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The books described here are only a tiny fraction of an estimated 30,000 books and exhibition catalogues currently in stock. The great majority are on modern and contemporary art and artists--Cubism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Cobra, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Fluxus and so on. You also will find photography and unusual books in other areas.

Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America

Hungarian caricatures, 1933. For a unique album from Budapest of brilliant, original caricatures worthy of publication and exhibition, please click here.

An additional 40,000 art periodicals include the world's largest holdings of Artforum, Art in America, and High Performance, plus many others.

Shipping is free for most items to US addresses and for some items to international addresses. Please see individual descriptions.

Two free, on-line indexes, to the early years of Artforum and to High Performance (partial), are open to all.

Visitors are welcome by appointment at my nearly invisible offices in central La Jolla, where good restaurants abound and cultural treasures include three other antiquarian dealers within a hundred yards, the Athenaeum (a music and art library), San Diego's Museum of Contemporary Art, several first-rate galleries, and a remarkable private map museum. Nearby are the Salk Institute, the University of California with its splendid special collections, the La Jolla Playhouse, and of course our beaches. Or simply send an email with your inquiries.

We have been members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers since 1971.

Featured Items

FREE domestic or international shipping with direct order. **Newcastle: Printed by E. Walker, for T. Bewick and Son, 1818. Imperial copy, with the receipt for the Fables bound in facing the title page, and signed with the famous engraving of Thomas Bewick's thumbprint. 323 wood-engraved vignettes. Frontispiece (receipt) +xxiv + 376 pp. Unusually large size of 24.6 x 16.4 cm. Period calf with new calf spine and corners; original spine label preserved. Some wear and scuffing of original boards, but fine otherwise. An inscription in an exceptionally precise hand on a blank leaf preceding the receipt reads: "Hicks Thomas Deacle's the Gift of the Rev. William Young B.D. tutor of Emmanuel College Cambridge, as a reward for merit when he was but seven years old. 1823." The Reverend Hicks Thomas Deacle (21 December 1816–12 August 1891) received his B.A. from St. John's College, Cambridge in 1840 and was ordained a deacon in 1841, then an Anglican priest in 1842. In 1844, he received his MA. During the 1850's, he served as chaplain of the Holy Trinity vicarage, Bungay, Suffolk, and in 1860 became vicar of Bawburgh, Diocese Norwich. His account books in twelve volumes spanning the years 1836 to 1889 are in the Archives and Manuscripts Department, Pitts Theology Library, Emory University, and list the daily personal expenses of a country parson in England.

The fables of Aesop, and others, with designs on wood, by Thomas Bewick
Aesopus
FREE domestic or international shipping with direct order. **Newcastle: Printed by E. Walker, for T. Bewick and Son, 1818. Imperial.. more
Price: $1,500.00

FREE domestic & international shipping with direct order. **[1961-1966?] Following the merger of the steel companies Cornigliano and Ilva in 1961, the resulting firm, Italsider, needed a new visual identity. Eugenio Carmi was design director for Cornigliano and then for Italsider. He created a wide range of folders and labels utilizing both bright, bold colors and more subtle ones in geometric forms. This collection consists of 16 of those folders, unused, and in very fine condition, apart from lightly rusted staples in some examples. The book Design Coordination and Corporate Image by F.H.K. Henrion and Alan Parkin (London: Studio Vista/New York: Reinhold, 1967) devotes six pages to this work, including a color double plate illustrating 16 of the folders. Six of these examples appear on those plates, along with four in variant colors and six others not illustrated. Sizes range from 30.7 to 29.5 cm tall and 22.6 to 21 cm wide. Carmi has produced several visual books and collaborated with Umberto Eco on others. This is a small exhibit on its own.

Italsider. [16 file covers designed for Italsider, a large Italian steel-producing group with headquarters in Genoa]
Carmi, Eugenio
FREE domestic & international shipping with direct order. **[1961-1966?] Following the merger of the steel companies Cornigliano and Ilva in.. more
Price: $800.00

FREE domestic shipping with direct order. **Bedford Village, NY: Tyler Graphics, ©1976. Image size 11.4 x 12.4 cm; printed on white paper 19.6 x 20.7 cm (paper, oversquare), and that mounted in tan folder 22.9 cm square with explanatory text. A superb miniature serigraph of "Never Before f"; original print size 19 x 20 inches. Several as-new copies available. For other similar publications, please search for "Motherwell" or "Stella" as author and "miniature" as title.

Never Before. [Handprinted screen miniature of serigraph by Josef Albers in yellow ochre, dark orange, tan, pink, lavender.]
Albers, Josef
FREE domestic shipping with direct order. **Bedford Village, NY: Tyler Graphics, ©1976. Image size 11.4 x 12.4 cm; printed on.. more
Price: $50.00

FREE domestic or international shipping with direct order. **New York: Roaring Fork Press, 1965-1971 (numbers 8 & 10 published by Aspen Communications). 10 .5volumes. This imaginative publication includes work by and about Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Samuel Beckett, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Marcel Duchamp, Marshall McLuhan, Susan Sontag, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, and Gary Snyder, among many, many others. Each issue comes in a box or envelope containing many parts. There are 11 sound recordings and a reel of film in the set. It includes both the very rare 6A and its even rarer progenitor, Manipulations (NY: Judson Publications, 1967; 500 copies). Both consist of loose sheets in envelopes designed by Ralph Ortiz. Manipulations contains 12 colorful sections from the "12 Evenings of Manipulations" at the Judson Church Gallery printed on legal-size mimeograph paper folded in half (each section has a varied number of pages), and all but the Kaprow (as issued) contain an offset photographic image from the performance plus objects and other supplementary material. Participants include Allan Kaprow, Al Hansen, Kate Millet, and Nam June Paik. The interim issue No. 6A printed only the unillustrated program notes. Condition: all pieces present except as noted: No. 1, 1965 -- The black box; near fine, with two light creases in the cover of the box and a split on the front edge; a skinned spot (black) on the front of the box. No. 2, 1966 -- The white box; some wear to box and light soil; cover joint cracked. No. 3, December 1966 -- Pop Art issue with light cover wear and one small tear in front edge of box. No. 4, Spring 1967 -- the McLuhan issue; spine joints cracked 1 cm at top & 1 break in the usual place in the front edge of the box; a few light spots. Nos. 5+6. Fall-Winter 1967 -- Minimalism issue; complete except for Aspen renewal form; light wear to box. No. 6A, 1968/69 -- fine contents in expertly mended envelope. Manipulations, 1966 -- fine contents in expertly mended envelope. No. 7, Spring-Summer 1968/70 -- The British issue; complete in 14 parts (not 15, per table of contents); lightweight folded box deformed as usual, with repairs and tears at the ends of the cover hinge; in original mailing wrapper to Wittenborn; a few short tears and a crease at the left edge of the flap. No. 8, Fall-Winter 1970-1971 -- Art/Information/Science issue. No. 9, Winter-Spring, 1970 -- "Dream Weapon" psychedelic issue; lacks subscription form; fold rubbed and top end of fold torn. No. 10, 1971 -- the Asia issue; incomplete copy with 7 of 15 items; no case; this atypical issue devoted to classic Japanese screen paintings and other similar works has little connection with the prior issues. For a (nearly) complete list with pictures of the contents of all issues, please visit http://www.ubu.com and click on "Aspen." A marked set of these sheets accompanies each issue.

Aspen: the magazine in a box. Numbers 1-9, including the rare 6A and the rarer Manipulations. Also contains a partial copy of number 10, the Asian issue. Edited by Phyllis Johnson
Johnson, Phyllis
FREE domestic or international shipping with direct order. **New York: Roaring Fork Press, 1965-1971 (numbers 8 & 10 published by.. more
Price: $12,000.00

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