Bechard, Deni Y. (Bechard, Deni Yvan)
Vandal Love: A Novel

Imprint: Minneapolis, MN, Milkweed Editions, 2012
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 345 pages. The author's breakthrough debut novel. One of the most important literary debuts of our time. The first appearance of the title in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only. Presents, at long last, Deni Y. Bechard's "Vandal Love". His first novel. It finally appears in the United States after being issued in Canada several years ago. "An astonishing novel of epic ambition, 'Vandal Love' follows generations of a unique French-Canadian family across North America and through the 20th century, as they struggle to find their place in the world" (Publisher's blurb). Quite a struggle it turns out to be: A genetic curse runs through the family whereby the offspring are born either as giants or dwarfs ("runts"). "Reinvents the generational novel with innovative brilliance. The book has all the quirky depth of a great HBO series and a line-by-line literary energy that is very rare. This is an enormously impressive debut by a clearly talented writer" (Robert Olen Butler). Deni Yvan Bechard was born to French-Canadian and American parents in 1974 and is a largely self-taught writer who has lived in both Canada and the United States. The acclaim that some of the finest living writers have heaped on his debut novel is staggering, reminiscent of the praise that greeted Vikram Seth's "The Golden Gate" in the 1980's, Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" in the 1990's, and Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies" at the turn of the century. Bechard has been compared to Annie Proulx, one of the most revered American writers of our time, and E. L. Doctorow, one of the greatest writers in any language. An absolute "must-have" title for Deni Y. Bechard collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (in the month and year of publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Deni Y. Bechard 6/24/2012 NYC". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and publication-month dated copy of the First American Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant new voices in contemporary literature. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DENI YVAN BECHARD TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1571310916.

Stock number: 17459. ISBN: 1571310916

$US 30.00

Becher, Bernd; Becher, Hilla (Photographers) & Bussmann, Klaus (Contributor)
Bernd & Hilla Becher: Forderturme

Imprint: Munich, Germany, Schirmer/Mosel, 1997
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 196 pages. Collection of architectural photographs. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Bernd and Hilla Becher: Oversize-volume format. Black cloth boards with pale gray titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher. Brief Introduction by Klaus Bussmann. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Munich, Germany to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Bernd and Hilla Becher's "Forderturme". Conveyor Towers and Mineheads in Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and the United States. Photographed in the most rigorous, taxonomic, and severely beautiful manner. "Vastly influenced the international photography world within the past few decades. Their unique genre of photography is somewhere between topological documentation and art, lining up with the aesthetics of the Neue Sachlichkeit Movement of the 1920's of Karl Blossfeldt, August Sander, and Albert Renger-Patzsch" (Publisher's blurb). As the founders of the "Becher School" (AKA "Dusseldorf School"), they have, in turn, influenced several generations of documentary photographers and artists who have themselves become international superstars: Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth, Candida Hofer, Axel Hutte, Elger Esser, and even the Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. "They shot only on overcast days so as to avoid shadows, and early in the morning during the seasons of Spring and Fall. At each site, the Bechers created landscape views of the entire plant, which set the structures in their context and showed how they relate to one another" (Philip Gefter). The Bechers did not invent the grid (Mondrian did), but it is the origin and basis of their aesthetic and practice. The Grid remains the most advanced iconography of Modernism. It is THE aesthetic, finally, of purity, of emotional self-regulation, the postponement of instant gratification in exchange for lasting aesthetic reward. Surely, no one (or duo) has pursued this single-minded aesthetic to its logical conclusion in photography as single-mindedly as the Bechers did. An absolute "must-have" title for Bernd and Hilla Becher collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in pencil on the front free endpaper by Bernd and Hilla Becher. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great art photography book. This is one of few such double-signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online command as much as $800 even though they have serious flaws. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 190 plates. Selected as one of the greatest photography books in "The Photobook". Winners of the Erasmus Prize, the most prestigious European artistic prize, in 2002. Winners of the Hasselblad Award, the most prestigious photography award, in 2004. Two of the most important and influential photographers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BERND AND HILLA BECHER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3888148030.

Stock number: 21520. ISBN: 3888148030

$US 500.00

Becker, Olaf Otto (Photographer); Badger, Gerry & Schaden, Christoph (Contributors)
Olaf Otto Becker: Broken Line Greenland 2003-2006

Imprint: Ostfildern, Germany, Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2007
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 152 pages. Collection of color photographs. One of the most beautiful art photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. An austerely elegant production by Olaf Otto Becker: Oversize-volume format. The book weighs 3 pounds. Aquamarine cloth boards with photographic reproduction pasted on the recessed cover and titles embossed on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Olaf Otto Becker. Text by Gerry Badger, the co-author of "The Photobook", and Christoph Schaden. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Germany to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Olaf Otto Becker's "Broken Line: Greenland 2003-2006". The kind of photography book that one not only looks at, but in the process of looking, experiences. Most of us will never set foot in Greenland. Olaf Otto Becker has made the trip for us, and we are forever in his debt. "Becker worked for four years and covered thousands of miles by boat creating these photographs of the coastline of Greenland. The resulting images, made in the clear light of the midsummer night over long exposures, are worth the effort. Becker sometimes waited days for the right image or condition to appear in order to produce a single image, a process that left him with only about 25 photographs per year. All of the pictures share the contemplative character of their creator. Becker, who was once a painter, doesn't photograph scenery: He builds compositions, using his eye and his patience, to develop a work of melancholy beauty reminiscent of the powerful iconography of 19th-century Romantic landscapes. The images record the artist's awe at the beauty of creation as well as the dangers facing it" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Olaf Otto Becker collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and dated in pencil on the title page by the photographer: "11.04.2009 Olaf Otto Becker". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Becker also pasted a miniature variant-photograph of an image that appears in the book, titled it in pencil, and indicated its exact location (with an arrow, also in pencil) in the map of Greenland that is reproduced on the page. This title is a contemporary photography classic. This is one of few such signed, dated, and "memento-ed" copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Each copy has a unique miniature photograph. A rare signed copy thus. 75 color plates and foldouts. Winner of The German Photography Book Award in 2008. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER COPY OF THIS TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3775719725.

Stock number: 14893. ISBN: 3775719725

$US 200.00

Bellmer, Hans (Artist/Photographer) & Lichtenstein, Therese (Author)
Behind Closed Doors: The Art Of Hans Bellmer

Imprint: Berkeley, CA, University Of California Press, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 255 pages. Book-length account on subject. One of the most important books on the photographic art of Hans Bellmer published exclusively in English. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are many. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only by a University Press that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by UC Berkeley: Regular-sized volume format. Silk cloth pictorial hard boards with titles on cover and spine, as issued. Art by Hans Bellmer. Text by Therese Lichtenstein, widely acknowledged as a global authority on Bellmer and the Surrealist Movement. ICP Exhibition Guide laid-in. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in Canada to the highest standards. In glassine DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark retrospective exhibition of the same name held at the International Center of Photography (ICP) New York in 2001. Presents Therese Lichtenstein's "Behind Closed Doors: The Art of Hans Bellmer". Perhaps the best book in the English language on the obsessional, "closed universe", and ultimately mad photographic art of Hans Bellmer. It seems to have taken a sane, completely rational female authority to iron him out for us, seventy years later. "Life-size, adolescent-girl dolls created by the German artist Hans Bellmer in the 1930's are the subject of Lichtenstein's highly original book. Disturbing and controversial, Bellmer's Dolls, with their fragmented bodies and eroticized poses, were just as shocking during Bellmer's time as they are today. Until now, there has been little available in English about Bellmer's Dolls, and Lichtenstein's book will be welcomed for its fresh interpretation of the artist's work and his place in European Modernism. Working during a time when Nazism was on the rise, Bellmer created dolls with fragmented bodies that could be dismantled and arranged in various configurations. Using a narrative format, he then photographed the dolls in a range of grotesque, sexual positions. The images he conveyed were of death and decay, abuse and longing, in stark contrast to Nazism's mystical and utopian Fascist world-view. Interprets Bellmer's complex expressions of eroticism as a protest against the Nazis, and also against his father, a repressive Nazi figure. At the same time, by hyperbolically flaunting a passive femininity in a theatrical manner, Bellmer's Dolls allow us to consider how cultural representations can affect the formation of identity and alternate possibilities" (Publisher's blurb). The prescient precursor of figures such as Pierre Molinier, on the one hand, and Robert Mapplethorpe, on the other, is explained and illuminated at last. An absolute "must-have" title for Hans Bellmer collectors. This title is a great photography book. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the International Center of Photography Exhibition Guide/Souvenir. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online are subsequent printings or have serious flaws. A rare copy thus. 80 black-and-white and color plates. Hans Bellmer's "La Poupee" ("The Doll") is widely regarded as one of the greatest photography books of the 20th century. One of the most remarkable artist/photographers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER HANS BELLMER, PIERRE MOLINIER, AND GILLES BERQUET TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0520209842.

Stock number: 21231. ISBN: 0520209842

$US 100.00

Bellow, Saul (Author); Cronin, Gloria L. & Siegel, Ben (Editors)
Conversations With Saul Bellow: Literary Conversations Series

Imprint: Jackson, MS, University Press Of Mississippi, 1994
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 303 pages. The author's collection of interviews. Published in a small and limited print run of 500 copies as a hardcover original by a University Press as part of the now-legendary "Literary Conversations" Series. This First Hardcover Edition was sold to public libraries only and was never reissued. Should not be confused with the regular trade Softcover Edition. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in the most collectible format possible, "Conversations With Saul Bellow". A representative selection of interviews conducted by various writers, journalists, and scholars with the author. Gives a rich, complex, and lively overview of both the life and mind of one of America's most important writers. Presented in chronological order, the interviews cumulatively amount to an absorbing account of one of the greatest literary journeys of the 20th century, which is the explicit intention of the publisher with each writer who is included in the Series. "In literature, too, the question is: What is one to tell that will be truly interesting, and how can a writer compete with the great events of the century? What is he going to say after the Revolution of 1905, World War I, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Fascism, the Great Depression, World War II, the atomic bomb, and all these other tremendous movements of destiny which have charmed Mankind out of its shoes?" (Saul Bellow). An absolute "must-have" title for Saul Bellow collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are former library copies, or the Softcover Edition. A rare copy thus. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. Winner of The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Literature in 1990. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SAUL BELLOW TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 087805717X.

Stock number: 21833. ISBN: 087805717X

$US 50.00

Bellow, Saul
The Dean's December

Imprint: New York City, NY, Harper & Row, 1982
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 312 pages. The author's ninth novel. One of Saul Bellow's finest achievements. Limited Slipcased Edition of 500 numbered and signed copies. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the regular trade edition. The Limited Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Harper & Row: Regular-sized volume format. Maroon cloth boards with gilt titles embossed on spine, as issued. Text by Saul Bellow. Marbled endpapers. Matching maroon cloth slipcase. Printed on archival stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. In protective plastic DJ, as issued. Presents, in its Limited Edition format, Saul Bellow's "The Dean's December". His autobiographical novel, as indeed everything Bellow ever wrote was profoundly autobiographical. "Albert Corde is a professor of journalism and dean of students at a Chicago university. He and his wife, Minna, travel to Bucharest, Romania, where Minna's mother has suffered a stroke. As Corde tries to adapt to life in his mother-in-law's small apartment and cope with her relations and friends, news filters through of problems he left behind in Chicago: One of his students has been murdered, and a series of articles he is writing offends powerful and influential Chicagoans he had thought of as friends. Gradually it becomes clear that Corde's trip abroad is more than a brief interlude in a calm and orderly life, and that nothing will ever be the same again" (Publisher's blurb). "For the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work" (Nobel Prize Citation). An absolute "must-have" title for Saul Bellow collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Slipcased Edition, indicated/numbered as such on the Front Limitation Page. It is very prominently and beautifully signed in black fountain pen by Saul Bellow. This title is a great novel. This is one of very few copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. It is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies of the Limited Edition available online inexplicably have serious flaws yet command as much as $400. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. Winner of The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Literature in 1990. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SAUL BELLOW TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0060148497.

Stock number: 21705. ISBN: 0060148497

$US 250.00

Benjamin, Walter (Translated by Various Contributors)
Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings: Volume 1: 1913-1926

Imprint: Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1996
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 520 pages. Volume One of the author's collected essays. One of the greatest literary collections of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only and as part of Harvard University's Complete Works of Walter Benjamin. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Walter Benjamin's "Selected Writings: Volume 1: 1913-1926" in a felicitous English translation. The inaugural volume of the Series, a landmark publication in the history of modern thought and literary criticism. "Against conformism, homogeneity, and gentrification of all life into a new world order, Benjamin made the word his sword. Brings together essays long and short, academic treatises, reviews, fragments, and privately circulated pronouncements. Includes a number of his most important works: 'Two Poems by Friedrich Holderlin', 'Goethe's Elective Affinities', 'The Concept of Criticism In German Romanticism', 'The Task of The Translator', and 'One Way Street'. He is as compelling and insightful when musing on riddles or children's books as he is when dealing with weightier issues such as the philosophy of language, symbolic logic, or epistemology. We meet Benjamin the youthful idealist, the sober moralist, the political theorist, the experimentalist, the translator, and, above all, the virtual king of criticism, with his magisterial exposition of the basic problems of aesthetics" (Publisher's blurb). Walter Benjamin's personal heroism wasn't just some egotistical idea he had about himself. He lived and then died as a hero: He committed suicide on September 26, 1940 at the French-Spanish border while trying to escape the Nazis with a group of fellow Jews. They were all arrested by the Spanish police (Franco was one of Hitler's closest allies). Instead of being sent back to Germany to face certain death, Benjamin shot himself (he was 48 years old). Moved and humbled by his desperate yet principled stand, the Spanish police, defying Franco's orders, allowed his fellow Jews to escape. An absolute "must-have" title for Walter Benjamin collectors. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the First American Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online are all subsequent printings or have serious flaws. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. The greatest literary/cultural critic of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER WALTER BENJAMIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0674945859.

Stock number: 20601. ISBN: 0674945859

$US 300.00

Benjamin, Walter (Translated by Various Contributors)
Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings: Volume 4: 1938-1940

Imprint: Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2003
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 477 pages. Volume Four of the author's collected essays. One of the greatest literary collections of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only and as part of Harvard University's Complete Works of Walter Benjamin. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Walter Benjamin's "Selected Writings: Volume 4: 1938-1940" in a felicitous English translation. The fourth and final volume of the Series, a landmark publication in the history of modern thought and literary criticism. "However insistently the idea of catastrophe hangs over Benjamin's writings in the final years of his life, the victories wrested in this period nonetheless constitute some of the most remarkable twentieth-century analyses of the emergence of modern society. The essays on Charles Baudelaire are the distillation of a lifetime of thinking about the nature of modernity. They record the crisis of meaning experienced by a civilization sliding into the abyss, even as they testify to Benjamin's own faith in the written word. Ranges from studies of Baudelaire, Brecht, and the historian Carl Jochmann to appraisals of photography, film, and poetry. At their core is the question of how art can survive and thrive in a tumultuous time. Here we see Benjamin laying out an ethic for the critic and artist, a subdued but resilient heroism. At the same time, he was setting forth a socio-historical account of how art adapts in an age of violence and repression. Working at the height of his powers to the very end, Benjamin refined his theory of the mass media that culminated in the final version of his essay, 'The Work of Art In The Age of Its Technological Reproducibility' " (Publisher's blurb). Walter Benjamin's personal heroism wasn't just some egotistical idea he had about himself. He lived and then died as a hero: He committed suicide on September 26, 1940 at the French-Spanish border while trying to escape the Nazis with a group of fellow Jews. They were all arrested by the Spanish police (Franco was one of Hitler's closest allies). Instead of being sent back to Germany to face certain death, Benjamin shot himself (he was 48 years old). Moved and humbled by his desperate yet principled stand, the Spanish police, defying Franco's orders, allowed his fellow Jews to escape. An absolute "must-have" title for Walter Benjamin collectors. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the First American Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online are all subsequent printings or have serious flaws. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. The greatest literary/cultural critic of the 20th century. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER WALTER BENJAMIN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0674010760.

Stock number: 20618. ISBN: 0674010760

$US 300.00

Berendt, John
The City Of Falling Angels

Imprint: New York City, NY, The Penguin Press, 2005
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 414 pages. The author's second nonfiction novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents John Berendt's "The City of Falling Angels". The second book, after a hiatus of more than ten years, by the former Editor of Esquire and New York Magazine, who was catapulted to immense national and international fame with his breakthrough debut, "Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil". The city is Venice, which Berendt rushed to three days after the Fenice Opera House, whose legendary status is matched only by the Milan, burned to a crisp. Using this catastrophic event and its aftermath, Berendt deploys the same incomparable skills he showed in his previous account to capture the character of a place through its prismatic citizens and expatriates, all of them colorful, idiosyncratic, and fascinating. It is not too much to say that Berendt has so much more that is important and enriching to say about the inner lives of his impressive cast of characters than most contemporary novelists do. He also says it with grace, a keen ear, and love of people and what makes them tick. The Savannah of "Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil" was redolent of Southern charm and cunning, the secrets and lies that held the fraying fabric of an old place together. However, Venice is not just another old place. It is The Old World itself, the city-as-museum. As a subject, it is a new and altogether different challenge for Berendt because unlike his "re-discovery" of the Savannah, Venice has been the central character of many great literary works across the centuries: Henry James, Thomas Mann, Mary McCarthy, Joseph Brodsky, Jan Morris, Ian McEwan, and Susan Sontag, to name the pantheon few, readily come to mind among modern writers. "Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to reveal a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serves as a leitmotif that runs throughout, adding to the elements of chaos, corruption, and crime, and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense of this brilliant book" (Publisher's blurb). Berendt's debut stayed put on The New York Times bestseller list for four years, a record that no other book has matched let alone surpassed. For the last ten years, the author has been dogged with questions about what he will write next. Here, at last, is his tantalizing answer. An absolute "must-have" title for John Berendt collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue fountain pen on the title page by John Berendt. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine, Venetian beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the finest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN BERENDT TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1594200580.

Stock number: 9124. ISBN: 1594200580

$US 50.00

Bergman, Ingmar (Translated by Joan Tate)
Sunday's Children

Imprint: New York City, NY, Arcade Publishing, 1993
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 153 pages. The author's second novel. One of Ingmar Bergman's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Ingmar Bergman's "Sunday's Children" in a felicitous English translation. A literary, not just cinematic, achievement on the filmmaker/author's part. Bergman wrote some of the finest memoirs and novels of our time since retiring from active film-making, "active" being relative in his case because in his 80's, he realized that he could not stop working or making films. "Sunday's Children" mines Bergman's childhood memories and those of his parents in the same evocative manner that "Fanny and Alexander" did. Ingmar Bergman died on July 30, 2007 at the age of 89, an irreplaceable loss to world culture. Given the abysmal state and irreversible decline of contemporary cinema, there are no words to describe the loss of its single greatest figure. "The greatest film artist since the invention of the motion picture camera" (Woody Allen). The basis of the very fine film by Daniel Bergman, Ingmar's beloved director/son, produced under his supervision. An absolute "must-have" title for Ingmar Bergman collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. The greatest film director of the 20th century as a first-rate novelist. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER INGMAR BERGMAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1559702443.

Stock number: 222. ISBN: 1559702443

$US 20.00

Bergman, Ingmar (Translated by Linda Haverty Rugg and Joan Tate) & Bergstrom, Lasse (Contributor)
The Fifth Act

Imprint: New York City, NY, The New Press, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 153 pages. Collection of the film director's last screenplays. One of Ingmar Bergman's finest achievements. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with the Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Ingmar Bergman's "The Fifth Act" in a felicitous English translation. Collects four screenplays, two of them successfully turned into full-fledged films: "Monologue", "After the Rehearsal", "The Last Scream", and "In The Presence of A Clown". Unlike most filmscripts, they are being made available in book form because they constitute a literary, not just cinematic, achievement. Bergman said that the collection "deals with my indefatigable companions: The stage, the actors, and film, movie theaters, cinematography". In fact, it is Bergman who is indefatigable. Two of the scripts are autobiographical: In "After the Rehearsal", the director unburdens his artistic and personal relationships with two actresses while "In The Presence of A Clown" is based on his Uncle Carl, an inventor of early-talking film. "The Last Scream", unproduced, depicts the humiliation of filmmaker Georg af Klercker in his futile plea to an indifferent financier/producer for backing. "Bergman writes with honesty and compassion, and the translations are eloquent. In the Foreword, Swedish film critic Lasse Bergstrom succinctly places these scripts in the context of Bergman's entire literary and cinematic oeuvre" (Publisher's blurb). After he completed "Fanny and Alexander" (1982), a film that glows with a rare joy, a seemingly exhausted Ingmar Bergman announced that it was his last film. But the urge to write and work has always been obsessive in his case, and he quickly broke his word. Apart from these scripts, his magnificent three-volume autobiography was adapted as three separate films by Bille August, Daniel Bergman (his director/son), and Liv Ullmann (the great actress, who was his mistress). Then, in 2003, at the age of 85, he wrote and directed yet another film, "Saraband", and once again proclaimed that it was definitely his very last film (it was). Bergman's inability to stop working has always been a blessing, for us if not for him, not a curse. The most prolific film director of his generation, he has had his share of artistic triumphs and failures, his ups and downs. But as Woody Allen, his most ardent admirer in America (himself a very prolific, erratic, and rewarding film director), once said, Ingmar Bergman's failures are so much more interesting and satisfying, even better than most other film directors' successes. Ingmar Bergman died on July 30, 2007 at the age of 89, an irreplaceable loss to world culture. Given the abysmal state and irreversible decline of contemporary cinema, there are no words to describe the loss of its single greatest figure. "The greatest film artist since the invention of the motion picture camera" (Woody Allen). An absolute "must-have" title for Ingmar Bergman collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. The greatest film director of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER INGMAR BERGMAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1565846621.

Stock number: 9898. ISBN: 1565846621

$US 30.00

Bergman, Ingmar & Editors of The New Yorker Magazine
The New Yorker Magazine Issue: Ingmar Bergman: "cries And Whispers"

Imprint: New York City, NY, The New Yorker Magazine, 1972
Edition: First Edition

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 168 pages. Rare Ingmar Bergman and New Yorker Magazine collectible item. Landmark New Yorker Magazine October 21, 1972 Issue. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Contributions by some of the world's finest writers, journalists, poets, humorists, and graphic/cartoon artists. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in the United States to the highest standards. Unlike most books being published today, American magazines are still being printed in America; many of them are not only superior in quality, they will last in terms of production values. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Ingmar Bergman's "Cries And Whispers" in a felicitous English translation. The very first appearance of Bergman's harrowing short story in published form. The basis of his great film, it is 20 pages long, and is the Issue's Main Feature. It deserves to be read on its own whether one has seen the film or not. The cover features "Blue", one of Saul Steinberg's greatest works. The magnitude of Ingmar Bergman's achievement cannot be overestimated and is matched (but not surpassed) by only three other film artists: Akira Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Robert Bresson. He helped make cinema the central art of the latter-half of the 20th century, ushering in a Second Golden Age, even if it lasted for only twenty-five years at the most. Ingmar Bergman died on July 30, 2007 at the age of 89, an irreplaceable loss to world culture (Antonioni died on the same day a few hours later, at the age of 94). Given the abysmal state and irreversible decline of contemporary cinema, there are no words to describe the loss of its single greatest figure. "The greatest film artist since the invention of the motion picture camera" (Woody Allen). An absolute "must-have" collectible, not just memorabilia, item for Ingmar Bergman collectors. This Issue is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only copy available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. A rare copy thus. The greatest film director of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER INGMAR BERGMAN TITLES IN OUR CATALOG).

Stock number: 16422.

$US 20.00

Bernabeu, Mira (Artist/Photographer) & Various Contributors
Mira Bernabeu: The Exhibition Catalog

Imprint: Valencia, Spain, Generalitat Valenciana, 1999
Edition: First Edition

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 40 pages. Exhibition Catalog. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited print run as a softcover original only. None of the copies was widely distributed, not even in Spain. The Exhibition Catalog is now rare. Pictorial softcovers with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Mira Bernabeu. Text by various contirbutors in the Spanish original and felicitous English translations. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Spain to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name held at Generalitat Valenciana in Spain in 1999. Presents "Mira Bernabeu". Her Classically-inspired, post-Modernist, and Conceptually-realized photography. Whatever one may think of the end result, her work is one of the most intriguing and epic approaches to the group portrait ever undertaken in our time: In her spacious and elaborate studio, she shoots her models - comprised of individuals, couples, entire families, and whole clans - dressed and, more controversially, undressed. When the latter, they are also soaked in blood, and in some of the scenarios, wear white masks that cover their heads, not just their faces. What is her point? To reflect back one of Conceptual art's fundamental subjects, the "colonial gaze", its literally bloody history as well as its continuing relevance and impact on contemporary culture and art, after all the bloodshed. An absolute "must-have" title for Mira Bernabeu collectors. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Exhibition Catalog available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a beauty. Please note: None of the copies was widely distributed, not even in Spain. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. One of the most brilliant artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 8448221826.

Stock number: 19662. ISBN: 8448221826

$US 30.00

Berquet, Gilles (Artist/Photographer) & Iizawa, Kotaro (Contributor)
Gilles Berquet: La Solitude Des Anges: The 1994 First Edition

Imprint: Tokyo, Japan, Treville Company Limited, 1994
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. Unpaginated. Collection of female nudes, presented as an Artist Book. One of the most beautiful erotic art photography books of our time. The true First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the 1995 and 1998 French Editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Taro Kaneda: Regular-sized volume format. Glossy pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Gilles Berquet. Text by Kotaro Iizawa in the Japanese original and felicitous English translation. All of Treville Publishing's promotional materials laid-in. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Tokyo, Japan to the highest standards. Original glassine obi-band intact and complete. Without DJ, as issued. Presents, in its First Edition format, Gilles Berquet's "La Solitude des Anges". Solitary angels. An Artist Book-design, beautifully printed volume of the cult French photographer's female nudes. Fetishistic and sado-masochistic images that are characterized by paradoxically and coolly French elegance and refinement, insofar as this is at all conceivable about bondage-imagery that abides by Antonin Artaud's Theater of Cruelty. Iizawa (and others) traces Berquet's roots to the "private universe" worlds of Hans Bellmer and Pierre Molinier, which is a valid point to make. But it also misses the point about Berquet's own art: It is an AESTHETE universe, not a private, crazed one, dedicated to the sublime beauty of the female form, and to the very idea of what beautiful is. Hence, its appeal to the Japanese sensibility. Neither Bellmer nor Molinier (nor, for that matter, Mapplethorpe, their gay successor) gave precedence to beauty over sex, but rather made sex = beauty. It's not a fine point, and it answers such questions as, Has anyone ever made a woman pissing on a wooden floor look so elegant as Berquet does? No, precisely because his is an aesthete's world-view. An absolute "must-have" title for Gilles Berquet collectors. This title is now collectible. Laid-in are all of Treville Publishing's promotional materials. The original glassine obi-band is intact. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing ("First Edition 1994") available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online are the 1995 and 1998 French Editions. A rare copy thus. Lavishly lllustrated with color plates. One of the most brilliant photographers of the female nude of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO HANS BELLMER AND PIERRE MOLINIER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 4845709457.

Stock number: 21232. ISBN: 4845709457

$US 100.00

Best, Suky
Photo Love: Volume One: The Limited Edition

Imprint: London, England, Suky Best Studios, 1995
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 30 pages. Artist Book. Collection of photographs on subject, presented as a graphic novellette. One of the most beautiful art photography books of its kind ever published. Limited Edition of 500 signed copies. The first and only edition. There is no ISBN. The Limited Edition is now rare. Presents Suky Best's "Photo Love: Volume One". There is no Volume Two because it was never intended to be produced. Suky Best is simply and beautifully mimicking the comic-book romance format, manufactured endlessly in multiple volumes, so popular among young people. Her "Photo Love" is about a handsome, young married man who meets the sultry and irresistible Suky and falls in love with her to the tune of Hal David's and Burt Bacharach's "24 Hours From Tulsa". Don't laugh: Developing a storyline on the basis of a song is yet another narrative trope of pop culture. Countless Hollywood movies have been made, and continue to be made, on the premise. They decide to elope to Las Vegas, and we all know how those Vegas weddings quickly end 24 hours later, Britney Spears style. To be continued...Her little pamphlet of a book is very ingeniously and originally presented as though it were just another comic-book romance novellette, rendered in evocatively beautiful photographs (instead of cartoons). A tender, witty beauty whose graphic design values are meticulous and exemplary. An absolute "must-have" title for Suky Best, graphic design, and contemporary art photography collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Edition of 500 copies, and it is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen by Suky Best. This title is a gem. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. One of the most brilliant artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. .

Stock number: 19670.

$US 30.00

Bey, Dawoud (Photographer); Danto, Arthur C.; Bey, Julie & Ghezm, Susanne (Contributors)
Picturing People: Photographs By Dawoud Bey

Imprint: Chicago, IL, The Renaissance Society At The University Of Chicago, 2012
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 116 pages. Retrospective Exhibition Monograph. One of the most beautiful books on the photographic art of Dawoud Bey. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Dawoud Bey: Regular-sized volume format. Gray hard boards with white titles on cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Dawoud Bey. Essays by Arthur C. Danto, the great art critic and cultural philosopher, and other scholars. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark retrospective exhibition of the same name held at the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago in 2012. Presents Dawoud Bey's "Picturing People". A gem of a monograph: Contemporary portraiture of the first rank. "Since 1975, Dawoud Bey has developed a body of work distinguished for its commitment to portraiture as a means of reflecting social circumstances. Ranging from street encounters to studio portraits, Bey has investigated numerous photographic methods to find increased engagement with his subjects. Includes selections from Bey's work spanning the thirty years from 1982 to the present. Offers a comprehensive look at Bey's oeuvre. Provides an opportunity to explore related subjects in art history and social discourse: The presentation of self, race, site, and the relationship between artist and subject. Includes Essays by Arthur Danto and Julie Bernson as well as an Interview between Bey and the Renaissance Society Associate Curator/Director of Education, Hamza Walker" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Dawoud Bey collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and inscribed in black ink-pen on the title page by the photographer: "With warm regards, Dawoud Bey". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is unmistakably personally known to the photographer. This title is a contemporary art photography classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with color plates. Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2017. One of the most brilliant American photographers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAWOUD BEY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0941548597.

Stock number: 21340. ISBN: 0941548597

$US 100.00

Bialobrzeski, Peter (Photographer); Hanig, Florian & Ribbat, Christof (Contributors)
Neon Tigers

Imprint: Ostfildern-ruit, Germany, Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2004
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 115 pages. Collection of panoramic color photographs. One of the greatest photography books of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Peter Bialobrzeski: Oversize-volume format. The book weighs 3 pounds. Pictorial hard boards with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs by Peter Bialobrzeski. Essays by Florian Hanig and Christof Ribbat. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper in Germany to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Peter Bialobrzeski's "Neon Tigers". Photographs of the "mega-tropolis", made possible by the economic miracle of Asia's "tiger economies". The "Neon Tigers" are Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. There are shelves of books on the explosive and seemingly unstoppable growth of China, once a "sleeping giant", which owned more than $2 trillion in US treasury bonds as of 2004, and counting. Peter Bialobrzeski's "eye-opening, visually rich, and resonant photographs were all taken using well, a camera. But the resulting images give new meaning to 'futuristic', 'larger-than-life', and 'absurd', presenting a world-view that appears as a series of dream-images from an eccentric director or computer-game designer" (Publisher's blurb). Is this Progress, as Western capitalism envisioned it, or is this barbarism, as some critics and scholars have called it? Neither. It is Power Made Visible, as only photography (rather than say, painting) can depict. Bialobrzeski's images are not about fantasies but new realities: While America = suburbia, Asia = the city. The city's most visible art, architecture, and architecture's most powerful invention, the skyscraper, are visible proof that if the 20th was the American century, the 21st is, at least in part, the Asian century. Bialobrzeski has emerged as one of the leading figures of the inevitable revolt against the Dusseldorf School. He is a neo-Romantic who believes that the messiness and rich ambiguities of modern life are the great subject of contemporary photography. Whereas Robert Polidori and Andreas Gursky are clearly awed by the gleaming vistas they photograph, Bialobrzeski is not. He sees painful ironies everywhere. For example, whereas European and American cities still have a center, the Neon Tigers have shopping centers. He asks two crucial questions: What is the cost in human terms Asians have had to pay in their single-minded pursuit of prosperity? Is the idea of the human scale still possible in the 21st century? His photographs represent his attempt at some answers. An absolute "must-have" title for Peter Bialobrzeski collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Peter Bialobrzeski. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great photography book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. 50 color plates. One of the most brilliant photographers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ANDREAS GURSKY, ROBERT POLIDORI, AND MICHAEL WOLF TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 3775713948.

Stock number: 15495. ISBN: 3775713948

$US 250.00

Bilal, Wafaa (Photographer); Ridenour, Sheryl; Bordowitz, Gregg & Pass, Victoria (Contributors)
Wafaa Bilal: The Human Condition

Imprint: Chicago, IL, CRUDEOILS, Inc., 2006
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 50 pages. Artist Book. One of Wafaa Bilal's finest achievements. Limited Edition of 300 hand-numbered copies. The first and only edition. Published as a hardcover original only. There is no ISBN. The Limited Edition is now rare. A brilliant production by Wafaa Bilal and Eric Von Haynes: Regular-sized volume format. Black cloth boards with khaki cloth overboards and titles embossed on the cover (in Arabic characters) and spine (in Roman alphabet), as issued. Photographs by Wafaa Bilal. Essays by Sheryl Ridenour, Gregg Bordowitz, and Victoria Pass. Individually and collectively, they represent the best introduction to the art and achievement of Wafaa Bilal. Printed on archival, uncoated stock paper (for the text) and thick, glossy stock paper (for the images) in the United States to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is exemplary in every respect. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Wafaa Bilal's "The Human Condition". Elaborately staged, Surrealist-inspired photographs with a decisive Iraqi sensibility. They are among the artist/photographer's most poetic images, in stark contrast to his frontal-assault works like "Domestic Tension" and "Shoot An Iraqi", his most celebrated performance piece. The art of Wafaa Bilal is political in the best sense. The physical and psychological torture of his people and himself (as an exiled Iraqi-American), his subject, is the result of the endless strife brought about by Saddam Hussein's Reign of Terror and the imperialist War on Terror that replaced it. But this harrowing subject is sublimated, if that is the right word, by his rigorous, formal commitment to art. As such, his imagery is inspired not by anger but by hope, however nearly impossible it is to imagine much less actualize it. The title insists that his people's particular suffering is larger than the never-ending Iraqi/Middle East crisis, that it is the universal human condition incarnated. One of the arresting ways he represents this fact is to show his subjects (including himself) nude, nakedness being our most vulnerable state. An absolute "must-have" title for Wafaa Bilal collectors. This is a copy of the Limited Edition of 300 copies, indicated/numbered as such in pencil on the Back Limitation Page. It is very prominently and beautifully signed, dated (in the year of publication), and inscribed in black ink-pen on the half-title page by the artist/photographer: "To Alan Cohen, with great admiration to your work, Wafaa Bilal 2006". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is the internationally acclaimed Conceptual artist/photographer. This title is a contemporary Artist Book classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the Limited Edition available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. 10 color plates. One of the most brilliant American artist/photographers of our time. A fine copy. .

Stock number: 22359.

$US 70.00

Bizet, Georges (Composer); Pizzigoni, Davide (Artist/Author) & McClatchy, J.D. (Translator)
Carmen

Imprint: New York City, NY, Abbeville Press, 2001
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 220 pages. Book-length presentation of the opera. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A sumptuous production by Davide Pizzigoni: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial hard boards with red cloth quarterboards and black titles embossed on spine, as issued. Art by Davide Pizzigoni. The original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy is reproduced in its entirety with the English translation by J. D. McClatchy, one of America's greatest poets. Andre Cluytens' definitive recording on two CD's in separate sleeves attached on the back endpaper. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Davide Pizzigoni's "Carmen". His transcendently beautiful staging of the opera. Unquestionably the most popular opera of all time. "Has one of the best-known plots with the most memorable music, despite its initial rejection by Paris critics following its scandalous 1875 premiere at the Opera Comique, a theater known for works of a lighter flavor. Based on Prosper Merimee's novella, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy's libretto fashioned a timeless story of love, jealousy, and violence in the Spanish city of Seville, all set into motion by Carmen, a seductive, free-spirited femme fatale. For this new edition, artist Davide Pizzigoni creates a stage for the imagination with richly allusive illustrations that capture the exotic spirit of the Spanish setting. J. D. McClatchy's fluid and rhythmic translation of the libretto allows the listener full appreciation of Bizet's swift and lustrous score as it is exquisitely performed in this recording by Andre Cluytens conducting the Orchestre du Theatre del' Opera Comique. A truly symphonic experience of song, poetry, and art" (Publisher's blurb). David Pizzigoni is a Milan-based artist/designer whose opera credits include sets and costumes for productions in Zurich and Vienna. J. D. McClatchy is the Editor of The Yale Review and author of four collections of poetry. An absolute "must-have" title for opera lover/collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest operas of all time, re-interpreted by a great stage artist/designer and poet. A fine copy. . ISBN 0789207192.

Stock number: 10013. ISBN: 0789207192

$US 30.00

Bjornson, Howard
After The Frost: Portraits Of Plants (and Other Things) That Have Died Or Gone Dormant By Howard Bjornson

Imprint: Vancouver, British Columbia, Blanchette Press/Howard Bjornson, 2005
Edition: First Edition
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 70 pages. Artist Book. Collection of still lifes. One of the most beautiful photography books of its kind ever published. The first and only edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. An austerely elegant production by Howard Bjornson: Elephant-sized volume format. Pictorial softcovers with white titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Photographs and brief text by Howard Bjornson. Printed on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper in Vancouver, Canada to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Howard Bjornson's "After The Frost". Still life and Natural lives. If most still life photographers celebrate the beauty and splendor of Nature, its sheer alive-ness, Howard Bjornson reminds us that like human life, plant life withers away, dies, and disappears. Bjornson is the visual poet-as-elegist (whereas the great Dutch photographer Ron Van Dongen is the poet-as-Romantic). An American of Norwegian descent, Bjornson owns a farm in Southern Illinois (he studied photography in Chicago), where he gathered and photographed the specimens in this collection, each of them given their scientific name. Bjornson is a successful commercial photographer. His two books, "Weeds" and "After The Frost", stem from his involvement with Garden Design and The Atlantic Monthly Magazine, among others, where he received encouragement to pursue more seriously his lifelong interest in the relation between winter, flora, and fauna. What Midwest artist isn't affected by winter? Coming from Norway to boot, the chill is in the bones in Bjornson's case. An impeccably and beautifully produced book. An absolute "must-have" title for Howard Bjornson collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and inscribed in pencil on the title page by the photographer: "We'll go to the woods no more instead shop an internet store. Howard Bjornson". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. There is no recipient named. This title is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and inscribed copy of the First Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: The other signed copy is also available from us. A rare signed copy thus. 45 plates. One of the most brilliant American photographers of our time. A fine copy. .

Stock number: 19220.

$US 50.00

Blake, Peter (Artist/Author) & Livingstone, Marco (Contributor)
Paris Escapades: Limited Edition

Imprint: London, England, Enitharmon Editions, 2011
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 135 pages. Retrospective collection of original art on subject. One of the most beautiful art books of our time. Limited Edition of 1500 copies. The first and only edition. Published as a hardcover original in the United Kingdom only. There is NO American Edition. The Limited Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Peter Blake and Enitharmon Editions: Oversize-volume format. Pale gray cloth boards with gilt titles embossed on spine, as issued. Art and commentrary by Sir Peter Blake. Text by Marco Livingstone. Printed on pristine-white, 170 gsm Arctic Volume stock paper in the United Kingdom to the highest standards. The reproduction quality is outstanding in every respect. In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Peter Blake's "Paris Escapades". Exquisite, whimsical, and delightful collages by the great British artist. "Demonstrates his unerring sense of felicitous and unexpected juxtapositions, visual story-telling, and an eye no-less-acute for having a permanent twinkle. Features familiar monuments in his Paris pictures, but submerges them in extraordinary events that turn them into the stuff of dreams. There is enough air of reality, such as The Seine freezing over, to entrap the unwary spectator. But as elephants are hoisted above Notre Dame Cathedral and crowds gather for a charabanc outing or for a mass kiss-in that even festival-going hippies would have found a bit extreme, the beauty and allure of Paris become populated by the overactive mind of one of the great imaginative artists of our time" (Publisher's blurb). Each artwork is accompanied by Blake's witty commentary, and preceded by an Interview with Marco Livingstone, in which Blake discusses his lifelong engagement with the art of collage. An absolute "must-have" title for Peter Blake and Paris collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Sir Peter Blake. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary art book classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Sir Peter Blake did NOT sign most copies of the book. There is NO American Edition. A rare signed copy thus. 28 full-page color plates. One of the greatest British artists of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER PETER BLAKE TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1907587152.

Stock number: 21890. ISBN: 1907587152

$US 150.00

Blanchot, Maurice (Translated by Elizabeth Rottenberg)
Friendship

Imprint: Palo Alto, CA, Stanford University Press, 1997
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 345 pages. Collection of essays. One of the greatest literary collections of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only and as part of Stanford University's legendary "Meridian Crossing: Aesthetics" Series. Presents Maurice Blanchot's "L'Amities" in a felicitous English translation. Twenty-nine essays and reviews on art, politics, literature, and philosophy. "Documents the wide range of Blanchot's interests, from the enigmatic paintings in the Lascaux Caves to the Atomic Era. Devoted to works of fiction (Louis-Rene des Forets, Pierre Klossowski, Roger Laporte, Marguerite Duras), autobiographies or testimonies (Michel Leiris, Robert Antelme, Andre Gorz, Franz Kafka), authors who are more than ever contemporary (Jean Paulhan, Albert Camus). Several essays focus on questions of Judaism, as expressed in the works of Edmond Jabes, Emmanuel Levinas, and Martin Buber. Concludes with an eloquent invocation to friendship on the occasion of the death of Georges Bataille" (Publisher's blurb). A little-known fact even among academic commentators about Blanchot: He hid, and thereby saved the lives of, Emmanuel Levinas' family from the Nazis and their French collaborators throughout the war, a humane, risk-taking gesture that helped Levinas, one of the greatest French philosophers of the 20th century, develop and articulate his "face-to-face" philosophy in concrete terms. An absolute "must-have" title for Maurice Blanchot collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest literary critics of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MAURICE BLANCHOT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0804727589.

Stock number: 18897. ISBN: 0804727589

$US 70.00

Blatnik, Andrej (Translated by Tamara Soban)
Skinswaps

Imprint: Evanston, IL, Northwestern University Press, 1998
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 112 pages. The author's first book to be translated into English. One of the finest literary collections of our time. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as part of the "Writings From An Unbound Europe" Series as a hardcover original. Copies of the First Hardcover Edition went to library collections. The regular trade edition is a softcover original only. The Hardcover Edition is now rare. Presents Andrej Blatnik's "Menjave koz" in a felicitous English translation. Now-classic collection of short stories. "An epigraph to this collection ('the world is getting smaller with every second we breathe') aptly describes the sensibility of this Slovenian writer. Not only does he specialize in miniatures (these stories are under two pages) but he often puts life under a microscope. The tales are finely honed, often comic pieces ranging from aphorisms to spare dialogues. The recognizably European characters mix philosophy, eroticism, and grit, returning repeatedly to themes of death, betrayal, and the fragility of the individual's hold on reality. Blatnik's craftsmanship and modern flair direct our attention repeatedly to what is small, strange, and essential in the world around us" (Publishers Weekly). The Central European literary tradition is critically regarded as "literature on a grand scale" (Susan Sontag), as "the greatest European writing of our time" (Columbia University). An absolute "must-have" title for Andrej Blatnik collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated in blue ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Andrej Blatnik NY, 29/4/11". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Blatnik made a rare appearance at the 2011 PEN World Festival. Laid-in is a copy of the 60-page Souvenir Program. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and dated copy of the First American Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ANDREJ BLATNIK TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0810116561.

Stock number: 16505. ISBN: 0810116561

$US 100.00

Bleckner, Ross
Page Three: Ross Bleckner Photographs

Imprint: Santa Fe, NM, Twin Palms Publishers, 1998
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 124 pages. Artist Book. Limited Slipcased Edition of 150 numbered and signed copies. Precedes and should not be confused with the Limited Edition of 3000 copies. The Limited Slipcased Edition is now scarce. An austerely elegant production by Ross Bleckner and Jack Woody: Oversize-volume format. The elongated shape is not an artistic vanity: It captures on the page the mural dimensions characteristic of Bleckner's art. Black cloth boards with metallic-black art reproduction embossed on cover and titles embossed on spine, as issued. Photographs by Ross Bleckner. There is no text. Black cloth slipcase. Printed in gravure on pristine-white, thick uncoated stock paper in Tokyo, Japan to the highest standards. In matching pictorial DJ with white titles on the spine, as issued. Presents Ross Bleckner's "Page Three". The first and only collection of photographs by the painter. A pictorial autobiography-of-sorts and an ambitious (if ambiguous) commentary on larger contemporary issues at the same time. It is surely more than interesting that all, not just some, of the greatest late-modern American artists (Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns, to name only four of them) are homosexual. Except for Warhol, none of them has explored the subject of sexuality in their work in any significant way, and they stubbornly refuse to self-identify as "gay", a personal decision that has been bitterly criticized by some, but must surely be respected by everyone else who values a human being's, not just an artist's, now-beleaguered right to privacy. Bleckner is openly and proudly gay, and insists, not just suggests, that it is the central element of his art. His collection consists of original as well as appropriated images juxtaposed to dramatize, not just visualize, the extreme contrasts of the world that we live in today: Privacy versus public-ity, wealth versus poverty, peace versus war, health versus illness, pleasure versus pain, love versus hate, Life versus Death. There are many explicit photographs of his lover's penis, photographed in extreme closeups and in an unusual, imaginative, and erotic way. "Travels over the intimate contours of a lover's body and the pages of his daily newspaper [hence the title]. Collaged, blurred, inverted, enlarged, and cropped, the artist juxtaposes paragraphs of newspaper type with pictures that suggest his intent, but stop short of revealing a true purpose. At times, even when we are sure of what is before us, succeeding and opposing images intimate that all is not as it appears to be. An effort by the artist to suggest that all we reach out to and all we touch is the mirror that becomes us" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Ross Bleckner collectors. This copy is one of the Limited Slipcased Edition, indicated/numbered as such on the Back Limitation Page. It is very boldly and beautifully signed in metallic-silver pen-marker on the title page by Ross Bleckner. This title is a contemporary photography book classic. This is one of few copies of the Limited Edition still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. A rare signed copy thus. 95 sheetfed gravure plates. One of the most brilliant American artists of our time. A flawless collectible copy. . ISBN 0944092594.

Stock number: 16229. ISBN: 0944092594

$US 250.00

Blight, David W. (Author) & Douglass, Frederick (Subject)
Frederick Douglass: Prophet Of Freedom

Imprint: New York City, NY, Simon & Schuster, 2018
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardback , With Dust Jacket
Inscription: Signed, inscribed or annotated

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 888 pages. Monumental biography of subject. The definitive biography of Frederick Douglass for our time. The First Hardcover Edition in its First Printing and First-State DJ (NO "Pulitzer Prize" Imprint). Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, of which there are many. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents David W. Blight's "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom". The first biography, in more than 25 years, of the greatest American heroic figure after Abraham Lincoln of the 19th century. As fiery, moving, and eloquent as its fiery, moving, and eloquent orator, polemicist-activist, ideologue-politician, memoirist-writer, and above all, as the title says, quasi-religious secular prophet. Perhaps unbeknownst to him and his coevals, he remains THE true prophet of freedom for our time: "Oh! Be warned! Be warned! A horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation's bosom. The venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic!" (Frederick Douglass, on what he, clearsighted until the end, foresaw as the persistence of systemic racism in America). "A breathtaking history that demonstrates the scope of Frederick Douglass' influence through deep research on his writings, his intellectual evolution, and his relationships" (Pulitzer Prize Citation). An absolute "must-have" title for Frederick Douglass and David W. Blight collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "David W. Blight April 27, 2019 Washington DC". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the very first National Anti-Racist Book Festival Souvenir Program during which landmark event his signature was obtained. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed, placed, and dated copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing/First-State DJ (NO "Pulitzer Prize" Imprint) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online are in innumerable subsequent printings. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2019 for "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom". One of the most important American historians of our time. A fine collectible copy. . ISBN 1416590315.

Stock number: 22310. ISBN: 1416590315

$US 200.00