Architecture & design
ART DECO. Bakelite album, labelled on front cover: "Souvenir of Germany - Bavaria".[Germany : c.1930s-40s]
A flamboyant example of Bakelite - or possibly casein plastic - being used to eye-catching effect for a souvenir album, here repurposed and comprising illustrations of art deco furniture and interiors: a perhaps incongruous use for a binding redolent of the marbling in Bavarian baroque churches. Few such fragile and fascinating albums could have...Learn More
JAPANESE GRAPHIC DESIGN. Collection of Japanese matchbox labels.Tokyo : 1920-34
A vibrant collection, containing pre-war matchbox labels produced by the Rinshikin Shukai, Japan's first society for matchbox collectors. The boldly coloured designs show kabuki actors, geisha, Buddhist deities, baseball players, famous ukiyo-e prints, vistas of capital cities, and even wartime propaganda.
Matchbox labels became popular in...Learn More
KIPPENBERGER, Martin. Sehr Gut / Very Good.[Berlin] : 1979
First edition, sole printing, one of around 1,000 copies only of Kippenberger's provocative artist's book, with contributions from the New York and German avant garde, including Charlie Ahearn, Diego Cortez, John Lurie, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Tabea Blumenschein, and Meuser. It is rare, with only six copies located on WorldCat: four in the USA, and...Learn More
PICASSO, Pablo & André Villers. Diurnes. Découpages et Photographies.Paris : 1962
First edition, number 775 of 1,000 copies. This, Picasso's only foray into the world of photography, began as a way to entertain his grandchildren, making simple Cut-Outs of paper masks and animal faces in the style of Matisse.
Years later Villers and Picasso met when the young photogapher came to take the artist's portrait. The two...Learn More
DALI, Salvador. A Study of his Art-in-Jewels.Greenwich : 1959
First edition of this photobook collecting images of Dalí's singular work with jewels and precious metals. The artist writes, "Paladin of a new Renaissance, I too refuse to be confined. My art encompasses physics, mathematics, architecture, nuclear science - the physico-nuclear, the mystico-nuclear - and jewelry - not paint alone."
The...Learn More
BEATON, Cecil. Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1963-74 The Parting YearsLondon : 1978
First edition, inscribed by Cecil Beaton on the front endpaper, "For Margaret with Best Wishes from Cecil Beaton". The final of Beaton's six published diaries, The Parting Years chronicles Beaton's final 11 years as he continues to travel, meeting famous friends across the globe whilst saying goodbye to others, before ending with his illness in...Learn More
BEATON, Cecil. Cecil Beaton's Diaries: 1955-63 The Restless Years.London : 1976
First edition, inscribed by Cecil Beaton on the front endpaper, "To Margaret with Best Wishes from Cecil Beaton". The penultimate of Beaton's six published diaries, The Restless Years chronicles Beaton's globetrotting 8 years between 1955 and 1963, as he flits from one exotic destination to another, in between designing for Gigi and My Fair Lady,...Learn More
BEATON, Cecil. Ballet.London & New York : 1951
First edition, in the yellow variant binding, of this personal memoir by Beaton, copiously illustrated. The same year this work was published, Beaton designed a one-act version of Swan Lake for the New York City Ballet.Learn More
LOWRY, L. S. - LEVY, Mervyn. The Paintings of L. S. Lowry.London : 1975
Signed limited edition, number 52 of 100 copies signed by the artist. Loosely inserted are two photographs of Lowry at his easel; one is stamped on the verso by the Daily Telegraph Library and is dated 17 February 1964.
Lowry mostly painted the urban industrial districts of north-west England, often peopled with stylized figures known as...Learn More
BRAQUE, Georges. Hommage A Georges Braques.Paris : 1964
First edition, number 262 of 350 copies printed on vélin de Rives, with original lithographs by Picasso, Tal-Coat, and Raoul Ubac. This issue of Derriére le Miroir, Number 144-146, was published as a tribute to Georges Braques and features work by the artist and his contemporaries.Learn More
WRIGHT, Frank Lloyd. The Japanese Print: An Interpretation.Chicago : 1912
First edition of Wright's eloquent essay on the aesthetic principles of Japanese woodblock prints. Drawing on his deep engagement with Japanese art as a collector, Wright examines the structural geometry, abstraction of nature, and disciplined simplicity of the woodblock print - ideas that influenced his architectural philosophy.Learn More
LE CORBUSIER. The City of To-morrow and its Planning.London : 1929
First edition in English of the architect's 1925 book Urbanisme. This volume collects articles that appeared in l'Esprit Nouveau in which Le Corbusier argues for the importance of town planning.
In his introduction, the translator, Frederick Etchells lays out the architect's thesis, "we are to forgo, or to relegate to a minor place,...Learn More
WOOL, Christopher - WERNER HOLSWARTH, Hans (ed.). Christopher Wool.Cologne : 2008
Signed limited edition, artist's proof number 97 of 200, aside from the edition of 1,100.
This is a large-format monograph on the American artist Christopher Wool (b.1955), best known for his text-based paintings. This volume is edited by Werner Holswarth, and features essays by contemporary art curators and writers including Eric Banks,...Learn More
GUCCI. Gucci Décor.[2017]
Limited edition, an interior design look-book. From opulent rugs to ashtrays adorned with the evil eye, this book sets Gucci's trailblazing style as an inspirational guide for the discerning consumer.Learn More
GUCCI - SCHLESINGER, Peter. Disturbia. Gucci Pre-Fall 2018 Collection.Italy : 2018
Limited edition of 1,000 copies, exploring Gucci's 2018 pre-fall collection.Learn More
MUYBRIDGE, Eadweard. Autograph letter signed to a subscriber, together with two pamphlets explaining zoopraxography and encouraging financial support.Vienna : 1891
The photography pioneer writes to one of his subscribers, the physician William Ainslie Hollis, regarding the publication of his magisterial Animal Locomotion (1887). The pamphlets - Hollis's copies - were published to promote both the technology and the upcoming work; Hollis is listed among the subscribers in the latter.
The costly...Learn More
REMINGTON, Frederic - Peter H. Hassrick & Melissa J. Webster (eds). Frederic Remington. A Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings.Cody, Wy : 1996
First edition, first printing, deluxe issue, number 246 of 250 copies signed by both editors on the title page of the first volume. Frederic Sackrider Remington (1861-1909) was an American artist and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West.Learn More
MAO, Zedong. Two porcelain mugs from the Cultural Revolution.Jingdezhen : [c.1966-76]
Emblematic of the Cultural Revolution's cult of Mao, these mugs are decorated with four volumes representing his hallowed Selected Works, the volumes radiating light. The text on the mug reads, "Mao Zedong Thought radiates golden light", and the lid proclaims, "Long live the great Mao Zedong Thought."
For Mao, making revolution meant more...Learn More
YOSHIDA, Hiroshi - FLEISHER, Benjamin W. (ed.). Enthronement of the One Hundred Twenty-Fourth Emperor of Japan.Tokyo : 1928
First edition, published to commemorate the coronation of Emperor Hirohito. It contains a vivid original colour woodblock print of Himeji Castle by Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950), an internationally renowned artist and one of the leading figures of the shin-hanga movement. The text explains the historical and religious meaning behind the various...Learn More
PLYMOUTH. The Circle of Observation in the Lower Room, Panorama, Leicester Square, Representing a View of Plymouth.London : 1797
A key to one of Robert Barker's popular panoramas, showing the town and dock alongside Devil's Point, Dartmoor, St. Nicholas (now Drake) Island, and the town of Cawsand. Panoramas "gave individuals the happy feeling that the world was organized around and by them... A double dream came true - one of totality and possession; encyclopaedism on the...Learn More
