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
282
(SCHWITTERS) Spengemann, Christof
Die Wahrheit über Anna Blume. Kritik der Kunst, Kritik der Kritik, Kritik der Zeit. 29, (3)pp. Full-page photographic portrait of Schwitters in text. Lrg. 8vo. Dec. yellow wraps., with an abstract drawing by Schwitters, printed in red. "The Zweemann-Verlag did not publish many books, but one stands out--a pamphlet entitled ‘Die Wahrheit über Anna Blume’--in which Spengemann passionately defended his friend Kurt Schwitters.... A letter to Spengemann has been preserved in which Schwitters exclaimed: ‘Go out into the whole world and make the truth known, the only truth there is, the truth about Anna Blume’" (Schmalenbach).
Hannover (Der Zweemann), 1920. $1,350.00
Schmalenbach/Bolliger pp. 21,41, no.256; Verkauf p. 182; Motherwell/Karpel 385
283
SEGAL, ARTUR
Vom Strande. Acht Original-Holzschnitte. Afterword by Rudolf Leonhard. (Erstes der graphischen Eine Mark-Flugblätter.) (8)pp. 8 original woodcuts by Segal (including that on front cover). Image size: average 199 x 247 mm. (ca. 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches). Oblong sm. folio. Dec. self-wraps., with original woodcut on the front cover. Edition of 1000 copies. The Rumanian-born Arthur Segal (1875-1944) was one of the founders of the Neue Sezession in Berlin, and later a prominent figure in Zürich Dada, exhibiting at the Cabaret Voltaire and publishing in "Dada 3" and "Der Zeltweg"; in 1921, on his return to Berlin, he joined the Novembergruppe. Segal’s woodcuts and linocuts appeared in "Der Sturm" in 1911 and 1913, including two from the present series. This extremely graceful portfolio of Baltic beach scenes has a graphic fluidity reminiscent of Nolde lithographs, and a tone of serene bemusement outside the usual scope of Expressionism. A few unobtrusive traces of wear; in all quite a fine copy. Rare.
Berlin-Wilmersdorf (A.R. Meyer), 1913. $3,500.00
Rifkind 219; Rifkind/Davis 2731
284
SELIGMANN, KURT & COURTHION, PIERRE
Les vagabondages héraldiques. Quinze eaux-fortes originales de Kurt Séligmann. Quinze textes inédits de Pierre Courthion. (34)pp, 15 hinged original etchings with aquatint (Mason 37-49, 51-52). Image size: up to 350 x 263 mm. (ca. 13 3/4 x 10 3/8 inches). Folio. Printed wraps. (vignette by the artist on back cover). One of 90 numbered copies on uncut vélin de Rives, from the limited edition of 105 in all. The very large scale of the prints contributes to their considerable surrealist power, part Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, part early Pantagruel, part Picasso circa 1933. A reduced edition, without original prints, was also issued by GLM in 1936 under the title "Métiers des hommes." Light wear to covers and backstrip.
Paris (Editions des Chroniques du Jour), 1934. $6,000.00
Manet to Hockney 101; Kaplan, Gilbert (editor): Surrealist Prints (New York, 1997), p. 90
285
SERRA, RICHARD & REINARTZ, DIRK
Afangar. (72)pp. Prof. illus. Oblong lrg. 4to. Cloth. D.j. Special edition (Vorzugsausgabe): one of 40 copies with an original lithograph by Serra, signed and numbered in pencil, loosely inserted in flaps under the front cover, as issued. Parallel texts in German, English, and Icelandic. Mint.
Göttingen/Zürich (Steidl/ Parkett), 1991. $950.00
286
SEUPHOR, MICHEL
L’autre côté des choses. 56, (10)pp. 14 full-page original serigraphs (hinged) in text (11 color, including 7 with hand-mounted collage elements), all signed and numbered by Seuphor. 4 further original color serigraphs as endpapers and flyleaves. Massive sq. folio. Full parchment over boards, 1/4 leather, with brushed metal ornament mounted in recessed portion of front cover. Slipcase (full linen). No. 81 of 86 copies on vélin B.F.K. Rives, from the édition "de grand format" of 110 copies, signed in the justification by the author and editor. Loosely inserted in recessed panel under back cover (as issued): the édition "de petit format." 33, (3)pp. 8vo. Loose signatures, printed on pur fil Johannot, within color-serigraphed wrapper. This too is signed and numbered in pencil by the author in the justification. A "poème en sept branches," written by Seuphor in the spring of 1974, and illustrated by him in the following fall.
N.p. (Jean Andouin), 1976. $2,250.00
Bibliothèque Nationale: Le livre et l’artiste: Tendances du livre illustré français, 1967-1976 (Paris, 1977), no. 8
287
SEUPHOR, MICHEL
4 quacsitchatrides pour cent personnes spirituelles. Accompagneés et mis en scène par P.A. Bénoit. (16)pp. Lrg. 8vo. Printed wraps. Glassine d.j. Edition of 100 copies (though not stated), printed on loose signatures of wove stock within a letterpress folder of thick wove handmade paper. The poems are integrated with playful abstractions of open lines, dots, circles and asterisks, designed by P.A.B.
[Alès] (P.A. Bénoit), [1950]. $600.00
Montpellier 124; Bibliothèque Nationale 1989, p. 20
288
SOFFICI, ARDEGNO
BIF§ZF+18. Simultaneità e chimismi lirici. Nuova edizione accresciuta. 110, (2)pp. Frontis. photo of the author. Wraps., printed in red and blue with a handsome typographic composition by Soffici. Uncut. The second edition, enlarged (if far smaller in format), of Soffici’s most important book, including magnificently powerful parole in libertà, some of which incorporate commercial trademarks and other graphic elements.
Firenze (Vallecchi Editore), 1919. $850.00
Salaris p. 67; Falqui p. 73; Jentsch p. 327; Spencer p. 20; Andel 46; Andel: Avant-Garde Page Design 1900-1950 no. 106-107
289
SOUPAULT, PHILIPPE
Westwego. Poème [1917-1922]. (16)pp. 2 full-page prints of a hand (presumably the author’s) in text. Sm. 4to. Wraps. (small tear at head of spine). Glassine d.j. One of 300 copies on papier vergé, from the edition of 318 in all. Soupault’s earliest verse, reminiscent of Cendrars’ ‘Paques à New York’ and ‘Prose du Transsibérien." The stylized serial abstraction of the typography at the outset, especially in juxtaposition with the palm prints, is strikingly successful.
Paris (Editions de la Librairie Six), 1922. $600.00
Gershman p. 42; Sanouillet 182, p. 87; Düsseldorf 220
290
(STEICHEN) Sandburg, Carl
Steichen the Photographer. (6), 70, (96)pp., 49 warm-toned plates. Sm. folio. Publisher’s black cloth gilt. Edition limited to 925 hand-numbered copies, signed in the colophon in pen by Steichen and Sandburg. Presentation copy, inscribed in the colophon by Steichen "For Henry in sincere appreciation of his loyal help and with high hopes that our collaboration will be fruitful for him." Ex-libris Henry Flannery. Cloth very slightly rubbed; a fine copy.
New York (Harcourt, Brace and Company), 1929. $2,750.00
Roth: The Book of 101 Books p. 54; Freitag 11957;
291
STETTHEIMER, FLORINE
Crystal Flowers. Foreword by Ettie Stettheimer. (2), vi, 82, (4)pp. Sm. 4to. Cloth, the front cover mounted (as issued) with collotype photograph of the artist's boudoir. Edition limited to 250 copies in all, on Rives paper, printed by hand at the Banyan Press under the supervision of Ettie Stettheimer, with her compliments slip loosely inserted. The rare volume of Stettheimer's verse, privately printed after her death for her friends and admirers, with a prefatory reminiscence. The poems include much on art and the New York art world, addressing or discussing Carl Van Vechten, Charles Demuth, Parker Tyler, Charles Henri Ford, and Virgil Thomson, among others. Van Vechten advised Ettie Stettheimer on the selection, and came up with the title. A little light foxing on back cover.
New York (Privately Printed), 1949. $1,200.00