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
82
DOCUMENTS
Archéologie, beaux-arts, ethnographie, variétés. Magazine illustré paraissant dix fois par an. Secrétaire général: Georges Bataille. Vol. I, No. 1 - Vol. II, No. 8 (all published). 400, 440, 55pp. Prof. illus. Orig. wraps. 2 fitted slipcases (cloth; chemises). Contributions by Bataille, Strzygowski, Einstein, Leiris, Limbour, Babelon, Desnos, Jouhandeau, Griaule, Vitrac, Pierre-Quint, Ribemont-Dessaignes, Prévert, Baron, Frobenius, Sitwell, Sydow, et al.
Under the stewardship of Georges Bataille, who later described himself as Surrealism’s "old enemy from within," ‘Documents’ was, intellectually, one of the most brilliant and most radical of all reviews of the period, both in its espousal of Surrealist ideas, and its dissidence from them. Especially important is the publication in it of the radical photographs of Jacques-André Boiffard, accompanying articles by Bataille (most famously "The Big Toe"), Desnos and Limbour, as well as photographs by Eli Lotar, stills from popular films, and curiosities of commercial culture, mixed with new work by Giacometti and Dalí. A very fine set.
Paris, 1929-1930. $4,500.00
Ades: Chapter 10; Chevrefils Desbiolles p. 285; Rubin 465
83
DOCUMENTS INTERNATIONAUX DE L’ESPRIT NOUVEAU
Panorama. Direction: Paul Dermée, E. Prampolini, Seuphor. No. 1 (all published). (64)pp. 36 halftone illus. 4to. Wraps. (backstrip defective). Texts by Seuphor, La Salpiètrière, Baumeister, Dermée, Schwitters, Tzara. Illus. after Prampolini, Lucia Moholy, Vonck, Vordemberge-Gildewart, Baumeister, Mondrian, Medgyés, Kertész. The inaugural issue, the only issue published. The typography and mise-en-page are very strong.
Paris, n.d. [1927]. $900.00
Almanacco Dada 46; cf. Admussen 81
84
(DOISNEAU) Cendrars, Blaise
La banlieue de Paris. Texte sur 130 photos de Robert Doisneau. 54, (7)pp., 135 gravure plates. 4to. Publisher’s boards (issued without dust jacket). "Édition pré-originale," printed for members of the Guilde du Livre.
Lausanne (La Guilde du Livre), 1949. $500.00
Roth: The Book of 101 Books, p. 132
85
(DOMELA) Kandinsky, Wassily (preface)
Domela. Six reproductions en couleurs d’après quelques oeuvres récentes. (8)pp. 6 full-page color plates, tipped onto mounts. 1 tipped-in monochrome illus. on title-page. Folio. Wraps. Signatures and plates loose, as issued. Edition limited to 300 numbered copies in all, signed in pencil in the justification by Domela. Presentation copy, inscribed in pencil on the title-page "Paris Mai 1949/ à mon ami Kurt Seligmann/ bien sincèrement/ Domela."
N.p. (Privately Published), n.d. [ca. 1943]. $650.00
86
DREIER, KATHERINE S.
Western Art and the New Era. An introduction to modern art. xii, 139pp. 60 illus. 4to. Wraps. (backstrip defective). Presentation copy, inscribed by Dreier, 1946.
New York (Brentano’s), 1923. $250.00
87
DRTIKOL, FRANTISEK
Zena ve Svetle [Woman in Light]. (Vyber 46 aktu. Uvod napsal J.R. Marek. ) Sm. 4to. Publisher’s cloth. D.j. We quote at length from Andrew Roth: "In his own studio in Prague, Frantisek Drtikol concentrated on highly prized portraits of well-known writers, artists and early aviators (1910-14) and then on nude studies (1918-35), of which ‘Zena ve Svetle’ (Women in light) is the culmination. Although influenced early in his career (while studying photography in Munich) by the decorative trend of Jugendstil or Art Nouveau, Drtikol moved, with ‘Zena ve Svetle’, into his own modernist style of photography that prefigured and influenced the emerging Bauhaus esthetic. He built sets and props out of plywood and used an arc lamp to cast strong shadows. The graphic presentation of the book is striking with the gum prints on thin paper, one to a page, set off by large page numbers. By 1935, Drtikol was creating wholly abstract works, in which the nudes were replaced by figurines or geometric shapes made from painted plywood. At age 52, at the peak of his international fame, Drtikol abandoned photography altogether to concentrate on painting, meditation and oriental philosophy until his death in 1961." Authorities are divided about the date of this undated publication, some placing it considerably earlier (Roth states 1930). Two small stains on cover; two losses at top front of dust jacket; a fine copy, clean and fresh within. Rare.
Praha (Nakladatelství E. Beaufort A.S.), n.d. [1938]. $2,500.00
Roth: The Book of 101 Books, p. 64f.
88
DUCHAMP, MARCEL
Autograph letter, signed, to Henry McBride, 4 November 1922. 2ff., written on rectos only, on buff-colored wove stock. 225 x 150 mm. (ca. 8 3/4 x 5 7/8 inches). This important letter begins with reference to "Some French Moderns Says McBride," a book of essays on art by McBride, for which Duchamp designed the remarkable, conceptualized format. "Cher Henry -- Je n’ai pas en de nouvelles de vous depuis bien longtemps -- avez vous reçu l’essai de critique théatrale? -- Naturellement je vous promettais dans ma dernière lettre un ‘dummy’ rapide -- Hélas, je suis complètement dégoûté; et je ne recommençerai pas de sitôt des acrobaties typographiques. Enfin j’ai vu 14 pages sur 16 ‘linotyped’ -- avec de la chance le livre sera fini dans quinze jours --". The ‘essai’ to which Duchamp refers is Pierre de Massot’s "Essai de critique théâtrale," published in Paris in 1922, with a preface by Picabia, portrait by Picasso, and 8 dadaistic montage caricatures of Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhardt, Mistinguett, and other women stage artists. McBride evidently did receive the book, which accompanies the present letter. The interconnections between Duchamp, McBride and Massot are intriguing in this period. Francis Naumann notes that Massot’s famous 1924 publication, "The Wonderful Book," with fourteen puns by Duchamp, probably took its title from a letter from Alfred Stieglitz to McBride about "Some French Moderns," which Stieglitz began by exclaiming "It’s a wonderful book."
Continuing, Duchamp informs him that Mrs. Hellstom, a friend of Carl van Vechten and his (and the wife of the Swedish writer Gustaf Hellstrom), has asked him to invite McBride to a little soirée next Friday. "Dîner a 7 heures pas habillé. Vous y remonterez un pianiste étonnant, russe et plus que virtuose -- d’autres gens amusants que vous connaissez...." Duchamp says that he is counting on McBride to attend, as he had promised to relay the invitation a couple of months earlier. If McBride wants, he could swing by Duchamp’s at 6:30 (1947 Broadway, between 65th and 66th Street), and they could go together. The letter is signed "à bientôt donc et affectueusement/ Marcel Samedi." Information about this party (including a related note from Duchamp to McBride) is recorded in the "Duchamp Ephemerides" published by Jennifer Gough-Cooper and Jacques Caumont, under the dates 11-12 November 1922.
Together with: Massot, Pierre de. Essai de critique théâtrale. Préface de Francis Picabia; portrait de l’auteur par Pablo Picasso. (28)pp., including frontis. and 8 halftone montage plates, with reproductive manuscript captions. Sm. 4to. Printed self-wraps. This copy, sent by Duchamp to McBride in 1922, has traces of waterdamage, and has been expertly restored, the leaves discreetly hinged into the binding, and the original staples replaced with thread. Light browning, 1 faint waterstain; generally fine condition.
[New York, 1922] $10,000.00
Cf. Gough-Cooper/Caumont Ephemerides, 11-12 November 1922; Cf. Naumann pp. 89f.,98
89
DUCHAMP, MARCEL & HALBERSTADT, V.
L’opposition et les cases conjugées sont reconciliées par M. Duchamp et V. Halberstadt. / Opposition und Schwesterfelder..../ Opposition and Sister Squares.... 112, (1)ff. 259 chessboard diagrams, printed in red and black (of which 8 full-page, printed on glassine). 2 errata slips. Lrg. sq. 4to. Printed wraps., designed by Duchamp. Edition limited to 1000 copies. Parallel texts in French, German and English. Duchamp, who had taken part in international chess tournaments during the preceding five years, devoted this treatise to an endgame problem of, as he put, it, almost utopian rarity. An extract was published in "Le surréalisme au service de la révolution," no. 2 (Summer 1930), and the work was subsequently discussed by Pierre de Massot in "Orbes," Series II, No. 2 (Summer 1933). Massot gave the following account of the method by which Duchamp arrived at the elegantly restrained distortion of the cover typography: "Set up in the zinc stencil letters...the title was placed between two plates of glass, which were tilted at an angle and exposed to the sun. The uncontrolled deformation produced on the ground by the sun’s rays passing through the cut-out parts of the letters was photographed by Duchamp, who afterwards made a negative from this photograph which was stereotyped." Wrappers a bit worn; name neatly inscribed inside back cover.
Paris/ Bruxelles (Éditions de l’Echiquier), 1932. $2,000.00
Schwarz 430; Lebel 52, 83, 172-3, no. 165; Naumann 4.17
90
DUCHAMP, MARCEL
"Monte Carlo Bond." 318 x 230 mm. (12 1/2 x 9 1/16 inches). In the course of creating miniature replicas of his work for the "Boite en valise," "Duchamp was asked by the editors of ‘XXe Siècle’ for a contribution to their magazine. He readily accepted, for he was anxious to produce a facsimile of his ‘Monte Carlo Bond’ in his album, and, like earlier publication projects, this would provide the ideal opportunity to secure multiple copies. Rather than use the letterpress process that was used to create the original, after several noteworthy changes had been made...Duchamp prepared a full-scale color lithograph of bond no. 12, which had not been stamped or signed, and over 2,000 copies were run off and included as hors texte prints in the Christmas 1938 issue of ‘XXe Siècle.’ After a number of additional modifications were made, well over 300 extra prints were set aside for inclusion in the album" (Francis Naumann). Small tear at upper left, mostly in blank margin, expertly restored; tapemark on verso, along top edge; original staple holes at left, as issued.
[Paris] (XXe Siècle) [1938]. $2,000.00
Schwarz 406b; Naumann 5.23, p. 137f.
91
(DUCHAMP) Breton, André.
Young Cherry Trees Secured Against Hares. / Jeunes cérisiers garantis contre les lièvres. Translations by Edouard Roditi. Cover by Marcel Duchamp. Drawings by Arshile Gorky. (54)pp. 2 full-page illus. after line drawings by Gorky. Sm. 4to. Photo-illus. boards. D.j. in colors. Edition limited to 1000 copies on uncut laid paper. Parallel texts in English and French. A classic surrealist collaboration, being the only book illustrated by Gorky, with Duchamp’s witty cover design, a see-through dust-jacket featuring Breton as the Statue of Liberty. D.j. somewhat browned at spine and back cover.
New York (View Editions), 1946. $950.00
Schwarz 520; Naumann 6.19; Gershman p. 9; Ades 15.62 (deluxe edition); Reynolds p. 18f.; Grolier Club 15