov’s neologism, "Koevangelieran," is meant to acknowledge the two sources of his inspiration, the Gospels and the Koran, which he here attempts to integrate. An erratum on the title-page ("Kaevangelieran," not noted by Markov) has been corrected by the publishers with a pasted slip.
Moskva (Pleiade), 1920. $650.00
MOMA 286; Getty 415
175
(LAAGE) Schiefler, Gustav
Das graphische Werk Wilhelm Laages bis 1912. (Hamburgische Liebhaber-Bibliothek. Herausgegeben im Auftrage der Gesellschaft Hamburgischer Kunstfreunde. ) 77, (1)pp. 18 original woodcuts by Laage, including 5 full-page hors texte, on laid paper. Lrg. 4to. Dec. wraps. Edition limited to 330 numbered copies. The Hamburg artist Wilhelm Laage (1868-1930), whose woodcuts were published in "Ver Sacrum," and shown at the Vienna Secession and the first Brücke exhibition in 1906, was a major influence on the early Kokoschka and on Kirchner--so much so, in fact, that Kirchner appears to have made concerted efforts in later years to conceal Laage’s significance as a forerunner of Expressionist printmaking, in favor of his own work. Laage’s woodcuts in this publication are quite striking, some for their evident connections to work by Munch and van Gogh, and some for their radical simplication. Interestingly, the catalogue was distributed by the Galerie Commeter, which sponsored the 1912 Brücke exhibition. A very fresh copy.
Hamburg (Gedruckt bei Lütcke & Wulff), 1912. $1,500.00
Riggs p. 415; Cf. Nebehay, Christian M.: Ver Sacrum, 1898-1903 (München, 1979), p. 135ff. (quoting remarks by A. Hagenlocher)
176
LACERBA
(Periodico quindicinale; Periodico settimanale. Fondata da Giovanni Papini e Ardegno Soffici.) Vol. I no. 1--Vol. III No. 22 (sic: No. 21), 1 gennaio 1913--22 maggio 1915 (all published), lacking Vol. III, no. 14 (April 1915). 296, 336, 168pp. Illus. Folio. Vols. I and III in dec. boards, 3/4 vellum; Vol. II in contemporary dec. boards (neatly mended at backstrip). The cardinal Futurist periodical, founded by Papini and Soffici after their departure from "La Voce". Though never the official organ of the movement, and eventually, with the outbreak of War, a purely political newspaper, Lacerba was nonetheless the principal outlet for its critical and theoretical texts. In the course of its brief existence, Lacerba published no fewer than ten of the fundamental Futurist manifestos selected by Apollonio in his standard anthology, including four by Boccioni, two by Carrà, two by Marinetti, and one each by Soffici and Sant’Elia. Other contributors included Russolo, Pratella, Cangiullo, Apollinaire, Gourmont, Tavolato, Buzzi, Folgore and Ungaretti. The masthead designs, which assumed sledgehammer dimensions in January 1914, and then ran to boiling red on August 15th after the declaration of war, were devised by Soffici. Occasional light browning and brittleness; a few issues with expert mends; generally an excellent set.
Firenze, 1913-1915. $5,000.00
Taylor p. 136; Falqui p. 37; Tisdall & Bozzolla 165-175; Bartolini, Sigfrido: Ardegno Soffici, l’opera incisa (1972), p. 318; Jentsch p. 317f.
177
(LARIONOV) Kruchenykh, Alexei E.
Poluzhiboi [Half-Alive]. Lithographs by Mikhail Fedorovich Larionov. 17ff. Text and images entirely lithographed by hand, including 6 full-page plates and 8 large marginal illustrations. Lrg. 8vo. Front and back covers lithographed with additional illustrations by Larionov. No more than 480 copies were printed in all. One of the famous illustrated books published by Kruchenykh in rapid succession early in 1913, together with ‘Pomada’ [Pomade], also illustrated by Larionov, and ‘Pustynniki’ [Hermits], with illustrations by Goncharova. "‘Half-Alive,’ with marvelously expressive drawings by Larionov, is a single narrative poem, similar to ‘A Game in Hell’ in its emphasis on the hellish" (Janecek). Compton, discussing the cover design, observes "It seems that Larionov did not arrive at rayism to the exclusion of other interests....Inside the book, figures are made of lines, rather than rays: on successive pages, a nude is subjected to progressive discontinuity into marks which finally become increasingly like those of Chinese calligraphy. The parts of the nude take on the disjointing of the single letters of each handwritten word as the visual image is progressively more broken. It is as though the artist is exploring the extent to which deformation can be taken if the brain is still allowed to ‘read’ a figure. Full-page figures are constructed with angry, calligraphic strokes to match the violence of the poem." A splendid, fresh copy, particularly rare thus.
Moscow (G.L. Kuz’min & S.D. Dolinskii), 1913. $12,000.00
MOMA 33; Getty 373; Compton p. 102; Markov p. 43; Janecek p. 83
178
(LAURENCIN) Mansfield, Katherine
The Garden Party, and Other Stories. With coloured lithographs by Marie Laurencin. (8), 315, (5)pp. 16 color lithographs, integrated with text. 4to. Green patterned cloth, in imitation of pastepaper boards. Edition limited to 1200 numbered copies, printed on wove paper by Hans Mardersteig at the Officina Bodoni, Verona. A little rubbed at lower outer corners.
London (The Verona Press), 1939. $2,000.00
179
(LAURENS) Radiguet, Raymond
Les Pélican. Pièce en deux actes, illustré d’eaux-fortes par Henri Laurens. (24)pp. 7 original etchings (including 1 on front wrapper; 2 full-page). Sm. folio. Original wraps. (slightly worn). One of 90 copies on Hollande van Gelder, signed in pen by Laurens and Radiguet in the justification, from the limited edition of 112 in all; the etchings printed by Delâtre. Laurens’ first livre d’artiste, with exquisitely droll cubist etchings of Radiguet’s ménage Pélican: Pélican père smoking a cigar, his children Anselme and Hortense, and his mistress Mlle. Charmant the governess. Radiguet, who was to die shortly after the appearance of the book, at the age of twenty, had actually wanted the illustration entrusted to Juan Gris, and it took some tenacity on Kahnweiler’s part to hold out for Laurens--a wise choice, as Chapon notes. Tiny hole at edge of title-page; a little light wear, otherwise a fine copy.
Paris (Éditions de la Galerie Simon ), 1921. $12,500.00
Hugues 9; Bozo p. 181; Castleman p. 174; The Artist and the Book 156; Manet to Hockney 62; Skira 194; Rauch 125; Chapon p. 284; Stein 70; Siena 45; Basel 140
180
LE CORBUSIER-SAUGNIER
Vers une architecture. Deuxième édition. xi, (1), 230pp. Prof. illus. 4to. Boards, mounted with the clipped front cover of the original wraps. The designation "Deuxième édition" at the base of the front cover refers in this case simply to a second printing of the first edition. The second edition proper was published a year later, in 1924, with revisions, under the name "Le Corbusier,’ rather than ‘Le Corbusier-Saugnier.’ An attractive copy. Rare.
Paris (Editions G. Crès et Cie.) [1923]. $850.00
Freitag 6677; Sharp p. 70; Cf. Printing and the Mind of Man 413 (citing first printing)
181
LEVINI, FELICE & DAMIANI, CLAUDIO
Saltatrice dei numeri. (Illustrazione. 3.) (34)pp. 7 original color lithographs by Felice Levini, each signed in pencil (of which two double-page, and 2 hors texte on large folding sheets of translucent paper). Letterpress on heavy wove stock, with added texts and illustration on loose sheets of transparent Mylar. Sm. 4to. Portfolio (wraps.). Contents loose, as issued. An artist’s proof copy ("p.a."), signed in pencil by Levini in the colophon, apart from the limited edition of 60 signed and numbered copies. This copy is also inscribed by Levini "A Mario/ con simpatia e stima," October 1984. The text consists of seven poems by Damiani.
[Roma/Torino] (Illustrazione), 1984. $500.00
Jentsch: The Artist and the Book in Twentieth-Century Italy, no. 278