001 - An introductory miscellany

02. Candy Barr. A Gentle Mind ... Confused. [Midland, Texas]: Dulce Press, 1972. First edition. Signed by the author on the front free endpaper, presumably as issued. Octavo (8.5 x 5.5 inches; 216 x 140 mm.). [2, blank], [2, title-leaf (verso blank)], 56, [4, blank] pages. Publisher's blue quarter-cloth over light blue cloth covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; all edges of the text block trimmed; pink endpapers; in the original dust jacket. Spine just barely askew; base of the spine with only a hint of rubbing. Page edges lightly foxed with an occasional fox mark in the text. Dust jacket somewhat foxed, mostly in the margins but still partially affecting the portraits on the front and rear panels; spine ends and fold edges with a touch of wear; slight discoloration of the original price sticker on the front flap (also visible on the front free endpaper). A nearly fine copy in a very good dust jacket.

 

A collection of poems, some written while Barr (one of Texas's most famous sex workers) was serving a highly publicized prison sentence at the Goree Unit in Huntsville, Texas, for marijuana possession. "Reporters chronicled almost everything she did at Goree, from working as a seamstress in the prison garment factory and singing in the prison choir to playing in an all-female band at the prison rodeo and writing a book of poetry, which she later self-published, titled A Gentle Mind … Confused" (Skip Hollandsworth, "Candy Barr," published in Texas Monthly, September 2001). (#10038).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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03. Samuel Beckett. Murphy. London: George Routledge & Sons, 1938. First edition. Octavo (7.4375 x 5 inches; 189 x 127 mm). [4], 282, [4, advertisements] pages. Publisher's smooth green cloth, spine lettered in gilt (first issue); all edges of the text block trimmed; plain endpapers. Spine slightly leaning; minor reddish stain to the backstrip near the lower edge of the front joint and along the bottom edge of the front board; light wear to spine ends and corners with two very short closed tears at the crown; corners softly bumped; occasional light rubbing with a few thin, light blemishes down the center of the backstrip. Faint discoloration to rear pastedown from binding glue with a couple minor ripples; slightly over-opened at the first few signatures (particularly B and E), gatherings just slightly sprung. Very good. The author's first published novel. Federman & Fletcher 25. (#10005).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

04. Rosamond Bernier and Georges Bernier. L'œil. Revue d'art mensuelle. Lausanne, Switzerland: Sedo S.A., 1955-1968. 168 consecutive issues (nos 1-168) in 152 volumes with an annual summer double issue (two in 1968 and a triple issue in 1967). Quarto (12.125 x 9.375 inches; 308 x 237 mm.). Various paginations, text typically in black and white with accents in a third color throughout. Amply illustrated with full-page and in-text illustrations; usually with four or six leaves in full-color, printed separately but included in the pagination. Publisher's saddle-stapled bindings in the original illustrated self-wrappers, except for the July-August and Noël issues (perfect bindings), for the first 27 months, transitioned to perfect bindings in April 1957. Routine minor wear with soft creases along the edges or at the corners, trivial rubbing or soiling; some shallow curling along the fore-edge; a few issues with slightly more extensive wear to spines or closed tears at the joints. No. 11 centerfold detached but present, a few other issues have anomalous minor defects, like a quarter-sized splash on the front wrapper or a two-inch closed tear on the title-leaf. Very good or better, generally quite nice. Housed by year in fourteen uniform dark blue quarter-leather over light gray cloth clamshell cases (some worn with chips at the crown or tears and foxing to cloth, still well-preserved on the whole).

 

Clearly published for a contemporary-minded Parisian readership (based on the ads), but L'œil was still an aggressive and omnivorous publication. Modern art's usual French suspects are well represented but so are figures and movements from throughout history and around the globe. "When [Rosamond Bernier] cofounded ... L’œil, which she ran from 1955 to 1970, its motto was 'All the arts, from all countries, and from all times...'" (Leslie Camhi, "The World's Most Glamorous Art Lecturer," Vogue, 2011).

 

Numerous articles focus on book history, particularly illuminated manuscripts, with contributions from Jean Longnon (curator at L'Institut de France) and from Jean Porcher (head conservator of the Manuscripts department at the Bnf) and others; illustrated prints from the hand-press period, including Hans Holbein and August Johann Rösel, are the subject of features and commonly supplement articles on other topics. Literary figures occasionally contributed too, among them Cyril Connolley, André Breton and Prix Goncourt winner André Pieyre de Mandiargues, the latter two on multiple occasions. Article topics range from Byzantine miniatures, old playing cards, Venetian engravers in the 18th century, a conversation between Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Jouffroy, Universal Limited Art Editions, the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, in addition to your more conventional art magazine fare. Recurring featurettes on newly published art and artists books. Every January issue from 1960 to 1967 focuses on Italy, other recurring special issues were February (Architecture) and October (Decorative arts).

 

Shipped at cost. (#10030).

 

05. Adolfo Bioy Casares. The Invention of Morel. And Other Stories (from La Trama Celeste). Austin: University of Texas Press, [1964]. First U. S. edition. Octavo (9 x 5.875 inches; 228 x 150 mm.). [8], 237, [3, blank] pages. Full-page illustrations by Norah Borges de Torre throughout. Publisher's light whitish-brown cloth, spine lettered in black, spine and front board stamped in green; variant with top edge of the text block stained yellow, others trimmed; green endpapers; in the original dust jacket, priced $5.00. Spine just barely askew; front board with the slightest splay; board edges very faintly foxed or soiled. Top edge of the text block faintly foxed; previous ownership signature in pen on the front free endpaper. Dust jacket spine panel tanned just a shade, visible only in the text of the title and on the verso; edges with a touch of wear with a couple tiny nicks and a very soft marginal crease on the rear panel. Near fine. An exceptional copy. Prologue by Jorge-Luis Borges; translated by Ruth L. C. Simms.

 

Direct source for the forgettable 1974 Emidio Greco film starring Anna Karina as Faustine but more famous for its relationship with the formalist masterpiece Last Year at Marienbad (1961), directed by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet, which was the subject of Thomas Beltzer's "Last Year at Marienbad: An Intertextual Meditation" (Senses of Cinema, November 2000). Though their plots, superficially, have little in common, The Invention of Morel is also cited as the film's source material in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. (#10050).

 

 

 

 

 

 

06. Louis Bromfield. The Scarlet Woman. [New York]: McClure's, [circa late 1927]. First (only?) separate edition. Sixteenmo (6 x 4.25 inches; 151 x 108 mm.). [1-2, blank], [3, title-page], 4-5 (introduction), 6-29, [1, blank], [1, publisher's offices], [1. blank] pages. Full-page and in-text illustrations by Robert Beebe. Publisher's saddle-stapled binding, in the original, slightly oversized french-folded wrappers, specked on one side with a golden paper label printed in black on the front wrapper. Wrapper edges lightly worn, short (less than one-half of one inch) split at the base of the spine and minor tears at the bottom corner of the rear wrapper; paper label edges with a small chip at the bottom-right, other negligible wear. Near fine.

 

Originally published in McClure's Magazine in January of 1927, also appears in O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1927, edited by Blanche Colton Williams (Doubleday, 1928). "Awarded one of the three prizes for the best stories published from October 1926 to September 1927 by the O. Henry Memorial Prize Committee" (B. Frank Davis in the Introduction (p. 4)). Uncommon, with just four records listed in WorldCat (HRC, Beinecke, Lilly and Marriott). (#10039).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

07. Alvin Langdon Coburn; Hillaire Belloc (introduction). London. London: Duckworth & Co; New York: Brentano's, [1909]. First edition. Folio (16.125 x 12 inches; 410 x 305 mm.). 21, [3, blank] pages. Twenty photogravure plates, hand-pulled by the photographer, following the text; each mounted by the upper corners to thick gray-green paper, sewn in gatherings of four leaves. Publisher's dark green quarter-roan over brown paper-covered boards; front board lettered in gilt; all edges of the text block trimmed; gray-green endpapers. In the original letterpress dust jacket (defective), plain gray paper with the title (since removed) and author printed in black. Boards very slightly warped; covers faintly dulled where exposed due to jacket defects, light discoloration to the top edge of the rear board and some general minor soiling; spine ends worn with a touch of loss at the base of the spine; front joint starting at the lower edge (for about four inches); very minor crimping to the paper covering the front board; board edges rubbed with a couple minor dings; corners softly bumped and worn with the boards partially exposed. Text very faintly foxed. Still, a very good copy; images fine. Dust jacket lacking the upper-third or so of the front panel, removing London but retaining all of the text in Coburn's name; moderate chipping along the bottom edge; spine panel lightly darkened with a few small interior holes; routine wear to the edges and folds with some tears stabilized with tissue paper to prevent further loss on the rear panel and in the rear flap fold; fair only, but it exists. The only jacketed copy currently in the trade (August 2019). Roth 38; Truthful Lens 36. (#10001).

 

 

08-a. [Comics]. Collection of nearly 500 fumetti vietati ai minori. (Italian adults-only comics). Milan: Ediperiodici, Furio Viano and others, circa 1960s-1980s. Original publications (presumably first editions) of periodic issues of several adults-only fumetti titles, including Gangster Story Bonnie (147 issues), Jolanka (35 issues), Jungla (38 issues), Isabella (18 issues), Goldrake (23 issues), Jacula (27 issues), Messalina (69 issues), Vartan (14 issues), Hessa (39 issues), as well as smaller runs (10 issues or fewer) of Walalla, Zip, I Demoni, Justine and others. Together, 498 volumes. Octavo (approximately 7 x 5 inches; 175 x 130 mm.). Various paginations. Fully illustrated in black and white. Publisher's perfect bindings in the original full-color illustrated wrappers. Individual issues suffer a myriad of faults (sometimes independently, sometimes all at once), including: torn covers, occasionally with extensive paper loss, sometimes taped, typically at the spine; many wrappers are rubbed or creased, a few have ink writing; some corners (wrappers and entire text block) are clipped. Interiors similarly worn; a small handful with title-leaves (or other material) ripped out; some writing; text blocks tanned, but generally still supple, some separated from the wrappers. Typically very good or just good, but several issues are about as nice as one could reasonably expect. Text in Italian.

 

From Larry McMurtry's comic collection, by way of Heritage Auctions. McMurtry's collection of fumetti was mentioned in his memoir, Books: "One day, near the railroad station [in Rome], I stumbled on some book stalls where they sold used Italian comic books... What arrested me, at first glance, were the many similarities in the violent comics to the Fiction House comics of the forties and fifties. I bought a lot of the fumetti and sent them home. Later, reflecting on how rare the trivial publications would become over time, I commissioned two friends, poets both, to journey from Venice to Naples just to buy me fumetti." (New York: 2002, p. 22).

 

"From 1966 forward... more than a hundred publications appeared with content ranging from the suggestively erotic to the blatantly pornographic. Among the most popular, and least amateurish, were Jacula, Isabella, Vartan, Lucifera... and Hessa. For the most part, the fumetti vietati [ai minori (adults only comics)] dabbled in gothic and horror genres, serving in equal parts gore and sexual situations, making them the comic book counterpart of the gothic and erotic movie phenomenon that developed in Italy in the early '60s" (Simone Castaldi, Drawn and Dangerous, Jackson: 2010, p. 18).

 

Full issue (series and number) list available upon request. Shipped at cost. (#10007).

 

08-b. [Comics]. Jolanka. Milan: Furio Viano Editore, 1970-1976. Original periodical appearances, Super issues, covers vary from the digest-sized issues, but the content and titles are the same (priority, if any, not known to us). 54 volumes. Quarto (approximately 9.5 x 6.625; 240 x 167). Various paginations. Fully illustrated in color (19 early issues, through number 27) or black and white (later issues). Publisher's perfect bindings, in the original full-color illustrated wrappers. Some spines leaning or creased, as expected; varying degrees of toning to the backstrips, one issue's, number three, perished, a couple others with tape mends; some spine ends chipped; occasional wear and tear to some covers with light creasing; relatively trivial soiling. Generally very good, some quite nice. Issue numbers range from 3 to 66, full listing available on request. Roughly double the number of individual issues currently available on eBay (March 2019), none of which are earlier than issue 28; no listings found in WorldCat. From Larry McMurtry's comic collection, by way of Heritage Auctions. Shipped at cost. (#10008).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

09. André Pieyre de Mandiargues. The Girl Beneath the Lion. [Le lys de mer]. New York: Grove Press, [1958]. First U. S. edition, specially bound and signed issue, limited to twenty-six lettered copies, of which this is letter V. Signed by the author. Octavo (8 x 5.375 inches; 202 x 135 mm.). [16, preliminaries and "Sea Lilies"], 144 pages with a limitation leaf inserted at the front. Publisher's brown quarter-cloth with light brown paper-covered boards; spine and front board lettered in gilt, front board stamped in gray and pink; all edges of the text block trimmed; plain endpapers. Spine just barely askew; crown softly bumped; gilt lettering very faintly tarnished. Near fine. Translated by Richard Howard. Basis for an Italian film production, released in 1971 and directed by Renzo Cerrato. (#10026).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. [Nickolai Ekk (director); Anton Makarenko (original novel)]. El Camino de la vida. [Putyovka v zhizn or Road to Life]. [No place, but printed in Barcelona]: Pax Film, [circa 1936]. Original herald (programa) for a Catalan screening at Cinema Casa del Poble of the first Soviet all-talking film, on a program that includes Eterns Rivals (presumably the Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Rival (Disney, 1936)) and La Badia Dels Tigres [Tiger Bay] (Wyndham Productions, 1934), an English Anna May-Wong vehicle; advertising the following week's screening Txepaiev [Chapaev] (Lenfilm, 1934), another Soviet film. Folio (14 x 10.375 inches; 357 x 263 mm.). Designed by Renav. Single sheet, printed both sides, the recto in black, red and brownish-yellow; folded horizontally. Edges with some trivial wear and very soft creasing, most visible along the upper edge, single tiny closed tear; faint smudging from printing process on the verso. Near fine. Rare.

 

"To this day, Ekk's place in film history is secured by having directed the first Soviet sound feature film, [Road to Life]. Unimpressed by the ongoing theoretical debates about the effects of sound on the artistic quality of cinema, Ekk applied the technical novelty with the intention of maximizing the effect of of each scene, trying out the entire range of opportunities... The film was released in 26 countries and won Ekk the Best Director award at the 1932 Venice Film Festival... [Road to Life] did provide persuasive arguments for the transformative power of Communist education and voluntary labor in youth communes" (Peter Rollberg, Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema, Lanham: 2016. p. 223).

 

A historically significant film, sure, but we're more interested in the context of the screening, a Communist film in or around the Republican stronghold of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War. (#10018).

 

11. [Grove Press]. Vilgot Sjöman (director); Lena Nyman (actor). I Am Curious (yellow). [New York]: Grove Press, [1968]. Original poster for the U. S. theatrical release. One sheet (41 x 27 inches; 1040 x 686 mm.). Single sheet, folded once vertically and three times across, as issued. A few soft, extraneous creases in the margins at the mailing folds and corners; trivial wrinkling along the folds in the image area; tiny bit of fold separation along the vertical edges; verso with a red rubber stamp and brief pencil notations (both the title). Near fine. One of the most significant films ever released in the United States, in regards to distribution regulations, and was responsible for a fundamental shift in obscenity standards. Subject of a Supreme Court case, which it lost but not before public opinion had sufficiently shifted. It was decided 4-4 with William O. Douglas recusing himself for having been previously published in The Evergreen Review, upholding a lower court's decision ("Byrne v. Karalexis." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/1969/83).

 

"I Am Curious (Yellow) had become a national topic of discussion, and its record-breaking box-office earnings helped knock down the barriers to the theatrical distribution of sexually explicit films. Grove's legal counsel Edward de Grazi later wrote that the film's case 'was widely considered to have broken the grip of governmental interference with the depiction of sexual lovemaking on the screen.' ... 'I Am Curious (Yellow) was a big success,' [Barney] Rossett explained. 'Because we made a lot of money, I went and bought a lot of foreign films--which were no longer viable because all the art theaters had closed down, overnight, in 1970. They had started showing X-rated porno films. There had been a big market for foreign films in this country, and suddenly it was gone. I Am Curious (Yellow) played, that was the end. We killed our own market.'" (Ed Halter, From the Third Eye: The Evergreen Review Film Reader, New York: 2018, accessed online). Criterion Collection, #180. (#10029).

 

12. [Jean Harlow]. Dentner Davies. Jean Harlow. Hollywood Comet. London: Archibald Constible, [1937]. First edition. Octavo (7.3125 x 4.875 inches; 185 x 125 mm). vi, 153, [1, printer's note] pages. Frontispiece and fifteen additional photogravure plates tipped in throughout. Publisher's pink cloth, spine lettered in dark blue; all edges of the text block trimmed; plain endpapers. In the original dust jacket, priced 3s 6d. Rear board very slightly bowed; light wear to the spine ends and corners. Page edges very lightly foxed; very faint offsetting to the endpapers; slightly over-opened at page 60 (and the "Blonde Bombshell" illustration). Dust jacket rear panel lightly foxed; touch of wear to the spine ends and upper edges of flap folds. Near fine. (#10010).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13-a. Frank Kuenstler. Lens. New York: Film Culture, [1964]. First separate edition, first appearing in the Summer 1964 issue of Film Culture (no. 33). Association copy, inscribed by the author on the second preliminary blank for poet and musician Tuli Kupferberg of The Fugs: "To Tuli / Frank / Nov. 1964." Quarto in three gatherings of sixteen (10.5 x 8.5 inches; 266 x 215 mm.). [4, blank], 91, [1, blank] pages. Publisher's binding in the original blue wrappers, printed in red and black; all edges of the text block trimmed; no endpapers. Backstrip and wrapper edges somewhat dulled; spine very gently leaning with some minor crimping near the crown; a couple soft surface scratches on the rear wrapper; corners very slightly worn; touch of soiling near base of the spine on the front wrapper. Very good. "[A] book so extraordinary that it was completely unnoticed at the time (of publication)" (Kostelanetz, A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, accessed online). zeltil, A Bibliography of Conceptual Writing, p. 95; Craig Dworkin (Senior Editor), Eclipse Archive, eclipsearchive.org. (#10069).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13-b. Frank Kuenstler (contributor). "Lens" [published in]: Film Culture. No. 33. New York: Film Culture, [Summer 1964]. First edition. Quarto (10.5 x 8.125 inches; 266 x 207 mm.). 45, [1, blank], [3-10], 11-91, [1, blank] pages ("Lens" published without the two preliminary blank leaves and pages [1-2], with only a printed black circle, found in the separate edition). Full-page illustration on page [24]; eight double-sided plates with photographic illustrations, included in the pagination (pages 25-40). Publisher's side-stapled binding in the original wrappers; all edges of the text block trimmed; no endpapers. Spine very slightly askew, minor vertical crease down the backstrip; edges very lightly worn; faint pinkish discoloration and some light soiling in the margins of the rear wrapper. Very good. Subscription mailer laid in.

 

Also features Andrew Sarris's "Waiting for Godard," in which he identified early what would eventually become self-evident: "[Jean-Luc] Godard seems to be emerging as the most important of the [new wave] directors;" announces Andy Warhol as the recipient of the sixth Independent Film Award (following Cassavetes, Robert Frank, Albert Maysles, Stan Brakhage and Jack Smith (and their collaborators)); articles by George Kuchar and Gregory Markopoulos; photos of Jack Smith, Andy Warhol, Naomi Levine, Josef von Sternberg and others. (#10077).

 

 

 

 

14. [El Lissitzky (contributing artist)]. USSR. An Album Illustrating the State Organization and National Economy of the U. S. S. R. [Moscow]: Scientific Publishing Institute of Pictorial Statistics, [1939]. First edition. Oblong folio (9.5625 x 13.6875 inches; 242 x 347 mm). 140, [12] pages, printed in red and black. Illustrated throughout with photographs, full-color maps and diagrams. Publisher's limp red cloth, hammer and sickle stamped in gilt on the front wrapper. Backstrip and most of the craft paper perished perished from the spine with staples and mull cloth exposed; light chipping to the front wrapper along the joint; wrappers unevenly soiled; gilt somewhat tarnished. Bottom corner of text block bumped; occasional over-opening. Good, but still sound and presentable. Produced for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Experience in Totality, p. 191; not in Lissitsky-Kuppers. (#10004).

  

15-a. [F. W. Murnau]. Max Munn Autrey (photographer). 4 Devils. [Los Angeles: Fox Film Corporation, circa 1928]. Original single-weight publicity still photograph (M-2A-3). 8R (7.75 x 10.125 inches; 188 x 257 mm.). Group portrait photograph, featuring the members of the trapeze group The 4 Devils, comprising the actors Janet Gaynor, Nancy Drexel, Charles Morton and Barry Norton in costume. Reference notes in German along the top edge of the verso written in pencil: "'Vier Teufel' Regie: F. W. Murnau 1184." Horizontal edges with a shallow curl; discoloration in the upper-left corner from an old paperclip; bottom corners creased (only in the margins, not affecting the image area), with a small paper-tape reinforcement on the verso of the bottom right-corner; a couple trivial soil spots in the left margin; small, thin bruise in Nancy Drexel's headgear. Very good. Deutsche Kinemathek's Lost Film database, ID 41. (#10015).

 

 

17. Kenneth Patchen. Red Wine & Yellow Hair. New York: New Directions, [1949]. First edition, painted issue, limited to 108 copies, of which this is number three. Signed by the author with a handwritten limitation statement on the rear endpapers. Octavo (9 x 6 inches; 228 x 150 mm). 64 pages, printed on light greenish blue laid-paper stock. Publisher's green quarter-cloth with oversized (nine-inches square) brown paper-covered boards, designed and painted by the author; front board with metallic onlay framing onlaid portrait on paper, glazed; rear board painted in orange, yellow and black; spine lettered in gilt. Top edge of the text block stained dark blue; red endpapers. Boards with a few minor blemishes, two holes to the glaze in the portrait area; upper corner of front board worn with the board exposed; light rubbing to the rear board; front joint faintly discolored. Light marginal soiling to the text block. Near fine. Morgan A18b. (#10011).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18. Pablo Picasso (illustrator); Tristan Tzara. De mémoire d'homme. Poème par Tristan Tzara, Lithographies de Pablo Picasso. [Paris]: Bordas éditeur, [1950]. First edition, Arches issue, limited to 300 numbered copies, numbered 31-330, of which this is number 291, following 20 hors commerce copies on Alfa mousse and 30 on Van Gelder holland which were accompanied by a suite of plates on Japon. Lacking Tzara's initials on the limitation page. Quarto (13 x 9.875 inches; 330 x 250 mm.). 119, [5], [4, blank] page (note: first four pages blank). Nine full-page lithographic illustrations (including the title-page) after Pablo Picasso. Publisher's binding, sewn sheets in oversized letterpress white paper wrappers with the contributors printed on the front, the title on the spine and the publication information on the back in black, french-folded over the first and last leaves of the text (both blank); yapp edges; all edges of the text block untrimmed. Spine somewhat askew and creased vertically with a short closed tear at the base of the backstrip; front joint partially split (three and three-quarter inches from the bottom edge); covers lightly soiled with some stray minor scuffs and a few light splashes (the largest being about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, over the contributors' names on the front panel); corners bumped. Occasional mild over-opening, but the text still feels secure; some mild foxing or spotty discoloration to a few leaves, including the third illustrated page (butterfly). Very good. Picasso: Cramer 59; Boston 234; Horodisch B15; Rauch 79. Tzara: Harwood 41. (#10002).

 

19. Pablo Picasso; Arnold Glimcher and Marc Glimcher (editors). Je suis le cahier. The Sketchbooks of Picasso. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press; New York: Pace Gallery, [1986]. First U. S. edition, deluxe issue. Quarto (11.875 x 9.125 inches; 300 x 230 mm.). [2, blank], [6], 349, [3, blank] pages. Illustrated throughout with full-page an in-text illustrations, photographic reproductions in black and white and in color. Publisher's reddish-orange morocco by The Harcourt Bindery, stamp-signed on the lower turn-in of the rear board; spine lettered in black, front board decoratively stamped in black; top edge gilt, others trimmed; marbled endpapers, double flyleaves. Nearly fine with a few very soft scuffs to the front board; in the original matching quarter-morocco clamshell case, near fine, with faint fading and some trivial spot-soiling to the backstrip and a touch of soiling to the rear board. (#10003).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20. Luigi Pirandello. The Late Mattia Pascal. [Il fu Mattia Pascal]. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, [1923]. First U. S. edition, limited to 500 unnumbered copies. Octavo (8 x 5.625 inches; 205 x 140 mm.). xxii, [2, fly-title (verso blank)], 321, [7, blank] pages. Text partially unopened on the bottom edge. Publisher's two-color cloth with a red backstrip and dark greenish-blue boards, printed paper labels affixed to the front board and backstrip; top edge of the text block trimmed; plain endpapers. In original light blue-green dust jacket, printed in dark blue. Backstrip with a few shallow ripples; spine ends very softly pushed with only a hint of wear; corners barely rubbed; paper label on the front board a little foxed. Dust jacket spine panel faintly dulled; folds creased; edges with some mild, routine wear, including a few nicks at the spine ends or tiny chips at the fold edges. Near fine. Translated from the Italian by Arthur Livingston.

 

Basis for the 1925 film directed by Marcel L'Herbier, Feu Mathias Pascal, a co-production of Films Albatros and L'Herbier's Cinégraphic, starring Ivan Mosjoukine, Lois Moran, Marcelle Pradot and Michel Simon in his film debut; features expressionistic sets by Alberto Cavalcanti. "In Feu Mathias Pascal, [L'Herbier adapted] a modern novel into a slightly more conventional, more consistent work. At the time of its premiere at the Salle Marivaux, in September 1925, L'Herbier's film was considered avant-garde by some simply because of its source... Pirandello's plays were then the rage of 'Tout-Paris,' thanks to the productions staged by Pitoëff and Dullin... Most film historians consider Feu Mathias Pascal, after El Dorado, L'Herbier's best realized film, and even Pirandello seems to have thought highly of it" (Abel).

 

Richard Abel, French Cinema, pp. 415-421; Film as a Subversive Art, p. 57. (#10051).

 

 

21. [Punk in Texas]. [Bill Daniel (photographer, as photobill); Michael Nott (designer)]. The Western Roundup. Austin: 1982. Three original zine issues (all published). Quarto (11 x 8.5 inches; 280 x 216 mm.). Unpaginated, each between four and eight leaves. Fully illustrated in black and white, with original photographs and collage art. Publisher's side-stapled (two issues) or stitched (one issue) bindings; original wrappers. Routine mild wear, mostly at the corners; one issue with soft marginal creasing and soiling to the upper-right corner of the front wrapper. Generally near fine, one issue just very good.

 

An excellent but short-lived punk zine with a wealth of information about the venerable Austin scene. Features original photographs of the standard pillars: Butthole Surfers, Big Boys, The Dicks, as well as touring bands, such as Black Flag and Bad Brains, and any number of lesser-known bands. One issue printed a checklist of 106 Austin bands (75 of which were already defunct).

 

Bill Daniel is an artist, photographer and filmmaker. He was born in Dallas then moved to Austin and attended The University of Texas. "In 1980 [he] began photographing punk shows in Texas. The work was based on documenting the nascent Texas punk scene, but also a study of the audience's interaction with the music, gesture, and an abstraction and slicing of space using a 28mm lens and hand-held flash. [He] quit shooting punk shows in 1984..." (billdaniel.net). His photos were the subject of the Texas Punk Problem. It is through billdaniel.net that Michael Nott was identified as the designer; Nott was responsible for several exceptional punk and new wave show fliers, mostly at Club Foot and Raul's, under the name NOXX. (#10040). 

 

 

22. [Silent film]. [G. W. Pabst (?)]; Lili Damita, Werner Krause (actors). Une femme dans la nuit. [Paris]: Union Artistic Films (distributor); F. P. S. Films (production company), [circa 1927]. Original poster for the French release, possibly the alternate title of a lost G. W. Pabst film [On ne bandine pas avec l'amour or Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe]. Double grande affiche (63 X 94 inches; 1600 x 2385 mm.). Designed by G. Elizabeth. Two sheets, restored and linen backed. The sheets are barely out of alignment; a couple tears laid down, including one with a tiny bit of loss in the upper-left scene; a few old wrinkles flattened out; touch of rubbing; faint discoloration along the folds, possibly with some minor touchups, a couple instances of minor fold separation; a few faint, tiny splashes visible in the lower-right margin. Presents as near fine.

 

Union Artistic Films distributed four films starring Lili Damita produced by F. P. S. Films during the 1927-1928 season, according to a two-page advertisement in the September 1927 issue of Cinegraphie. They were: Papillon d'or (Der goldene Schmetterling, 1926, directed by Michael Curtiz (IMDb ID: tt0016930)), La nuit nuptiale (The Queen Was in the Parlour, an English co-production based on a Noël Coward play, 1927, directed by Graham Cutts (tt0017900)), La danseuse de grenade (Die berühmte Frau, 1927, directed by Robert Wiene (tt0437864)) and possibly this one, under the title On ne joue pas avec l'amour (Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe, 1927, (tt0017116)). Man spielt nicht mit der Liebe is the only Lili Damita film we could identify produced by F. P. S. Films to co-star Werner Krauss. Using IMDb's collaborator search, the only additional entries are Pabst's Secrets of a Soul [Geheimnisse einer Seele], produced by Neumann-Filmproduktion, which starred Krauss and apparently featured Damita in an uncredited role, and a ghost entry for Une femme dans la nuit created using the minimal information available in this poster from the Heritage Auctions listing. We cannot say with certainty that any of the assumptions made in the course of this catalog description are accurate, and we still have a difficult time swallowing that Pabst, who would be fresh off Joyless Street, would not receive mention on the promotional material of any of his projects.

 

All that said, given the information available, Une femme dans la nuit is either a completely ignored and immediately forgotten prestige project, featuring two popular actors, or was an alternate title from one of just two lost Pabst films. Either way, it's still one hell of a decorative piece. Last year, Heritage Auctions also sold a French grande (one sheet, half this size) for this film under the same title, with no additional release or production information. Deutsche Kinemathek's Lost Film database, ID 986. (#10012).

 

 

23. Soviet Film. An illustrated monthly magazine. Moscow: Sovexportfilm, 1966-1968. Twenty-four consecutive English-language issues, from February 1966 (no. 105) to January 1968 (no. 128), several with promotional or festival inserts. Quarto (11.25 x 8.25 inches; 285 x 210 mm.). 3-26 pages (note: the front wrappers are included in the pagination). Amply illustrated with full-page and in-text film stills and publicity photos. Publisher's saddle-stapled bindings in the original laminated wrappers. Some wrappers creased or with light bubbling to the laminate; occasional bruising along the fore-edge of some issues; light edgewear with mild bumping to corners or spine ends; December 1966 issue with a sizable hole worn in the center of the front wrapper (about one and half inches wide, with encompassed by a bruise). Generally very good.
 
The print propaganda wing of the "Brezhnev-Mosfilm" imperial film project... available in six languages: Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic. Mostly joking, but Soviet Film, published by the state's film import/export distributor, still serves as an illustrative supporting argument for the analogy (attributed to Jean-Luc Godard) that the commercial film industry under Brezhnev is hardly different to Paramount under Nixon. It is also a rich reference for a major national industry during a pivotal period in film history (concurrent with several global new-wave movements and the beginning of Jack Valenti's tenure as president of the MPAA).

 

Focuses on the major prestige films of the period, more Sergey Bondarchuk's War and Peace (recently restored and rereleased by Janus Films) and Aleksandr Zarkhi's Anna Karenina than Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, which receives passing mention as St. Andrei Passions, as well as major moments in Soviet (and sometimes Russian) film history, with featurettes on Ivan Mozzhukhin (to 1917 only), Leonid and Trauberg and a special retrospective in the July 1967 issue, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, highlighting the careers of Einstein, Vertov, Pudovkin and Dovzhenko, and mentioning the first Soviet talkie, The Road to Life. The January 1968 issue promotes international co-productions, including Miklos Jancso's Stars and Soldiers (the literal translation for The Red and the White). (#10033).

 

24. Donald Snyder. Aquarian Odyssey. A Photographic Trip into the Sixties. New York: Liveright, [1979]. First edition, wrappers issue. Inscribed by Stanley Mouse, with an original doodle, additionally signed by Ken Kesey (on the front wrapper, with doodle), Ralph Metzger and Ken Babbs. Quarto (11 x 8.25 inches; 280 x 210 mm.). Unpaginated [5, 10 (text), 1 (blank), 127 (photos), 1 (acknowledgments) pages]. Illustrated throughout. Publisher's perfect binding in original illustrated wrappers. Wrappers softly creased at the upper corners, with a minor crease to fore-edge margin of front wrapper; rear wrapper very lightly soiled with some small orange specks; mild bump to the base of the spine; trace edgewear and light soiling; joints creased. Final leaf nearly detached. Very good. (#10006).