SOL LEWITT, Sunrise & Sunset at Praiano, 1980
20 x 19,7 cm
SC, 16 pp., Lümbeck binding
published by Rizzoli International Publications Inc. and Multiples, Inc., New York, USA
condition: good to very fine, slightly colour aged
€ 450,- plus € 18,- Track & Trace EU registered mail
History of prices:
Amazon, USA, 27 February 2021 US$ 650.-
Arcana Books, USA, 27 February 2021 US$ 500.-
KRISTJAN GUDMUNDSSON, Ef/If, 1974
21 x 21 cm
SC, 4 pp., hand bound; screen print on various kinds of paper, glued, linen spine
edition 200, here 1/200
signed, numbered
only 3-5 copies have been produced
published by Silver Press, Amsterdam / Reykjavík
condition: aged, with light bend in cover, minor foxing
extremely rare
€ 3.600,- plus Track & Trace registered mail
inv.KG 1048-pr
In the seventies Kristján Gudmundsson lived with his family in a large appartement in the Daniel Stalpaertstraat in Amsterdam. He produced more than a few books and “Ef/If” was one of his hand made artist’s books published by Silver Press, founded and owned by himself in Reykjavík, Iceland.
The complete book is in screen print, also the printed text on tracing paper that introduces the concept of the book:
Ef staer∂ þessarar si∂u táknar ibúafjölda jar∂arinnar, þá tákna hringarnir ibúi Kina, Tanzaníu of Íslands.
If the size of this page represents the number of people in the world, then the circles represent the people of China, Tanzania and Iceland.
The works of Kristjan Gudmundsson invite to contemplate on his method of working related to what his art encompasses. Usually texts on his works contain either personal memories or chronological summery. In fact, in many works he attempts time by time again to capture factual data into hand sized works, like here in this thin booklet that contains the amount of inhabitants of China, Tanzania and Iceland. In the middle of the last page a tiny bright white screen printed (sic) dot of 1 mm diameter may be detected, when exposed to strong daylight.
Right from the start the production of the book caused problems. In order to keep the costs low the text was prepared for the printer through adhesive letters, hence the dancing letters on the title page. The running direction of paper was not taken into account which caused waving binding. The very thin tracing paper of the first page stuck to the screen when printed. And the most problematic part of the book was the white circular dot of less than 1 millimeter on the last page; with a magnifying glass the print had to be checked every time, and more than quite often no dot at all could be detected; again a misprint. Not being well provided with capital Kristjan Gudmundsson soon stopped the production.
A very fragile and extremely difficult book to find; in Kristján Gudmundsson’s catalogues and monographs this book is always overlooked. Therefore, by now it may be considered almost as a unique work of art. KvG
LAWRENCE WEINER, Thrown someplace, 1991
21 x 10 cm
SC, stapled, English/Dutch
edition 750
splendid condition, although slightly yellowed by age
published by Art & Project, Amsterdam
€ 85,- plus € 12,- Track & Trace EU registered mail
inv.LWein 1028
BEA McMAHON, Jesus and chlorophyll, 2012
21 x 18 cm
SC, 46 pp., stapled, digital printing, screen print, paper collage on cover, incl. loose text page
edition 40
signed, numbered
published by Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
splendid condition
inv.BMcM 1022
This book edition contains 18 pages text by curator Maeve Connolly about the works of Bea McMahon, the other pages – 28 in total – are obviously pages that could fit into an artist’s book. This makes the edition into a hybrid book, i.e. partly catalogue, partly artist’s book.
FRANZ GRAF, Schauraum : Kunstraum, 1992
27 x 19 cm
SC, black and white offset print, 16 pp., stapled
publisher unknown
mint
rare
€ 120,- plus € 12,- Track & Trace registered mail
inv.FGra 998
The first page of this publication shows a text by curator Dr. Otmar Rychlik on an installation by Franz Graf in a car showroom of Mercedes Benz in Vienna, Austria. All other pages feature images of showroom mirrors and cars with texts on the car windows. Each black and white photo shows a circular ‘O’ taken from the image below on the same page. Let alone the first page as catalogue page, the rest looks like an artist’s book as a wrong catalogue of a car dealer.
DAVID SHRIGLEY, DDWOPT Idiot, 1996
14,2 x 10,2 cm
SC, unpaginated
series of unique hand drawn cover
edition 400
published by The Armpit Press, Glasgow, Scotland
condition cover: slightly aged and smudgy
very rare
€ 350,- plus € 12,- Track and Trace registered mail
inv.DShr 973
Very rare edition and early artist’s book by David Shrigley, his 7th self-produced book. The cover is a drawing in coloured felt tip pen. The letters on the cover are standing for ‘Drawings Done Whilst On Phone To Idiot’.
The Armpit Press is a self-publishing press created by David Shrigley.
JOEP VAN LIESHOUT, 3000 Prefabricated sanitary units for application of mobile-homes, 1992
29,7 x 21 cm
SC, 12 pp.
edition 50
published by the artist
condition: very good, cover slightly discoloured
€ 180,- plus € 12,- Track & Trace registered mail
inv.JvLie 963
ULISES CARRIÓN, The Muxlows, 1978
22,9 x 11 cm
SC, 100 pp.
edition 300
published by Verlaggalerie Leaman, Düsseldorf, Germany
condition: slightly aged, at cover top side 3 tiny dents
€ 1.200,- plus € 18,- Track & Trace registered mail
inv.UCar 962
Introduction on fly leave:
‘The Muxlows’ is the history of an English family from Yorkshire. I found it in 1972, in the city of Leeds, in the last pages of a badly damaged bible. U.C.’
This book is a dry list of names that goes back to 1835 when Thomas Muxlow was born. It is the start of genealogical facts limited to birth and death. The first chapter “Parents names” is followed by “Childrens names”, “Marriages” and “Other family events”. In this way a family story is told as a family drama of generations, i.e. family members come and go. Again with this book Carrión’s shows his strong affinity with the method of archival order to set out a story similar to writing a novel.
KvG
A copy is in the Collection of Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
CHRISTIAN BOLTANSKI, Point d’Ironie, 1998
43,2 x 30,6 cm
8 pp., offset on thin paper, text in English and French
edition 100.000
published by Agnes B., Paris, France
mint condition
rare in this quality
€ 100,- plus € 18,- Track & Trace EU registered mail
Available issues in mint condition:
Nr 05 – Annette Messager 1998
Nr 12 – Harmony Korine 1999
Hors série Point d’Ironie 2007 (“Société Anonyme”: Louwrien Wijers, o.a.)
Nr 27 – Hanne Darboven 2002
Nr 31 – Yoko Ono 2003
Nr 34 – Michel Foucault 2004
Hors série interview Agnès B. 2004 (interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist)
Nr 36 – Tacita Dean 2005
Nr 37 – Ed Ruscha 2005
Nr 40 – Damien Hirst 2006
Nr 45 – Robert Crumb 2008
Nr 46 – Carlos Cruz-Diez 2008
Nr 47 – Koo Jeong-a 2009
Nr 48 – Walid Raad 2009
Nr 49 – Ryan McGinley 2009
Nr 50 – Christian Boltanski 2010
Nr 51 – Dayanita Singh 2010
Numéro spécial – Pierre Reimer 2011
Nr 54 – Pierre Henry 2013
Nr 56 – Robert Barry 2014
PIERRE LEGUILLON, The Museum of Mistakes, 2020
26,7 x 20,2 cm
HC, dust cover, 242 pp.
edition 800 of which 100 are signed, dated and numbered with dedication in print, ink stamp
including entrance ticket; here number 72
dedicated to Aditya Mandayam
published by Edition Patrick Frey, Zurich, Switzerland
In August 2020 Edition Patrick Frey offered a special edition on behalf of the launch of artist’s book “The Museum of Mistakes”. When ordered any name could be given that would become ‘part of the publication’. It was not told how the name would become part of the book. This appeared to be an entrance ticket on name to The Museum of Mistakes for life. The ticket reads:
‘Ticket valid for Aditya Mandayam.
Ticket valid from August 20, through forever.
Ticket can be used for any visit.
Ticket can be used for an unlimited number of guests.
Please retain this ticket for future visits.
Food and drinks allowed in rooms.
Photographs welcome!’
Paradoxically the deceased Indian artist Aditya Mandayam (1983-2019) will never be able to make use of this entrance ticket. The same counts for special edition number 71 that is dedicated to Steven Parrino (1958-2005). A mistake, or what to think of this? KvG
