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
272
(RICHTER, HANS) Zürich. Galerie Corray
I. Ausstellung / Negerplastik Modernste Malerei / Geöffnet: Januar Eintritt: Fr. 1 / Conférences par Tristan Tzara. Typographic poster by Hans Richter, printed in black on buff-colored wove paper. 479 x 695 mm. (18 7/8 x 27 5/16 inches). Hand-addresssed in black ink on the verso by Hans Richter: "Imprimé Express Monsieur Tristan Tzara/ Zürich/ Hotel Seehof/ Schifflände" and "Exp. H. Richter/ Lugano via Lorenzo 20," with a postal cancellation above: 28.xii.17. This is very likely the only surviving example of what may arguably be called the first Dada poster. Designed by Hans Richter in December 1916, it publicizes the first Dada exhibition, which was held at the Galerie Corray in Zürich in January and February 1917. Two posters are recorded to have been made for the event. One of them, a fine hand-lettered design by Marcel Janco printed in black linocut, is frequently reproduced in the literature. This one, whose existence is alluded to by Tzara in his "Chronique zurichoise," has never, to our knowledge, been reproduced or described. Tzara mentions it in the following entry:
1917. Janvier-février. Galerie Corray, Bahnhofstr., Zürich. 1. Dada-Ausstellung. Van Rees, Arp, Janco, Tscharner, Mme. Van Rees, Lüthy, Richter, Helbig, art nègre, Succès éclatant: l’art nouveau. Tzara fait 3 conférences: 1/cubisme, 2/art ancien et art nouveau, 3/l’art présent. Grande affiche de Richter, affiche de Janco. Quelques vieilles anglaises prennent soigneusement des notes.
This reference has been duly noted by Hans Bolliger, Arturo Schwarz, and other scholars, but no further information on the poster appears to have been published, apart from the description of it in the catalogue of the 1968 Tzara sale in Bern (Dokumentations-Bibliothek, item 62), where the present example is suggested to be a printer’s proof for a poster which may never have been published, and, in all likelihood, unique ("Typographisches Plakat für I. Dada-Ausstellung. Ohne Drucker-Adresse.... Wohl Probedruck zu einem Plakat (publiziert?).... Möglicherweise Unikum"). The poster retains foldlines from its original mailing by Richter to Tzara in 1916; it also sustains a few small losses in central portions (mended on the verso), some considerable creasing, and other scuffs and wear.
Zürich (Galerie Corray) [1916]. $35,000.00
Bern. Kornfeld und Klipstein. Dokumentations-Bibliothek III: Teile der Bibliothek und Sammlung Tristan Tzara, Paris, 12. Juni 1968: no. 62 (describing the present example); cf. also: Bolliger, Hans (et al.): Dada in Zürich (Zürich 1985), no. 106, citing the foregoing reference; Schwarz, Arturo (editor): Almanacco dada (Milano, 1976), p. 586; Tzara, Tristan: "Chronique zurichoise 1915-1919" (in: Huelsenbeck, Richard: Dada Almanach, Berlin 1920, p. 15f.)
273
S.M.S
Published by the Letter Edged in Black Press, Inc. [Editor: William Copley.] Nos. 1-6, February-December, 1968. 6 issues, consisting of boxed portfolio albums of multiples especially created for each number. All contents loose, as issued. 4to. Publisher’s dec. printed folders within printed white cardboard shipping cartons (3 with addresses, as mailed). Contributions by James Byars, Walter de Maria, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, Kasper König, Richard Hamilton, Su Braden, Christo, Julien Levy, Ray Johnson, Nicolas Calas, Meret Oppenheim, Bruce Conner, Clovis Trouille, Enrico Baj, Dick Higgins, Joseph Kosuth, Roland Penrose, Man Ray, H.C. Westerman, Terry Riley, On Kawara, Hollis Frampton, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Watts, John Cage, Mel Ramos, Bruce Nauman, Neil Jenny, Diane Wakoski, Yoko Ono, Richard Artschwager, Diter Rot, Claes Oldenburg, Bernar Venet, John Giorno, and many others. Printed matter, found objects, toys, graphs, confetti, index cards, pamplets, vitamin capsules, faux postage stamps, decals, burnt bowties, party-hats, facsimile manuscripts, plastic gloves, photo albums, fake currency, and a great deal else, apart from the numerous text and images. Tables for each issue make it possible to collate the diverse contents precisely. Light wear to some of the outer shipping cartons. Both tapes in this set are the original reel-to-reel versions (Terry Riley in No. 3, LaMonte Young in No. 4).
New York, 1968. $3,000.00
Pindell p. 107
274
SALOMON, ERICH
Berühmte Zeitgenossen in unbewachten Augenblicken. 46, (2)pp., 112 plates wth facing commentary. 4to. Cloth. Walker Evans wrote of Salomon, "His specialty was a kind of photographic spy work in the higher corridors of international diplomacy.... His phenomenal gift lay in mastery of entrée far exceeding any mere reporter’s gall. Somehow he was taken for granted in the rather ghoulish atmosphere of flummery and cunning, duplicity and swordplay that is one side of foreign affairs.... Though Salomon’s work stimulated and inspired countless imitators, his work has never been successfully counterfeited."
Stuttgart (J. Engelhorns Nachf.), 1931. $650.00
Roth: The Book of 101 Books p. 74; Freitag 11223
275
(SANT’ELIA) Folgore, Luciano
Ponti sull’oceano. Versi liberi (Lirismo sintetico) e parole in libertà. 1912-1913-1914. 172, (4)pp. Lrg. 8vo. Wraps. (a little light wear). Uncut. Apart from the interest of Folgore’s texts, this volume represents Antonio Sant’Elia’s only experiment with book design-- a handsome typographic composition on the front, in which the title (‘Bridges over the Ocean’) opens a graceful arch, half romantic, half modernistic, across the cover.
Milano (Edizioni Futuriste di "Poesia"), 1914. $750.00
Salaris p. 38; Falqui p. 67; Jentsch p. 319
276
LE SAVOIR VIVRE
(30)pp. Lrg. 8vo. Wraps. A roster of responses from the international surrealist (and other) community, to a statement/solicitation ending with the questions ‘What things do you most detest? most love? most desire? most dread?’ Contributions by Banting, Bellmer, Bonnefoy, Broodthaers, Brunius, Bryen, Char, Colquhoun, del Renzio, Dotrement, Jean, Magritte, Malet, Marien, Melville, Mesens, Paulhan, Picabia, Schwitters, Scutenaire, Ubac and others; correspondence from Magritte and Bellmer. No editor is credited. Most remarkable is the participation of Marcel Broodthaers (whose greatest dread was boredom), then a 22-year old poet still resident in Brussels. Rare. A fine copy.
Jette-Bruxelles (Le Miroir Infidèle), 1946. $400.00
277
SCHALL UND RAUCH. Heft 4
März 1920. Schriftleitung: Heinz Herald. 11, (1)pp. 4 line-drawn illus. (2 full-page), of which 2 by George Grosz and 2 by Raoul Hausmann. Sm. 4to. Dec. wraps., with dramatic front cover illus. by George Grosz, printed in pink and green. Texts by Walter Mehring, Max Hermann-Neisse, Wieland Herzfelde, Klabund and Raoul Hausmann. Layout and typography by George Grosz and John Heartfield. A very rare program/periodical of the short-lived cabaret of the same name, often erroneously associated with Max Reinhardt. This copy without the loosely inserted page of program information. Front cover neatly detached at hinge; slightly torn at paper seal where opened; a very nice copy. Not in Lang.
Berlin-Wilmersdorf, 1920. $1,800.00
Bülow 21
278
SCHREYER, LOTHAR
Kreuzigung. Spielgang Werk VII. [Crucifixion. Libretto VII.] 77 woodcut plates, printed from the blocks and handcolored by stencil in red, blue, green and yellow. Oblong folio. Publisher’s plain charcoal grey boards. New cloth slipcase, mounted with the original title panel, printed in brilliant orange. New fitted cloth clamshell box. One of 500 copies constituting Ausgabe II, from the limited edition of 525 in all, printed by Gustav Petermann, Hamburg. The symbolic ‘score’ for an Expressionist Passion play by Schreyer, unifying the gesture, tone, rhythm and action of the drama on a conceptual basis. Altogether non-naturalistic in intention and realization, ‘Kreuzigung’ was meant as a formal synthesis of art and performance, and attempted to break away as much as possible from easily accessible theatrical entertainment, which Schreyer regarded as the product of a corrupt society. ‘Kreuzigung’ was first performed in April 1920 in Hamburg, under the auspices of the Sturm-Bühne, an organization formed by the editorial board of Der Sturm (of which Schreyer was, of course, a member) for the purpose of producing and publishing the new Expressionist works for the theatre. This was the first publication of the Kampfbühne, an affiliated organization which was directed by Schreyer for several years. "Seltene Inkunabel des expressionistischen Theaters" (E. Roters). A brilliant copy, fresh and crisp, inscribed in pen by Schreyer on the base of the title-page: Für Anni Peters.../ herzlich und dankbar/ in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart/ am 4. November 1961. Lothar Schreyer."
Hamburg (Werkstatt der Kampfbühne), 1920. $6,500.00
Rifkind 402; Rifkind/Davis 2602; Raabe/Hannich-Bode 268.6; Marbach 77.2; Spalek 4176
279
SCHWITTERS, KURT
Anna Blume. Dichtungen. Sechstes bis zehntes Tausend. (Die Silbergäule. Band 39-40.) 37, (11)pp. Sm. 4to. Orig. wraps. (slightly foxed). Second printing. Schwitters’ splendid design on the front cover, printed in red and black on green stock. "Like today’s Pop artists, Schwitters does not consider himself one apart from the bourgeois world: he is Anna Blume, even as he makes fun of her, just as he is the "Blue Bird" (a title that might well derive from a sentimental cabaret song of the twenties)" (William Rubin, in 1968). Small dampstain; covers a bit faded.
Hannover (Paul Steegemann), 1919. $500.00
Schmalenbach/Bolliger 1; DadaGlobal 121; Ades 6.34; Andel 80; Andel Avant-Garde Page Design 1900-1950 no. 154; Verkauf p. 104; Motherwell/Karpel 366
280
SCHWITTERS, KURT
Elementar. Die Blume Anna. Die neue Anna Blume. Eine Gedichtsammlung aus den Jahren 1918-1922. Einbecker Politurausgabe von Kurt Merz Schwitters. 32pp. Orig. dec. green wraps., designed by Schwitters. The new Anna Blume: poems and prose from 1918-1922. A fine copy.
Berlin (Verlag Der Sturm), [1922]. $1,250.00
Schmalenbach/Bolliger 4; DadaGlobal 123; Andel 81; Verkauf p. 104; Motherwell/Karpel 367; Reynolds p. 75
281
SCHWITTERS, KURT
Die Märchen vom Paradies. Band 1 [all published]. 1. Die Hahnepeter. 2. Der Paradiesvogel. 3. Das Paradies auf der Wiese. (Aposs No. 2.) [Merz 16/17.] 31, (1)pp. Prof. illus., including 18 drawings by Steinitz. Typographic design throughout by Schwitters. 4to. Orig. wraps., decorated in red and black with drawings by Steinitz. The complete anthology of the fairy tales (‘Tales of Paradise’) written by Schwitters and illustrated, with swiftly improvised drawings, by Steinitz. In part, the characters were based on the Schwitters’ family and friends: the Hahnemann, of "Hahnepeter," for example, was his son Ernst, and Uncle Ungeflochten the art dealer Alfred Flechtheim. This follow-up to the separately published "Hahnepeter" (already declared out-of-print) was issued first in this edition by Apossverlag; the following year, Schwitters retroactively designated some copies of it (not this one) issue no. 16/17 of Merz by pasting printed labels on the front cover. The drawings on the wrappers of this copy are printed in red (rather than the usual pale green), a rare variant not discussed in the Wiesbaden catalogue. An extremely fine copy.
Hannover (Apossverlag), 1924. $5,500.00
Schmalenbach/Bolliger 244; "Typographie kann unter Umständen Kunst sein": Kurt Schwitters Typographie und Werbegestaltung (Wiesbaden, 1990) 26; Dada Global 116; Ades p. 131; Almanacco Dada 91; Verkauf p. 180; Motherwell/Karpel 78