La Septieme face du de

Paris: Jeanne Bucher, 1936

FIRST EDITION. “In Hugnet’s photocollages, and notably in his book La Septième Face du dé, composed of twenty poèmes-découpages, truncated limbs proliferate – female legs detached, crossed, spread-eagled, legs juxtaposed with large breasts or seashells, or multiple legs forming a rosace shape… The mechanism of duplication (or multiplication), characteristic of Hugnet’s collages, does in fact transform the body into fetishistic fragments, which are explicitly encoded as simulacra in the schematic outline which reduces the body to a flat disembodied sign of femininity” –Elza Adamowicz, Surrealist Collage in Text and Image: Dissecting the Exquisite Corpse

Folio. 20 black and white photo-collages, some with colour, printed on white paper. Original pale-green card covers, designed by Marcel Duchamp, sewn in Japanese style with black thread. Near-fine, slightest rubbing at extremeties. Custom box.

$15,000

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[The Cologne Chronicle] Die Cronica van der hilliger Stat van Coellen

FIRST EDITION. The Cologne Chronicle is famous for a lengthy passage, on leaf 311 (verso), that provides the first printed account of the development of printing. "There are few ancient books which have been so frequently quoted, yet so rarely seen, as the present Chronicle. The possession of it is, indeed, essential to a Library like the one under description; since there is an important passage in it, relating to the invention of the Art of Printing with Metal Types, which merits very particular attention; and which has been referred to, or quoted, by bibliographers for nearly the two last centuries... The rarity of this Chronicle is sufficiently attested by bibliographers, even without noticing that Hartz and Buder... who wrote expressly upon German affairs, had no knowledge whatever of it; and Naudaus doubted its existence. I am disposed to think there are not three copies of it in this country..."–Dibdin Folio. Contemporary tooled half-leather over oak boards. 354 (of 368) leaves. This copy lacking first 12 leaves, containing the first title and the register (index). Second title toned and laid down. Some toning and staining. Woodcut illustrations throughout. A sound copy. VERY RARE.

$25,000

Ralph 124C 41+

SCARCE FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY GERNSBACK, of one of the foundational texts in science fiction."In April 1911 'Modern Electrics' began serializing Gernsback's Ralph 124C 41+, written to exemplify (Gernsback's) contention that fiction could serve to teach science... Thoroughly deficient as fiction, the story nevertheless predicts radar, microfilm and microfiche, tape recorders, television, wireless transmission of power, planet hormones, and weather control" (American National Biography).Ralph 124C 41+ was published when many other magazines were struggling, and it led Gernsback to almost single-handedly establish a place for science fiction stories, as he allowed contemporary writers space in his science magazines. The success of these stories may have induced Gernsback to create the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, which started publication the year after Ralph 124C 41+ was printed in book form. The Hugo Awards, science fiction's most prestigious prize, were named in honor of Hugo Gernsback.Signed on the front free endpaper. Octavo, original blue cloth with gilt lettering, original dust jacket. Bookplate of Roy V. Hunt, editor and artist for the science fiction magazine The Alchemist on front pastedown. Book fine with cloth exceptionally bright; original dust jacket with some tape reinforcement at verso edges; closed tear at top of front panel and very minor edgewear. Rare signed.

$9,500

EVANS, WALKER

FIRST EDITION. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. A fine copy in an excellent dust jacket. Very minor wear at spine ends. Errata slip present. An excellent copy.

$1,300

Anthologie de l'Humour Noir

INSCRIBED BY BRETON TO MONIQUE FONG WUST. The 1950 limited edition. Quarto, original wrappers; glassine. Front wrapper detached, pages toned as usual; generally clean throughout.

$850

Love in the Time of Cholera

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Octavo. Original cloth, original dust jacket. An excellent copy.

$125

Outlines from the Figures and Compositions upon the Greek, Roman and Etruscan Vases

1804 edition of Hamilton's celebrated Outlines from the Figures and Compositions upon the Greek, Roman and Etruscan Vases, illustrated with 62 engraved plates. Quarto. Half-title, 62 engraved plates by Kirk (uncoloured). Handsomely bound in quarter calf over vellum boards. Text and plates clean, small split at half-title (holding). Nice copy.

$950

Monumenti Antichi Inediti Spiegati ed Illustrata

FIRST EDITION, illustrated with 208 beautiful copper-plate engravings and numerous in-text illustrations and vignettes.Winckelmann is best known for his monumental Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (History of the Art of Antiquity, 1764), which enjoyed tremendous popular success and permanently reshaped aesthetic criticism. The Monuments, his last published work, stands by itself as "a masterpiece of interpretation and explanation" and "a pioneering work in the field of archaeological methodology" (Catholic Encyclopedia; Lappmann). Significantly, it is also the only one of Winckelmann's works published in his lifetime to be extensively illustrated. Folio, contemporary vellum with original red leather label, decorated endpapers. Two volumes in one. Text in Italian. Bookplates. Light wear to binding, very small library number on dedication leaf, small tear to endpaper. Occasional light foxing. Plates very clean. A superb, wide-margined copy in contemporary vellum of the beautifully-illustrated first edition.

$7,000

Wessex Tales

FIRST EDITION, 1/634 COPIES, IN THE PUBLISHER'S CLOTH BINDING.Two volumes. Octavo, original green cloth with gilt spine titles. Edges uncut. Light wear to cloth at oints and extremities, corners slightly bumped, spine somewhat cocked. Elegant bookplate at front pastedowns. Cloth clean and bright, text clean. An excellent copy housed in custom slipcase and chemise.

$2,500

Naked City

SIGNED AND INSCRIBED FIRST EDITION. Illustrated with photogravure reproductions of Weegee's photographs of New York City.Quarto. Original cloth, original photo-pictorial dust jacket. Significant chips and creases to fragile dust jacket. Rare signed.

$1,200

Thirty-Four Parking Lots

FIRST EDITION OF THIS SEMINAL WORK. Octavo. Original wrappers, original glassine. Wrappers clean and fresh; original glassine with a few small chips; generally an excellent copy.

$2,000

The Photographic History of the Civil War

"The grandfather of pictorial histories, this mammoth work is a necessary part of any Civil War library. The work contains 3,389 images that constitute an important source on the war's appearance—its battlefields, common soldiers, officers, forts, diseases, camp scenes, army movements, and materiel." Eicher, The Civil War in Books 771."The greatest single collection of Brady illustrations" (Allan Nevins). The Mathew Brady photographs represent the first instance of a comprehensive photo-documentation of a war. New York: The Review of Reviews, 1911. Quarto, original blue cloth gilt. Ten volumes. An exceptional set, gilt uncommonly bright. Only occasional trivial wear to bindings. Very rare in this condition.

$1,250

Ulysses

First authorized American edition, INSCRIBED BY ILLUSTRATOR ERNST REICHL IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION. "Not only designed, but signed, for a good old friend. Ernst Reichl / 1.23.34" Octavo, original oatmeal cloth, presumed first issue dust jacket (with 'Reichl' on lower front wrapper). Book near fine with few marks on covers, dust jacket very good with tape reinforcement at spine head verso, crease and small chips to jacket spine.

$5,000

HUGNET, GEORGES