Collection of Genre Fiction Featuring Illustrations of Apes and Women, 1890-1982

Collection of Genre Fiction Featuring Illustrations of Apes and Women, 1890-1982. 38 titles, primarily adult/erotica, horror, noir, mystery, and science-fiction; in English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, and Russian; includes two non-fiction and three graphic novel or serial examples. Many pseudonymous or lacking complete publishing data. Detailed list of contents below.

A collection documenting the enduring racialized fantasy of women menaced by apes, responding to shifts in scientific understanding and popular culture during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. European accounts of sexual relationships between apes and women, with abduction and rape themes, date back to at least the 11th-century in St Peter Damian’s De Bono religiosi status et variorum animatium tropologia (1061) and his description of a Ligurian count cuckolded by a monkey (as told to him by Pope Alexander II!). John Donne’s Metempsychosis (1633) includes an ape who seduces one of Adam’s daughters; the femicide in Edgar Allen Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) was committed by an orangutan.

Gorillas were distinguished as a species in the 1840s; adult specimens were displayed for the first time in Paris in 1852; and Darwin’s Origin of the Species was published in 1859. Growing popular fascination with the physical and evolutionary kinship of apes and human followed, and the more specific gorilla|woman “tale type” emerged: this collection includes many examples from the 1920s-1940s responding to the popularity of the Tarzan stories (1912 onward) and King Kong (1933).

In the nearly hundred years of publishing represented, endless variations on the theme emerge, but the confusion or failure of moral and species categories continues. Men become apes, apes become men, doomed and violent romances with white women ensue. The protagonists change over time and across genre (travelogues, future noir, LGBTQ, S&M, occult) but the vocabulary of impenetrable jungles, dark Africa, and helpless/drugged/sleeping women persist. The visualization of apes and women is based on a number of extremely racist prototypes, notably sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet’s Gorilla Abducting a Woman (1887) and his earlier, now destroyed, Gorilla Abducting a Negress (1859).

Important early examples in this group include Von einem Gorilla entführt (Philadelphia, 1867; 1890) and Tragedja odmłodzonej kobiety (Krakow, 1929).

See Georges Dodds, “Monkey-Spouse Sees Children Murdered, Escapes to Freedom! [...]” E.L.O. 11-12 (2005-2006), pp. 73-96 and Marek Zgórniak, et al. “Fremiet’s Gorillas: Why Do They Carry off Women?” Artibus et Historiae, 27:54, (2006), pp. 219–37.

CONTENTS:

Nonfiction:

Annan, David. Ape: Monster of the Movies. New York: Bounty Books, 1975. 25.5 cm, 93 pp.; cloth with orig. illus. dj, VG.

J.A. Richards, Inc. The First Story Ever Told [cover title]. New York, NY: Np, 1924. 18 cm, 26 pp.; trade cat. for a 20 vol. illus. “Library”. Stapled pictorial wrappers. VG.

Fiction:

The Ape Girl. New York: Star Distributors, 1982. ST 18. 17 cm, 180, (12) pp.; text followed by 12 pp. of advertisements for S&M literature, toys, etc. “Looking up into his simian face, she felt a moment of fear, but it was too late to turn back.”

Benjamin, Jack. Sex Between People and Their Pets. North Hollywood, CA: Barclay House, 1971. BH 7174. 17 cm, 187 pp.; previous owner’s annotations, some damp stain; color pictorial wrapper, worn. G.

Berry, Bryan. Dread Visitor. London: Panther Books, 1952. PB 28. 18.4 cm, 127 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, rear wrapper lower corner lacking. Fair. “Earth is held in a cloak of terror when a dread visitor descends from the past.”

Berthoud, Ferdinand. Legs Parsons. London: The Modern Publishing Company, n.d. (ca 1924-1925). 17.7 cm, 172 pp.; in color pictorial wrapper with illustration by Ellis Silas, wrappers very worn. Color advertisement for Oxo verso. No copies recorded by OCLC in North American institutions.

Braun, Lisa. Captured. First Niter Book. FN 239. Buffalo, NY: 1966. 16.5 cm, 159 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, ink annotation on rear wrapper. G. Not in OCLC, no copies found in the market.

Brown, Fredric. The Dead Ringer. New York: Bantam Books, 1949. BB 361. 16.2 cm, 212 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, sl faded, VG. “Murder Wears an Ugly Mask!”

Caval, Patrice. Savage Breed. Las Vegas: Playtime Books [Neva Paperbacks], 1964. 17.4 cm, 158 pp.; color pictorial wrappers. VG. Carnival Noir. “What good did it do here to try to be a gentleman? Obviously this koooky broad went for beasts … So Steve let the beast in him take over.”

Champsaur, Félicien. Ouha: Roi des Singes. Paris: Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1923 [22e mille]. 19 cm, 292 pp.; cover pictorial wrappers illustrated recto and verso with erotic variations on the woman and ape theme. Illustrations by Lucien Jaquelux (covers) and Edouard Chimot (head- and tailpieces). Textblock and wrappers fragile and tones, with losses. From a recent review: “the thematic “missing link” between Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes (1912) and Edgar Wallace’s King Kong (1933).”

Dexter, John. The Sin Veldt. San Diego: Corinth Publications, 1966. 18 cm; 160 pp.; color pictorial wrappers. VG. “With Darvi on safari even the apes went ape!” One holding OCLC.

Diderot, Denis. Les Bijoux Indiscrets. Paris: Editions E.L., nd. [19—]. 18.5 cm, 252 pp.; unopened, color plates, color pictorial DJ in protective cover.

Gamma: New Frontiers in Fiction. Vol. 2, No. 5. North Hollywood, CA: Star Press, 1965. 18.3 cm, 127 pp.; stapled color pictorial wrappers, price in wax pencil on front cover, ink annotations on rear, heavily creased. Featuring a novel by Ron Goulart, “Nesbit,” and a story by Ray Bradbury, “A Careful Man Dies.”

Goulart’s story is an unusual twist on the ape-man fantasy: Nesbit Belgraf is a racist megalomaniac recruiting an army to invade the US and turn it into concentration camps for Jews and Negroes. He’s also the survivor of a brain transplant to a gorilla.

Gardner, Erle Stanley. Perry Mason Solves the Case of the Grinning Gorilla. New York: Pocket Books, 1973 [PB edition, orig. 1952]. 17.7 cm, 224 pp.; color pictorial wrappers with cover art from photography

Garland, Curtis. El Yeti. Selección Terror No. 117. Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, et al.: Editorial Bruguera: 1975. Cover illustration by Alberto Pujolar. 15 cm, 95 pp.; color pictorial wrapper rubbed with creases. G. No OCLC holdings in North America.

Hughes, Dorothy B. The Decliate Ape. New York: Pocket Book, 1944 [this 1947]. PB 422. 16.1 cm, 198 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, separating from endpapers at crown.

Има, Иво [Ima, Ivo]. Похитители разума [Pokhititeli razuma]. Np, nd. [Изд-во “М.Б.”]. ca. 1940s. 15.3 cm, 187 pp.; novel followed by table of contents; in color pictorial wrappers, spine chipped with loss at head, small closed tear (1cm) to fore edge.

5 NA records in OCLC none on the market.

Jason the Monkey. Np: Stallion Publication, nd. 20.7 cm, 54 pp.; two b/w pls., illus. stapled red wrappers, light wear. Psychiatry and bestiality pornographic fiction.

Kenyon, Paul. [Kenyon Engle, Lyle]. The Baroness: Flicker of Doom. New York: Pocket Books, 1974. 17.8 cm, 222 pp.; 2 pp. color advertisement for Kent Menthol cigarettes bound in; color pictorial wrappers. VG. Cover illus. by Hector Garrido.

Lorrain, Jean. Le Crime des Riches. Paris: Pierre Douville, 1905. 18.8 cm, 320 pp., [8] pp. illus. catalogue of Douville “nouveautés”; in gray paper with color label tipped in. Cover illustration by Guillaume, at least two different versions were produced. Textblock uniformly toned, rear wrapper soiled. VG-.

By the openly gay, Decadent author: “Un étude violente, sincère, presque toujours féroce, du monde aristocratique et gangrené qui peuple la Riviera. Ce livre est un acte d’accusation formidable contre la richesse qui engendre tous les vices et excuse toutes les tares…”

Marmor, Arnold. The 13 Sinners. Chicago: Camerarts, 1960. 18 cm, 128 pp.; color pictorial wrapper. “The 13 sinners, all marked for death!”

Mercier, Mario. La Cuvée de Singes. Paris: Editions Civilisation Nouvelle, 1970. 20. 8 cm, 189, [5] pp.; pictorial wrappers, photomontage by Denise Miège [Simansky]. Wrappers worn and starting at spine. Printed by Simansky, a poet and author of women’s erotica.

Monkey Business. Adults Only. Np (California?), Nd. (ca. 1970s). 16.8 cm, 191 pp.; 16 color pls., 9 b/w pls.; color pictorial wrappers. Pseudo-scientific bestiality with low-key (by current standards) photography of women and animals.

Oslow, John, Rev. [Pseudo.]. Von einem Gorilla entführt. Philadelphia: Old Franklin Publishing House, 1890. 23 cm., 61 pp.; 4 b/w pls. with captions, all signed EBB, toned, final 5 leaves with turned corners; faded pink pictorial wrappers, chipped.

German language edition of the novella “Captured by a Gorilla” first published in English and French (simultaneously?) in 1867. This edition is not recorded in OCLC, orig. editions exceedingly rare, one each at the NYPL (Eng.) and Library of Congress (Fr.). Purporting to be a kidnapping story told by Dr. Livingstone, explicitly refuted by him when he found out about the book.

Owen, Dean. Konga. Derby, CN: Monarch Books, 1960. MM 604. 18 cm, 144 pp.; color pictorial wrapper creased, spine splitting with some losses. Fair. Based on, and released at the same time as, the eponymous sci-fi horror film; original story and screenplay by Aben Kandel and Herman Cohen. Few institutional holdings in OCLC.

Peters, Jack. Erica’s Erotic Fantasy. Chatworth, CA: Publisher’s Consultants, 1977. Secretary Lust Series-104. 17.5 cm, 192 pp.; textblock toned, pictorial wrappers tight and clean. Not found in OCLC.

Reed, David V. The Whispering Gorilla. [London]: [World Fantasy Classics] and [Sydney Pemberton], 1950. 18.2 cm, 159 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, lower edge with crease starting. VG-. “The whole of the dark continent is terrorised by a gigantic gorilla, a gorilla who is not a gorilla, but a man.”

Saxon, Vin. Ape Rape. San Diego: Rapture Books, 1964. RB 202. 16.7 cm; 160 pp.; color pictorial wrappers lightly worn at edges. Not in OCLC.

Saxon, Vin. Caged Lust. San Diego: Rapture Books, 1967. 17.6 cm; 158 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, with small diamond holepunch to front cover, textblock toned. A new printing of Ape Rape, names changed and different wraps. Not in OCLC.

Vigny, Benno. Tragedja odmłodzonej kobiety (Nell John). [Krakow], [Lwow], et al.: “Lektor” Instytut Literacki, 1929. First Polish Edition. 19 cm, 197 pp.; in color pictorial wrappers by “J. St. Kilian”, worn at foot and lower edge. Originally published in German as Nell John. Der Roman einer Verjüngten (Nell John, The Tale of a Rejuvenated Woman).

No OCLC records outside of Poland.

Whitmore, Linda. The Frantic Teeny-Boppers. Brooklyn, NY: Libertine Books, 1970. LR 205. 17.6 cm, 191 pp.; pictorial wrappers creased and sl. faded. G. Not in OCLC.

Williams, J.X. Black Mass Minx. San Diego: Phenix Publishers, 1967. Late-House Library. LL 708. 16.2 cm, 192 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, price marked recto and verso, otherwise VG. Not recorded in OCLC. Protagonist is Jason January, an occult bookstore owner!

Williams, J.X. Mistress-At-Large. San Diego: Phenix Publishers, 1968. Pleasure Reader. PR 138. 17.8 cm; 159 pp.; color pictorial wrappers. VG. “Absolutely everybody went ape for her!” One record in OCLC.

Williams, J.X. The Unsucsexful [sic] Swap. San Diego: Phenix Publishers, 1968. Companion Book. CB 588. 17.7 cm, 159 pp.; color pictorial wrappers, rear wrapper creased at corner. “She had to escape the rapacious ape!”

Graphic Novels and Serials:

Kirby, Jack. The Sandman. Vol. 2, No. 3 (July 1975). New York: DC Comics [National Periodical Publications], 1975. 19 [i.e. 38] pp.; thumbed with creases, starting to fray at corner.

El Libro Rojo, No. 402. (La Cabeza Del Mono). México: Novedades Editores, 1978. 15. 2 cm; color pictorial wrappers. VG.

Startling Detective Adventures. Vol. 5, No. 26 (July 1930). Louisville, KY: Fawcett Publications, 1930. 28.3 cm, 98 pp.; profusely illustrated with color pictorial wrappers, spine rubbed with minor loss at foot and crown. G. “Mighigan’s Gorilla Murderer.” Scarce.

Poetry:
[Healey, Greville Giles]. McDill, Alexander. Musings on Big Sur Women and One Ape. Monterey, CA: Angel Press, 1979. 20.8 cm, 45 pp.; cover design by Pousel Productions. Overstrom House, Big Sur.

Mirlitón: El Compañero de Juan

​Enriqueta, Maria [Camarillo]. Mirlitón: El Compañero de Juan. Madrid: Juan Pueyo, 1918. First Edition. 19.4, 232 pp.; some foxing, esp. in first quarter of text block; illus. color wrapper, worn and splitting at rear. Signed and dedicated by the author on ffep.

Maria Enriqueta Camarillo was a contributor to the proto-feminist Mexican journal La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1906). She was the author of a mandatory Mexican grammar school textbook and many volumes of popular children’s literature in Mexico. Miriltón was her first novel, preceding her well-known work El Secreto (1922), which was praised by Paul Valéry and selected by L’Académie française for a prize in 1923.

Camarillo also translated works from classic French literature and philosophy into Spanish.

$150

Cantos revolucionarios

Pomar, José, Ed. Cantos revolucionarios. Mexico, D.F. : Ediciones Frente Cultural, 1937. 22 cm., 24 pp.; illus. self-wrapper, toned, 4 mm closed tear to fore edge affecting first 5 leaves.

A compilation of revolutionary socialist and antifascist songs, claiming to be the first such publication in Mexico. Includes lyrics and sheet music for translated standards like “La International,” and “La Marsellesa,” as well as lesser known songs written in part by editor José Pomar, such as “Contra la Guerra,” “Frente Popular,” and “Julio Antonio Mella.” Pomar was a composer and member of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios as well as a founder of the Mexico City conservatory Escuela Nocturna de Música para Trabajadores y Empleados.

Also references popular Mexican revolutionary music including “Los Cangrejos,” “La Cucaracha,” “Adelita,” and “Valentina.”

2 US holdings recorded in OCLC: University of Albany and Northwestern.

$225

未来都市方圆 : 上海市城市规划国际方案征集作品选. The City in Future: 1999-2002

(Architecture) (China) Xia, Liqing, Ed. 未来都市方圆 : 上海市城市规划国际方案征集作品选. The City in Future: 1999-2002. [Shanghai]: Shanghai Urban Planning Administrative Bureau, 2003. Square (29 cm), 343 pp.; profusely illus. in color from various maps and planning documents, texts and captions in English and Mandarin; blind-stamped cloth, orig. DJ present, small split at front corner, otherwise very good.

Fascinating presentation volume of international design competitions commissioned at the millennium by the Party Central Committee for The Comprehensive Plan of Shanghai (1999-2020), a “round of urban planning and environmental construction” that will create “an international metropolis with harmonious ecology, beautiful landscape, and great vigor and vitality.”

Includes the winning master plans for the river waterfront, the EXPO 2010 site, the harbor, the Suzhou River (inner ring road), the rail network, People’s Square, and strategic development studies and urban planning for various suburbs and new towns. Design objectives balancing economic, residential, social, cultural, and ecological aspects are discussed at length.

Illustrations primarily from digital mapping programs, documenting changing technological capacities at the turn of the century.

OCLC records 2 US institutional holdings: Kansas and UNC-Chapel Hill.

$350

Three Modern Turkish Architecture Catalogues

(Architecture) (Turkey) Güngör, I Hulusi. Şehirler Nasıl Imar Edilir. Istanbul: Çeltüt Marbaacılık, 1969. Tall 4to, 160 pp.; primarily b/w illustrations, in pictorial wrappers, edge wear and a creased corner. VG. WITH: Gerçek, Cemil. Şevki Vanlı: Mimarlık Calışmaları. The works of Şevki Vanlı. Ankara: Yaprak Kitabevi, 1977. Square 4to, 142, [20] pp.; primarily b/w illustrations reproducing floorplans, elevations, sketches, and photographs, text in Turkish and English; in pictorial wrappers, binding tight, wrappers rubbed and toned, light bookstore stamp to front cover. AND: Gerçek, Cemil. Sedad Hakkı Eldem: Büyük Konutlar. Ankara: Yaprak Kitabevi, 1982. Square 4to, 160 pp.; primarily illustrations, reproducing elevations, floorplans, sketches, etc.; in pictorial french wrappers, worn and bumped, owner’s name in ink on half-title.

Three books on modern Turkish architecture. Two monographs celebrate the work of architects Sedad Hakkı Eldem and Şevki Vanlı, the third considers urban planning of outdoor space, mostly parks, playgrounds, public art, zoos, and street-level infrastructure including train stations, and garbage receptacles.

Two of the books were published by Yaprak Kitabevi for their nationalistic Proje Uygulama series (nos. 1 and 4 of 4), publicizing modern Turkish architecture.

We find no North American OCLC holdings of the first title, the second only at MIT.

$225

Catálogo de Peletería

(Trade Catalogue - Fashion) Peletería Bertrán y Compania. Catálogo de Peletería. Barcelona: [Seix & Barral Herms.], [1915]. 4to (26.5 cm), [12] pp.; one page printed recto only, followed by [8] pp. of full-page plates with color graphics; in stapled french-fold wrapper with tipped-in pictorial illustration.

Fine example of exuberant graphics and luxury commercial activities at the beginning of WWI. Published by Barcelona graphics specialist, Seix & Barral.

Not found in OCLC.

$225

Catálogo de Peletería

(Trade Catalogue - Fashion) Peletería H. Solsona. Catálogo de Peletería. Barcelona: [Seix & Barral Herms.], [1917]. Tall 8vo (25 cm), [16] pp.; one page intro. followed by full-page illus. plates, each embellished with a unique b/w headpiece; in stapled color pictorial wrappers by “Porta”, fore-edge lightly foxed and chipped, not affecting illustration.

Eye-catching Orientalist pochoir(?) cover illustration followed by 15 furrier fashion plates, each with an amusing vignette (many with the specific animals used in the coat depicted in the plate, others of fashionable women out and about). Published by Barcelona graphics specialist, Seix & Barral.

Not found in OCLC.

$225

Publicité Chaumet. SEP/ETE/REM.

(Advertising) (Transportation) Chaumet, J. Publicité Chaumet. SEP/ETE/REM. [Paris]: [S.P.G.E. Hachard & Cie.], n.d. (1943?). 4to (28.3 cm), [12] pp., [2] pp. typed list of advertisements placed through Chaumet, and a TLS laid in, from Chaumet, dated Feb. 16, 1944; trade catalogue with b/w illus. throughout, near fine, in embossed stab-bound wrappers, front wrap with minor damp stain at top edge not affecting contents.

In his cover letter the Monsieur Chaumet lyrically describes exterior signs on autobuses as “moving poster[s] that circle through the major arteries of the cities.” The profusely illustrated catalogue details other opportunities for advertising on public transportation, station kiosks and walls, trolley stops, and other sites visible to commuters. Issued in 1944 when the French Resistance was targeting road signs to confuse German troop movements.

Not in OCLC.

$250

La Femme Canon. Chansonnette

(Women; Human Cannonball) Clairville; Villebichot, Auguste de. La Femme Canon. Chansonnette. Paris: Le Bailly, n.d. [ca. 1878].

Sheet music, 27.3 cm, [4] pp.; pictorial self-wrapper. Lower edge worn.

Rousing comic song about a woman “human cannonball” and her marital life, likely inspired by Rossa Matilda Richter, aka Zazel, the first human cannonball. Richter’s pioneering flight took place in London in 1877 and her act quickly became a sensation across Europe, inspiring both waltzes and comic songs. Oddly enough, she founded an opera company in the US in the 1880s.

One record in OCLC, at the BNF.

$125

Bougies de l’Etoile

(Art Nouveau) (Candles) (Social Programs) L. Felix Fournier & Cie. Bougies de l’Etoile. Paris, Marseille. [Marseille]: [Maison Fournier], n.d. [ca. 1900]. Oblong 22 cm., [32] pp.; profusely illus. catalogue, 2-3 b/w photogravures per page from images by Marseille photographer F. Giuglard; in stapled pictorial wrappers.

Delightful catalogue advertising the “deluxe” manufacturing process of Fournier’s Etoile candle with a “visit to the factory,” where men and women are shown producing as many as 120,000 packets of candles a day. Photographic reproductions and descriptions of the process surrounded by various Art Nouveau graphics and typography.

Curious final section “Oeuvres” dedicated to health and philanthropic services provided by the company to the workers, including a pharmacy and infant care, as well as primary schools for boys and girls.

Printed for an exhibition, presumed to be the Exposition Universelle 1900, which is referred to explicitly in the introduction citing the Exposition’s official classification numbers [“groupe XIV (industrie chimique)”]. Not found in OCLC.

$175

Grand Pensionnat de Jeunes Filles. Situation Exceptionelle d’Hygiène & d’Agrément

(Education) (Girls) Institution Belle-Vue. Grand Pensionnat de Jeunes Filles. Situation Exceptionelle d’Hygiène & d’Agrément. Paris: A. Breger Frères, n.d. [ca. 1895]. Oblong 17.5 x 13 cm., 24 plates (printed recto only). Plates printed by “neo-bromure” method (similar to an Albertype or heliotype) with captions; in pictorial wrappers, very good.

Promotional book for a girls’ boarding school located in Fontenay sous Bois, now a suburb of Paris. Fine views of the interior facilities, many with students at study and play, including classrooms, the gymnasium, the art studio, and the dormitories, as well as the expansive grounds (30,000m2 de parc) used for “le tennis” and “étude en plein air.” Extensive photographs of these activities testify to a growing belief in healthful outdoor activity as an aspect of the “complete” education of girls and a cure for modernity’s spiritual and moral ailments.

The school seems to have operated under the direction of Catholic nuns from 1893 through WWI, adding classes for poor children in 1904 and a free parish school in 1911. Transformed into a Francisican seminary in 1923, the building is known locally as the center of the area’s antifacist Resistance activities during WWII.

Not located in OCLC.

$300

Skema. Mensile fotografico d’attualità. (All published).

Skema. Mensile fotografico d’attualità. Anno I, No. 1 (November 1969) through Anno VI, No. 12 (December 1974) (all published). Bologna: [ALFA Farmaceutici], 1969-1974.

Comprising a complete run of a rare Italian photographic serial with poster-sized color inserts designed and distributed in association with ALFA Farmaceutici. Monographic issues cover social, cultural, or political themes relevant to this tumultuous period in world history; each introduced by famous Italian public intellectuals, journalists, politicians, scientists, artists, and writers. Including Umberto Eco, Federico Fellini, Gianni Agnelli, and Gillo Dorfles.

Skema was a forum for unmediated photographic storytelling loosely modeled on the anti-realist movement Gruppo 63. In the first issue the editors state “ideas will be directly and freely provided by images: a medium that suffers from fewer alterations.” Echoing some of the experimentalist manifestos of Il Verri, Skema’s editors criticized the perceived transparency of language, freeing meaning to be made instead in the mind of the “viewer.” “Words will remain at the bottom,” with captions and textual interpretation only where world events “most deeply dug a furrow, or a wound, on the crust of common beliefs.”

The eye-catching covers, unusual photographic spreads, and striking color inserts were the responsibility of designer Marco Caroli. Together with editor Franco Vanni, they created a unique visual language juxtaposing international photojournalism, modern infographics, and quotable short form essays in a section called “di parere.”

Topical issues included protest movements, drugs, feminism, avantgarde theater, and Vietnam. But many were also dedicated to scientific and economic aspects of the difficult period that followed Italy’s “economic miracle”: hunger, prisons, agriculture, space, housing, the elderly, divorce, computers, mafia, circus, ecology, China, Latin America, propaganda, anthropology, and a few on single artists or philosophers: Irinia Ionesco, Ghitta Carell, Pablo Picasso, Diderot, and Galileo; among the photojournalism are press photos of installation art, Pop, and assemblage by artists including Wolf Vostell, Andy Warhol, and Ed Kienholz.

The scarcity of complete runs and bibliographic study has led to confusion about Skema’s origins. It is not, as it is often described, a progressive publication with independent social criticism. Instead, it is a deft work of appropriation: produced by Alfa as a promotional tool for its medical and biotech clientele. Skema’s inventive design and forward-looking reporting were a creative and subtle advertisement that was discontinued when production became too expensive. We speculate that Skema was the brainchild of Alfa’s founder, Marino Golinelli, listed in early issues as a member of the editorial board. Later Golinelli became an important collector of contemporary art and a celebrated philanthropist supporting projects in education, arts, and the sciences.

These experimental artistic attitudes were brought to bear on the cataclysmic socio-economic changes affecting lived realities in Italy and abroad. In the case of Skema, they reflect an increased demand for cultural consumption from a new Italian middle class, and the growing sophistication of bourgeois taste.

Scarce. OCLC finds one complete run at the University of Rome. A few scattered issues recorded in British, European, and North American holdings (UCSD and UCLA).

$4500

62 numbers in 58 fascicules, plus two supplements (to Anno III, no. 2 and Anno V, no. 10), Issues range from 60-74 pp., early issues almost exclusively illustrated, reproducing b/w photographs from Italian and international press agencies, including ANSA, Farabola, Publifoto, Keystone, Liverani, Lehtikuva, UPI, and AP among many. Later issues with up to 20 pp. of text on orange newsprint. About 30 issues with color inserts or advertisements offered as a “manifesto” or “regalo una stampa a colori,” some in poster format (unfolded: 22 ½ x 15 ¾ in.), others small bound-in half-page pamphlets, or full-page vintage Fiat ads. Some toning as expected, illustrated wrappers somewhat rubbed, scattered creasing and rounding at corners. Many stamped internally “Omaggi ALFA Farmaceutici [...]” Small loss to front wrap of Anno. I, No. 1. Lacking five inserts or advertisements as follows: Anno II, Nos. 4 and 13; Anno III, No. 7; Anno IV, No. 3; and Anno V, no. 12.

Primer Salon Nacional de la Estampa

[Guati Rojo, Alfredo]. Primer Salon Nacional de la Estampa. Exh. cat. [Mexico, D.F]: [Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes], 1972. Square 8vo, [36] pp.; profusely illus. checklist with reproductions of artists’ works. Stapled wrapper toned but tight, pinholes affecting second half of text block and rear wrapper.

A new salon for contemporary Mexican printmaking, bypassing the established “Salones Anuales de Grabado.” Including many important Mexican modernists and a wide array of styles.

Unrecorded in OCLC.

$50

Boletín de Artes Visuales. Nos. 1 and 4.

Unión Panamericana, Sección de Artes Visuales. Boletín de Artes Visuales. Nos. 1 and 4. [Washington, D.C.]: [Unión Panamericana], [1956/1957; 1958/1959]. Two vols.: 80, 61 pp.; illus. throughout; in pictorial color wraps, lightly worn.

Uncommon early issues of a comprehensive Latin American visual art digest reporting on exhibitions, conferences, publications and other activities in the Americas and beyond.

$100

Museos: Realizaciones y Proyectos

[Rivera, Ruth Marín]. Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. Museos: Realizaciones y Proyectos. UNESCO/INBA [cover title]. Catalogue for an exhibition held at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Departamento de Arquitectura, September-October, 1962. [Mexico, D.F.]: [Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes], [1962]. Oblong 4to, [88] pp.; mostly illustrations; illus. wrappers very worn, spine starting, crease affecting upper corner continues throughout text block.

Terrific catalogue of realized and unrealized museums in Mexico, curated by the director of the Department of Architecture at INBA, Ruth Rivera (Diego Rivera’s daughter). It introduces lesser known projects that were part of a huge surge in national modernist architecture during the 1950 and 1960s. These include three planned border museums in Matamoros; Tijuana; and Ciudad Juarez, all designed by Pedro Ramirez Vazquez under the auspices of the Programa Nacional Fronterizo.

Ruth Rivera’s key role as a promoter and archivist of Mexican modernist architecture is often overlooked. Her design for the Galerias Salon de la Plastica Mexicana is included here.

OCLC finds three holdings in North American institutions: Univ. of Arizona, UC Santa Barbara, and the CCA, Montreal.

$250

Acción Plástica Popular: Educación y Aprendizaje a Escala Nacional. Con ciento cinco reproducciones

(Arts Education) (Socialism) García Maroto, Gabriel. Acción Plástica Popular: Educación y Aprendizaje a Escala Nacional. Con ciento cinco reproducciones. México, D.F.: Editorial Plastica Americana, 1945. 8vo, 220 pp.; profuse b/w illus. from woodcuts by Mexican students and the author, plus [32] b/w pls. reproducing artworks from Mexico and Spain, as well as infographics and other designs by the author. In yellow pictorial publisher’s cloth, worn and darkened, corner’s bumped, spine with small losses to cloth at foot. Ink marks on ffep and rear pastedown.

Well-illustrated book about a short-lived experimental children’s art program, the Escuelas de Acción Artística (EAA). Iterations in both Mexico and Cuba built on the revolutionary educational ideals of the Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libre, founded a decade earlier in Mexico City. The EAA incorporated these ideals with indigenous methods and styles, and prioritized free expression. These were important aspects of Indigenismo in Mexican arts in the early twentieth century, but the schools were later criticized for paternalistic assumptions about the “authenticity” of “naive” native arts.

The author, Gabriel García Maroto, was an exiled Spanish printer, artist, and critic who trained in one of Cuba’s Escuelas de Acción Artística in the late 1920s. He brought the EAA philosophy to Michoacan, founding several programs there with the support of governor (and future President) Lazaro Cárdenas. The schools taught print-making, drawing, and painting to predominantly indigenous and working-class women and children. Aligned with Cárdenas’s work on agrarian and land reform, García Maroto believed that his schools could teach the people to “possess” their land through art.

García Maroto was a member of avant-garde Spanish artistic circles in the 1920s and 30s. As a printer, he was an active member of the Republican Asociación de Intelectuales Antifascistas para la Defensa de la Cultura and had the distinction of publishing Frederico García Lorca’s first book. He began “Editorial Plastica Americana’’ with the intention of issuing a “Colección Plástica Mexicana” series but this appears to be the only title ever published under either imprint. After settling in Mexico, he also promoted art education for children with hearing problems. The book is dedicated to his son, the deaf painter Jose García Narezo.

See: Jolly, Jennifer. Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building under Lázaro Cárdenas. Austin, TX: University of Texas, 2018, pp. 47-51.

$550

Plastica Bajacaliforniana: Selección Bienal 1977

Plastica Bajacaliforniana: Selección Bienal 1977. Exh. cat. [México, D.F.]: [Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes], [1977]. Square 8vo, [24] pp.; intro by critic Raquel Tibol, reproductions of artists’ works followed by bios and checklist. Stapled wrapper tight, a few small dents.

Catalogue of the second Baja artist biennial, held at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. One OCLC holding: LACMA.

$45

Centro Deportivo Chapultepec: Recuerdo de la Inauguración de los Nuevos Edificios

(Architecture) (Muralism) [Almanza, Gaspar Octavio]. [Romo, Ramiro]. Centro Deportivo Chapultepec: Recuerdo de la Inauguración de los Nuevos Edificios [cover title]. México, D.F.: [Junta Directiva del Centro Deportivo Chapultepec], 1950. 8vo, [32] pp.; chiefly illus. b/w reproductions of photos of the ceremony, building, and murals. Stapled pictorial wraps printed in blue recto and verso, edges chipped front and rear.

Souvenir program celebrating the inauguration of a new sports complex in Chapultepec Park, a collaboration between the Bank of Mexico and the government of President Alemán. Designed by architects Gonzalo Garita and Carlos Romo. The majority of the booklet is given over to a text by Almanza interpreting the building’s commissioned murals by Ramiro Romo Estada, a student of José Clemente Orozco. Concludes with excerpts of press coverage praising the government, etc.

$150

10 Mujeres y Textil en 3D / 10 Women and Textile into 3D

Galleria Universitaria Aristos. 10 Mujeres y Textil en 3D / 10 Women and Textile into 3D. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1975. Square 8vo, [16] pp.; intro, checklist and 11 b/w pls.; stapled pictorial wraps, sunned. Printed by Imprenta Madero.

Exh. cat. in Spanish and English, exploring contemporary fiber arts in Mexico, including Marta Palau, Leticia Arroyo, et al., and paying “homage to the creative weaver during the Women’s International Year.” Introduced by anthropologist and curator Marta Turok.

$60

El Paraíso de los Dulces Mexicanos

Galeria Universitaria Aristos. El Paraíso de los Dulces Mexicanos. México, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, n.d. [1968]. Square 8vo, [16] pp.; primarily visual, some reproductions in color, with [2] pp. wove paper insert. Stapled color pictorial wraps, extremities worn.

Exh. cat. exploring the sculptural artistry of Mexican confectionaries. Surrealist and Pop overtones. With text and images by artists associated with UNAM in the late 1960s including Olga Costa and Victor Fosado.

OCLC finds one US holding: UCSD.

$75

Inauguración de su Nuevo Edificio

Secretaria de Recursos Hidráulicos. Inauguración de su Nuevo Edificio. México, D.F.: N.p., n.d. [1950]. Oblong 11-½ x 7-¾ in., [16] pp.; illus. throughout, with a white inauguration ribbon stapled to the first leaf. Pictorial wraps with orig. clear plastic DJ. Front wrap creased. Good.

Souvenir of the inauguration of the politically important ministry’s new building, commissioned in 1946 by President Alemán. Reviews history of water works in Mexico, including dams and irrigation. Several leaves with highlights of the new building, designed by architects Del Moral y Pani with later assistance by Gustavo Saavedra.

Not found in OCLC.

SOLD

De l’extinction de la prostitution: pétition au Sénat, session de 1865

Meugy, Jules. De l’extinction de la prostitution: pétition au Sénat, session de 1865 [...]. Paris: Garnier, n.d., ca. 1865.

Small 8vo, 71, 36 pp.; text followed by 36 pp. catalogue of Garnier Frères, catalogue pages uncut; in printed wrapper with advert, rear wrap abraded at corner.

Full title: De l’extinction de la prostitution. Pétition au sénat, session de 1865. Par le Dr. Jules Meugy, suivie du discours de M. le procureur général Dupin sur le luxe effréné des femmes prononcé à l’occasion de cette pétition.

$65

La Lotta Contro La Prostitutzione

Pannain, Remo. La Lotta Contro La Prostitutzione. Benevenuto: Borelli, n.d., ca. 1929. 8vo, 28 pp.; a few pencil marks in margin; in printed stapled wrapper.

Unusual legal treatise published in Southern Italy about the struggle there against prostitution.

No North American holdings recorded in OCLC.

$95

(Antiprostitution) (Socialism) The Social Evil: Its Cause Effect and Cure

(Antiprostitution) (Socialism) Greer, J.H. The Social Evil: Its Cause Effect and Cure. Chicago, IL: Self-published, 1913. Small 8vo, 64 pp.; in printed wrap, dampstain at foot affecting first few leaves. Together with two other editions of the same: Greer, J.H. The Social Evil and the Remedy. Chicago, IL: Charles H. Kerr & Co., n.d. Each: small 8vo, 64 pp.; in color patterned wraps, both with losses to rear wrap where ads for The International Socialist Review are given.

A history of prostitution is given by the author, as well as its cure, socialism. Three editions, including a self-published version, helping to establish a date for this text, otherwise undated in recorded sources.

$40

(Antiprostitution) (Mann White-Slave Act) Group of Instructive Literature

(Antiprostitution) (Mann White-Slave Act) Group of Instructive Literature Against Forced Prostitution, i.e. White Slavery, and Supporting Rescue Homes and Charities, 1871-1945.

Together six examples reflecting seventy years of popular hysteria over the plight of innocent young women forced into prostitution, tales that usually end in rescue and salvation or death. Two items of particular interest, one an evangelical biography of Evangeline Reams and her Ohio homes for wayward girls; the other an unusual pamphlet warning mothers and daughters about the devices used by “white slavers” on their victims.

$125

Including:

*Bingham, Theodore A. The Girl That Disappears: The Real Facts about White Slave Traffic. Boston: Gorham Press, 1911. 8vo, 87 pp.; illus. frontispiece; cloth, a bit rubbed. Very Good. Written by the former police commissioner for Greater New York.

*Clark, Harry. Evangeline Reams: A Brief Sketch of Her Life and Story of The Friends Rescue Home. [Damascus, OH]: Friends Rescue Home, n.d. [after 1940]. 8vo, 131 pp.; illus. from photos of Ms. Reams, the rescue homes, the rescued girls, etc. Printed wrapper, rubbed and lightly sunned. Very Good.

*Morse, Northrop. Peach Bloom: An Original Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Medical Review of Reviews, 1913. 8vo, 184 pp.; publisher’s cloth, corners bumped, front board with small marks and stain.

*Muhlenberg, W. A. The Woman and Her Accusers: A Plea for the Midnight Mission …. New York: NY: Pliny F. Smith, 1871. 8vo, 72 pp.; cloth with gilt title, corners bumped. Good.

*Pratt, William H. God Amid the Shadows. Indianapolis, IN: N.p., n.d. 8vo, 153 pp.; blue pictorial wrapper, well worn.

*A Tragic End: A Timely Warning to Mothers and Daughters, Also on Exposure of Some of the Devices Used by ‘White Slavers’ for Catching Unwary Victims. Accordion pamphlet, illus. Los Angeles, CA: Free Tract Society, n.d. With rescue home directory, after 1945.

(Sexual Health) (Religious Orders) Sammelband of Five French Medical Theses

(Sexual Health) (Religious Orders) Sammelband of Five French Medical Theses, 1792-1793. Unbound pamphlets, stitched, 21 x 14 cm, untrimmed. Engraved headpieces, wide margins, some general darkening and light staining or foxing; dampstain affecting gutter of final two pamphlets, else good, sound copies.

A group of First Republic-era medical pamphlets published at the Faculté de médecine de Montpellier, under the direction of some of the era’s most famous vitalist physicians and chemists, i.e. Paul-Joseph Bartez and Henri Fouquet.

The final pamphlet, by Lion, is a rare thesis on sexual diseases caused by excessive or insufficient sexual activity. The epigraph by Voltaire sets the tone with the warning “L’abstinence ou l’excès ne fit jamais d’heureux.” [“Abstinence or excess never made anyone happy.”] Lion speculates on the effects of abstinence in the health of priests and nuns, at risk for “erotic deliriums,” visions, and hysteria. He discusses masturbation and admonishes against marriage between a young woman and an older man. Particularly interesting in the context of the French Revolutionary “reorganization” of the Church.

Only no. 4 is noted in OCLC, with one holding, in Wales. The rest, including Lion, are not recorded institutionally.

$500

1. Durand, Joanne-Antonio-Guillelmo. De atmosphaera quatenus physicum, chemicum et medicum spectat, selecta quaedam [...]. Monsepelii: J.G. Tournel, et primo Reipublicae [1792]. 51 pp.
2. Duhult, Francisco. Dissertatio anatomico-physiologica de systemate lymphatico seu absorbenti [...]. Monsepelii: J.G. Tournel, 1793. 41 pp.
3. Magistel, Gabriel. Collecta quaedam circa naturae morborum cognoscendae necessitatem [...]. Monsepelii: J.G. Tournel, 1793. 29 pp.; closed tear beginning at fore edge, p. 3.
4. Vidal, Joannes-Baptista. Quaedam circa naturae vires, et circa perturbationem virium vitalium [...]. Monsepelii: J.G. Tournel, 1793. 29 pp. Some footnotes in French. Partially a vitalist assessment of epilepsy, just over ten years after its first classification in French.
5. Lion, Laurentius-Basilius. Pensum academicum circa tum continentiae, tum lubricitatis morbos [...]. Monsepelii: Tournel Patris & Filli, 1792. 16 pp. Some footnotes in French.

Atlas de las Nubes para el Servicio meteorológico de la República Mexicana

Pastrana, Manuel E. Atlas de las Nubes para el Servicio meteorológico de la República Mexicana formado por Manuel E. Pastrana i del Observatorio Meteorológico Central de México [...]. Boston, MA: Heliotype Co., 1906. Oblong 4to, [9] leaves, 61, [4] pls.; introduction by Pastrana followed by plates, nos. 1-20, 22, 29, 31-34, 41-58, and 60 in color, very good; stamped publisher’s cloth with marbled endpapers; boards rubbed, corners bumped. Numbered 135 in ink on title, from stated edition of 1000.

The first cloud atlas produced for use by the Mexican meteorological service; most images reproduced from photographs taken at La Escuela Industrial Militar Porfirio Diaz in Morelia, Mexico. At the time of printing, the national meteorological service was comprised of 49 observatories, including one in each state. Each reported by telegraph to the central observatory in Tacubaya. The atlas’s classification and captions follow the recommendations of the 1891 International Meteorological Conference, Munich, and the first International Cloud Atlas (Hildebrandsson, Riggenbach, and Teisserenc de Bort, 1896).

Four US holdings listed in OCLC: UT, UNM, SDSU, and Stanford.

$1500

El Ĉina fotografia arto: kompilita de la redakcio de “Ĉina Fotografio.”

(Photography) (China) (Esperanto) El Ĉina fotografia arto: kompilita de la redakcio de “Ĉina Fotografio.” [Beijing], China: Ĉina Esperanto-Ligo, 1963. Square 8vo, 112 pp.; chiefly illus., a few in color, lightly toned with a few small internal marks; publisher’s boards in pictorial dust jacket, corners bumped, dust jacket worn with significant losses.

Anthology of Chinese photography, published by the Chinese Esperanto Association of Peking (Beijing). The Esperanto introduction describes the national character of the emerging Chinese photographic style, one in which art is always in service to the workers, and the communist cause. Photography may also be a “weapon against imperialism.” Full-page reproductions with captions in Esperanto, photographers identified. Various genres represented, including landscape.

Single North American holding in OCLC: UCSD.

$30

Five Illustrated Booklets Documenting the Fall and Death of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci

Five Illustrated Booklets Documenting the Fall of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci.

-Fugalli, Giovanni. The insurrection of Milan from 25 to 29 April 1945. Documentary. 16 photographic illustrations. [Milan, Italy]: Np, [1945]. 8vo, 16 pp.; forecorner bent. No North American holdings, OCLC. -The End of the Tyrants in Piazza Loreto. [Genoa, Italy]: Np, [1945]. 8vo, 14 pp.; illustrated wraps separated, loss at head, fair. not found in OCLC.

- Dongo! For the first time in the world; an impressive photographic documentation on the end of Mussolini and the hierarchs in Dongo. [Milan, Italy]: [New editions A.], [1951]. 8vo, 32 pp.; profuse b / w illus., reproducing photographs of the assassination, etc. Color illus. stapled wrappers, worn, splitting at spine, fair. Two copies.

- “The Retreat of Death”: Claretta Petacci. [Bologna, Italy]: Np, [1945]. 8vo, [15] pp.; toned, chipped edges, in illus. wrapper, soiled. This impression not in OCLC, a similar booklet, printed in Rome, held by Duke. OCLC finds one North American holding, NYPL.

-Murra, G., and C. Persia. The truth about the twelve days of Mussolina in Ponza. Bologna, Italy: Np, nd, ca. 1945. 8vo, 16 pp.; good, closed tear wrapper front fore-edge. 2 OCLC holdings: Duke, NYPL.

$150

30 Years of Amalgamated Cooperative Housing, 1927-1957

(Cooperative Housing) (Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, AFL-CIO) Amalgamated Housing Corporation. 30 Years of Amalgamated Cooperative Housing, 1927-1957 [title from cover]. [New York]: [Amalgamated Housing Corporation], [1958]. 4to, [30] pp.; profusely illustrated, reproducing b/w photos and color charts; in stapled pictorial wraps, lightly worn, VG.

Sponsored in 1927 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, the Amalgamated Housing Corporation was the first limited equity housing cooperative in the United States. From its first site in the Bronx it eventually grew to encompass additional communities in Manhattan, including Amalgamated Dwellings and Hillman Houses on the Lower East Side.

The narration of Amalgamated’s success is accompanied by photos, maps, floor plans, and infographics that exemplify mid-century graphic design. Introductions by Jacob Potofsky and Abraham Kazan.

$150

Rosalba Carriera per l’inaugurazione delle sale degli autoritratti nella R. Galleria degli Uffizi

Malamani, Vittorio. Rosalba Carriera per l’inaugurazione delle sale degli autoritratti nella R. Galleria degli Uffizi. Rome: Ministero dell’Istruzione Pubblica, 1899. First separate edition. Large 4to, 125 pp.; with illus. facsimile reproductions of Carriera’s letters and 9 plates, most reproducing engravings made after her paintings and pastels, some in color, bound together at rear, contents very good with occasional small marks, pages untrimmed; orig. paper wrpprs. present but separated with significant chipping at edges of both covers, spine lacking. Manuscript presentation inscription on half-title from the author to Riccardo Artoni(?). Together with 3 b/w prints of Carriera’s L’Innocenza (1705; a.k.a. La Giovinetta della Colomba) by Ed. Alinari. Carriera submitted L’Innocenza to the Accademia di San Luca and on the basis of its quality was the first woman admitted to Rome’s all-male academy.

This extract is seemingly the first major monographic work devoted to Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757), and the missing “first edition” to Vittorio Malamani’s later Carriera catalogue (Bergamo: Istituto Italiano d’Arti Grafiche Editore, 1910). Originally published in Le Gallerie nazionali italiane: notizie e documenti 4 (1896-1897), pp. 27-149, it is the first application of modern art historical methods to Carriera’s artwork and career.

On the occasion of the opening of the Uffizi’s new self-portrait gallery, Malamani set out to correct a problem that Carriera’s biographers still encounter: little is known of her early training and her established biography is dependent on both short sentimental elegies published decades after her death and transcriptions of her journals and letters heavily edited by friends, family, and prejudiced translators.

Rare. The 1899 first edition listed by OCLC at only two European institutions, all other holdings are the second edition.

$550

La prostitution [...] et ses multiples aspects

(Sex Work) (Anarchism) Armand, E[mile]. La prostitution, son histoire, sa définition, les conditions de sa disparition et ses multiples aspects. Paris: L’en déhors, 1933. Deuxième tirage. 8vo, 24 pp.; uncut, stapled pictorial wrapper, edges toned and sl. worn.

A pamphlet in support of prostitution and a radical new sexual ethic, including free love and camaraderie amoureuse by individual anarchist Émile Armand. Advertisements on rear wrap and front wrap verso for additional anarchist publications on sexuality and libertinage.

We suspect that this is the first and only edition given that all recorded copies have the same stated “deuxième tirage.”

$150

Le Véritable Guide des Jeunes Amoureux: Nouveaux Recueil des Lettres

(Etiquette) (Love Letters) Le Véritable Guide des Jeunes Amoureux: Nouveaux Recueil des Lettres. Montréal: Librairie Beauchemin Limitée, n.d. (ca. 1902-1908). 5-¾ x 3-⅞ in., 83 pp.; stapled pictorial blue wrapper, chipped at spine, separated at front.

Enchanting guide to romantic letter writing for young men and women. Includes extensive templates for all the awkward circumstances of love from initial introductions to marriage proposals but also multiple examples for rebuffing inappropriate advances, confirming shared affections, requesting a portrait, flirtations, breakups, reconciliations, complaints about absences, favorable and negative responses to marriage proposals, etc.

The publisher Beauchemin was incorporated under the name “Beauchemin Limitée” in 1902, it moved from the title page’s listed premises in 1908. OCLC locates four examples in Canadian institutional holdings, none in the US; some may represent a much later printing (1950s).

$95

Sous la jupe: illustré

Maindouce, G. Sous la jupe: illustré. Paris: Les Éditions du Couvre-Feu, n.d. [ca. 1933-1935]. 8vo, 115 pp.; erotic fiction illustrated with 28 b/w pls., most printed recto, some also verso; in orig. wrapper with color d.j., d.j. beginning to split at spine, edges worn, else very good. D.j. with misprint “Nombreuses illustrations sujestives” [sic] described by Pia.

Éditions Couvre-Feu was one of a number of imprints founded by Léon [a.k.a. Victor?] Vidal under the larger umbrella of his erotic publishing and fashion group, Société des Éditions Gauloises. Couvre-Feu specialized in pseudonymous fetish, sadomasochist, and bondage literature; illustrated with fetish photography by Studio Biederer and from the archives of Vidal’s other business, the lingerie company Diana-Slip, whose catalogue included anonymous fetish images by Brassaï, Kertesz, and Roger Schall.

Several editions bearing the title “Sous la jupe” were issued by Couvre-Feu between 1933-1935. They differ considerably from this rather avant-garde example and priority has not been convincingly established: one was unillustrated, another included extracts of several erotic stories with only scattered illustrations, a third was a promotional list of erotic publications, and an English variation was issued by Éditions Richepanse in 1935. Nevertheless, it is possible to match some of the “detourned” images in this artistic edition to others by the Studio Biederer and from the Diana-Slip catalogues.

Though recorded in Pia, P., Livres de l’Enfer, this version and d.j. seemingly uncommon, OCLC locates no holdings of this edition in North America.

$450

Cine Cubano. Año 1, No. 3 and Año 2, No. 6.

Guevara, Alfredo, Ed. Cine Cubano. Año 1, No. 3 (Nov. 1960) and Año 2, No. 6 (February 1962). La Habana: n.p., 1962. 2 issues, each: 4to, 82 pp.; profusely illustrated review of Cuban and international cinema; some edgewear, creases, or nicks; former with ex-libris stamp on p. 3, latter with loss to top corner of front wrap.

Early issues of the classic revolutionary film journal.

$75

En La Ruta De La Amistad. México 68: Programa cultural de la XIX Olimpiada

Comité Organizador de los Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada. En La Ruta de La Amistad. México 68: Programa cultural de la XIX Olimpiada. México, D.F.: 1968. Spanish edition. Square 8vo, [44] pp.; each artist’s project illus. in b/w with route map and bios, sl. toned; in pictorial color wrappers with design attributed to Lance Wyman, extremities rubbed, fore-edge thumbed; good.

Catalogue of an ambitious public sculpture project designed to “bring contemporary art and the public together through total planning.” All the works were commissioned by an Olympic Committee and executed in concrete. Participants included: (in order of appearance) Ángela Gurría; Willi Gutmann; Miloslav Chlupáč; Kioshi Takahashi; Pierre Székely; Gonzalo Fonseca; Costantino Nivola; Jacques Moeschal; Todd Williams; Grzegorz Kowalski; Clement Meadmore; Herbert Bayer; Joop J Beljon; Itzhak Danziger; Olivier Seguin; Muhhammad Maliihi; Helen Escobedo; and Jorge Dubón. The monumental works lined the “Route of Friendship” leading to the Olympic Stadium. Most remain in their original sites, despite being abandoned by the government.

A scarce iteration of the iconic ‘68 Olympic graphics. New scholarship credits Beatrice Trueblood, director of Olympic publications, and the architect Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, for the design, in addition to Wyman.

$325

Cartilla Maya-Español para los monolingües Mayas de Yucatan, Campeche y Quintana Roo

[Beloff, Angelina. (Illustrator)]. Instituto de Alfabetización en Lenguas Indígenas, México. Cartilla Maya-Español para los monolingües Mayas de Yucatan, Campeche y Quintana Roo. México, D.F.: [Secretaría de Educación Pública], 1946. Small 4to, 102 pp.; illus. reader, unmarked, newsprint pages toned, fragile, and chipped, a few leaves unopened; in color pictorial wraps, with closed tears and losses, fair.

A Maya-Spanish children’s primer, part of the Secretary of Education’s campaign against illiteracy, particularly among indigenous, monolingual populations. These federal initiatives had mixed results and were largely unsuccessful at achieving larger social improvements in rural communities.

This edition illustrated by artists Angelina Beloff and Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, both associated with the muralist movement (Beloff through her marriage to Diego Rivera).

$150

Cuauhtemoc

[Valcárcel, Gustavo and Adolfo Mexiac (Illustrator)]. Cuauhtemoc. Serie Biografia, No. 1. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1956. Small 8vo, 48 pp.; illus. throughout from linocuts and drawings by Mexiac, lightly toned; orig. stapled pictorial wrapper, sl. worn.

A condensed biography of the last Aztec Emperor with bold illustrations by Adolfo Mexiac. From an intended series of indigenous biographies of which only 2 vols. were seemingly published.

OCLC identifies only two copies in US libraries.

$150

¡Vean estos films!

Sovexportfilm. ¡Vean estos films! [cover title]. Moscow: Sovexportfilm (Asociacion URSS para la Exportatcion y La Importacion de Peliculas), ca. 1962. Oblong 4to, [26] leaves; profusely illus., [20] pp. with full-page color illus. advertising Soviet films, further [12] pp. with pockets for loose portrait photos of actors, two per page, approx. half present, heavy wear to edges.; in orig. comb binding, entirety worn with some dampstain at front.

One of many iterations promoting Soviet films to international theaters and audiences, this one a deluxe Spanish version, distributed in Mexico. Advertising a number of famous Soviet movies and stars from 1958-1961.

Not located under this title (or approximate translations) in OCLC.

$125

Mexico

Comité Organizador de la Participación en la Exposición Ibero-Americana de Sevilla, Luis Alberto de Herrera, and Francisco A. Sáenz. Mexico. [Mexico]: Talleres gráficos de la nación, 1929. Oblong 4to, 591 pp.; full-page b/w pls. throughout, paper toned, pls. very good; 3/4 green cloth, corners bumped, paper labels stained.

Large format, encyclopedic album commissioned by the government’s department of propaganda to present the modern political and social structures, and economic successes of post-revolutionary Mexico to an international audience. Lavishly illustrated with tipped-in plates reproducing photographs of government buildings, schools, public transportation, industrial and commercial sites, and public works. Most plates with decorative borders inspired by Aztec designs. The album culminates with images and descriptions of the Mexican pavilion in Sevilla.

An important piece of propaganda describing the massive reforms of the post-revolutionary period, it was published under President Calles’ direction in the year that he founded the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), a time in which the “social revolution” was very much still at risk.

Example 440 of 3000.

$450

U/topistas: Estudio para proyectos contemporaneous

[Art – Puerto Rico] Universidad Sagrado Corazón, Galería de Arte and Michelle Marxuach Galería. U/topistas: Estudio para proyectos contemporaneous. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Michelle Marxuach Galeria; M&M Art Projects, [2000]. 8vo, [78] pp.; color illus., wrappers sl. loosened with small markings on front cover.

Catalog documenting projects by 37 Puerto Rican artists for an exhibit that took place at the Galeria de Arte de Universidad Sagrado Corazon in conjunction with the PUERTO RICO ‘00 (PARENTESIS EN LA CIUDAD) exhibition. Includes early work by Puerto Rican artists Allora & Calzadilla, Ernesto Pujol, Pedro Velez, and others. OCLC locates a single holding (Getty).

$95

A ruptura da fotografia nos anos 50

Oiticica, José Filho. A ruptura da fotografia nos anos 50. Catalogue of an exhibition held at Galeria de Fotografia da Funarte, Rio de Janeiro, January 14 - February 25, 1983. Rio de Janeiro: Edição Funarte, 1983. 4to, 97 pp.; intro by Hélio Oiticica, illus. with 50+ full-page b/w reproductions of photographs; in paper wraps, scuffed, especially spine, else very good.

Uncommon Brazilian photo exhibition catalogue. José (1906-1964) was an entomologist, mathematician, and a photographer who experimented with microphotography, abstraction, and constructivism. He was also the father of renowned artist Hélio Oiticica. Hélio’s introduction in the catalogue was written c. 1967.

$150

Crónicas, documentos, y otros papeles.

(Art—Medicine) ​Slullitel, Isidoro. Crónicas, documentos, y otros papeles. [Rosario, Argentina]: Self-published, 1971. 8vo, 473 pp.; frontispiece b/w reproduction of a woodcut by Juan Grela; paper toned; pink card wraps, worn and splitting, top edge foxed. Gift inscription on half-title from author to the artist Gyula Kosice.

Slullitel was an orthopedist and art collector whose patronage in Rosario extended to both the visual arts and a literary salon. An uncommon volume of his thoughts about the relationship between medicine, art, and culture, with an important association.

Unrecorded in OCLC.

$175

Sol Lewitt

LeWitt, Sol. Sol Lewitt. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Haags Gemeentemuseum 25 July – 30 August, 1970. The Hague: Haags Gemeentemuseum, 1970. Oblong 4to, 64 pp.; b/w illus. throughout; in orig. wraps, rubbed and worn at extremities, bumped corners sl. affecting interior leaves; ex-library with ownership sticker on front cover.

$50

Rauschenberg: Selections

Rauschenberg, Robert. Rauschenberg: Selections. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Fort Worth Art Center Museum, January 5 – February 2, 1969. Fort Worth, TX: Fort Worth Art Center Museum, [1968]. 4to, [46] leaves, incl. intro, descriptive and critical “collage,” [12] plates with b/w reproductions of artworks from the exhibition, exh. checklist, and bio; in orig. pictorial wraps, spine reinforced with tape, splitting at foot; ex-library with shelf mark sticker to front cover.

In a short intro, the museum’s director, Henry T. Hopkins, writes that he wanted to bring a substantial exhibition of the artist’s work to the state where he was born (and where it had rarely been seen). After meeting the artist to discuss the catalogue and face the “vexing problem of more words on art,” they decided to create a kind of collage of previously published writing. “Ideally the mild frustration produced by reading it will be a reminder of the interplay between art and life and as such, a reflection of Rauschenberg’s chosen realm.”

Rauschenberg put similar ideas to work in his well-known Abrams monograph, published the following year.

OCLC locates 6 copies: Amon Carter, College of Idaho, Lake Forest, LACMA, Menil, and Southern Methodist.

$750

¿Qué es la CNT? : La emancipación de los trabajadores será obra de ellos mismos o no será

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, Federación Local de Malaga. ¿Qué es la CNT? : La emancipación de los trabajadores será obra de ellos mismos o no será. Malaga: Libreria Interna Confederal, Federación Local de Malaga, 1978. Oblong 8vo, 26 pp.; stapled pictorial wraps, sl. soiled and creased, ex-library with withdrawn stamp p. 5 not affecting text.

$25

Pedrito Contreras y Juan del Campo

Segui, Pedro. Illustrator. Pedrito Contreras y Juan del Campo. [Argentina]: N.p., [1950]. Oblong 8vo, [16] pp.; color illus. propaganda narrative with one page marked with English; stapled illus. wrapper, colors bright, lightly worn, very good.

Unusual Peronist propaganda illustrated by humorist Pedro Segui. Text defends Peronist nationalization policies from criticisms following rapid inflation and economic isolation.

OCLC lists two holdings: Brown and UMass-Amherst.

$60

Aire. No. 1 (Junio 1937) through No. 4 (Primavera 1938) (all published)

Aire. No. 1 (Junio 1937) through No. 4 (Primavera 1938) (all published). Barcelona: N.p., 1937-1938. 4to, 12-1/2 x 9-3/8 in., four issues: [48], [72], [74], [76] pp.; full-page illustrations throughout, incl. b/w reproductions, experimental typography and design, numerous multicolored printing techniques, with overlays and varied papers, corners bumped with a few creases and scattered toning to interior, No. 1 with horizontal edge loss on two leaves not affecting text or images, No. 4 with small dampstain to forecorner on a few central leaves, not affecting text or images; spiral-bound color pictorial wraps, Nos. 2 and 4 a bit foxed and worn at the edges and wire, No. 1 with small closed tear at foot of front wrap.

A complete run of “one of the most luxurious and visually dynamic publications of the [Spanish Civil] war.” This short-lived avant-garde aviation serial was published during the war under the direction of the Republican Air Force. The contents are antifascist and literary, promoting solidarity with the Popular Front, the USSR, and Mexico. Wartime aviation news is interspersed with articles on artistic and cultural topics, poetry, photo essays, and advertisements. The first issue’s somber and poetic epigraph belies the exuberant graphics: “Al hombre le nacieron alas … Cuando conquisto el cielo, quiso destruir la tierra.”

Artist Salvador Ortiga, known for his political graphics, was responsible for the dramatic covers and probably much of the design. Ortiga was arrested at the end of the war and died in a notorious Nationalist prison camp in 1939.

An oft-cited highlight of Guerra Civil print culture, rare complete. OCLC lists three North American holdings: UI-UC, UPenn, and Princeton.

See Jordan Mendelson, Revistas y Guerra, 1936-1939, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2007.

$2800

Nosotros: [Revista Mensual Anarquista]

(Giménez Igualda, Miguel). Nosotros: [Revista Mensual Anarquista]. Nos. 1 [Oct. 1937] and 5 (Feb. 1938). Valencia: Editorial Guerri, 1937-38. Two issues, 4to, each 48 pp.; paper wrappers toned with spotting, no. 5 corner bent, affecting a few subsequent pages, minor interior foxing.

Two of five issues of the short-lived serial published by anarchist Miguel Giménez Igualda during a critical period in the Spanish Civil War. Most of its articles are attributed to one of Giménez’s pseudonyms or to French anarchists including Han Ryner; Giménez was also associated with the international Teatro del Pueblo movement (no. 1 reprints materials related to Isaac Steinberg, [Rodolfo González] Pacheco, and the Teatro del Pueblo in Barcelona). Other content focuses on anarchist philosophy; arts; and antifascism.

OCLC finds no physical holdings in North America.

$250

Sun Annual

(Nudism) Sun Annual. Nos. 1-3 (all published?). [Mays Landing, NJ]: Sunshine Publishing, [1959-1961]. Square 8vo, each 96 pp.; profusely illus. with b/w reproductions of nudist photography and a few color spreads, in stapled color pictorial wraps, covers lightly worn, else very good.

An annual roundup of international “social nudism” by the publishers of Sun Magazine. Photo essays and texts explore nudist vacations in the US and Europe, with topics relevant to foreign customs and campgrounds. A number of essays are of special interest: including the value of the Polaroid to the nudist community, a lengthy review of the “first” nudist movie, “Nature’s Paradise” (1959), and sociological commentary about the evolving nudist movements in Britain, Denmark, and France: “The Silent Revolution.”

OCLC locates two holdings, at least one complete: Indiana (Kinsey) and Rutgers.

$350

Instruction chrétienne pour l’éducation des filles

​(Maintenon, Francoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de.) D. R., Abbé. Instruction chrétienne pour l’éducation des filles, tirée des maximes de l’Evangile, des SS. Pères et des conciles. Dédié à Madame de Maintenon. Paris: Urbain Coustelier, 1687.

12mo, [26], 429, [6] pp.; engraved frontispiece, with engraved vignette and numerous head- and tail-pieces and initials; in contemporary calf, spine with raised bands, gilt stamped panels, worn and chipped at ends, corners, and front hinge, joints weakened but holding, interior good with scattered darkening, one brief, marginal worm hole, small repair to frontispiece. Contemporary ownership inscriptions(?) on front pastedown and ff, possibly 17th- or 18th-century; child-like ink lettering of Madame de Maintenon’s name, also possibly 17th- or 18th-cent, beneath frontispiece portrait.

Françoise d’Aubigné (1635-1719), Marquise de Maintenon, has been an object of popular fascination for three centuries. She was Louis XIV’s second wife and governess to his illegitimate children (later legitimized). The couple married secretly in late 1683 or early 1684, following the death of Queen Marie-Thérèse. Maintenon moved into the royal apartments at Versailles and lived there until Louis XIV’s death. Although her legacy is controversial, the Marquise was a skilled educator and used her position to found the first royal school for girls at Saint-Cyr. It opened in the newly built Maison Royal de Saint-Louis in 1686.

This treatise was dedicated to her just months later; a significant moment since it closely coincided with Louis XIV’s Edict of Fontainbleau, rescinding religious freedoms for the Protestant Huguenots, and for which the Marquise was publicly blamed (and mocked across Northern Europe). Her religious beliefs were a topic of scandalous speculation, since her father had been persecuted for Protestant heresies, but this book and her work at Saint-Cyr are evidence for her pragmatism. Her connection of the Christian education of girls to the king’s anti-Protestant campaign ensured the success of the school for a generation. The author’s arguments also reflect a shift in France away from secular girls schools toward religious education.

The present portrait of Maintenon presents another mystery, since there are no verified images of the Marquise as a young woman. It is likely that this is one of the earliest copies of a fictive engraving published by Pierre Giffart near the time of her marriage to the king. (See Henri Gelin, “Etude Iconographique of Madame Maintenon,” in Mémoires: Notes et Documents (Société historique et scientifique des Deux –Sèvres, 1907: 115-240.)

Institutionally scarce, OCLC locates two copies in North America: Northwestern and Toronto.

$950

Study for a bas-relief sculpture for Las Cristalerías Rigolleau

Soler y Manonelles, Urbici. Sketch for “La Llama,” unrealized(?) bas-relief sculpture for Las Cristalerías Rigolleau, Buenos Aires, 1928. 7-7/8 x 9-1/16 in., pencil and white gouache on paper, very good, small closed tear to right edge. Signed lower right. With typed, detached caption identifying artist, date, and project, in Spanish.

Soler (1890-1953) was a classically trained Catalan sculptor involved in the Noucentisme movement. In 1925, influential Argentinian architect and urban planner Jorge Bunge invited him to Buenos Aires to collaborate on the ornamentation of a number of public buildings.This sketch may have been part of a proposed series of overdoor bas-relief panels for the headquarters of the glassmaker Cristalerías Rigolleau, a building designed by Bunge. The actual, finished panels represent various stages of traditional glassmaking in a style that differs greatly from this allegorical sketch.

Soler remained in Argentina until 1930, after which he traveled throughout the Americas, completing important important commissions in Peru, Mexico, and the US. Prevented from returning home by the Spanish Civil War, he lived a peripatetic life until eventually settling in El Paso, Texas, where he continued to work and teach until his death. El Paso is also the site of his most famous sculpture, Cristo Rey, commissioned as an anticommunist monument by a Catalan priest who led a congregation in Smeltertown.

$125

Art: The Independent Review. No. 1 (Dec. 1987) and No. 2 (Mar. 1988)

[Art] [South Africa] Hitge, Margaret, Ed. Art: The Independent Review. No. 1 (Dec. 1987) and No. 2 (Mar. 1988). Broederstroom, South Africa: Bruce Attwood, 1987-1988.

Two issues, 8vo, 96 pp. and 92 pp.; profusely illus. with b/w and color reproductions; color illus. wrappers, No. 1 shaken, front wrapper rubbed, with creases and closed tears.

Nearly complete run (lacking final issue) of scarce arts serial by artists; straight talk with relatively informal reviews and discussion of political and artistic realities of South African art world in the late 1980s. Essays and advertisements express deep anti-apartheid views, but also reflect positions of privilege. Notable articles include “Across the Color Line,” by David Koloane and “Women Artists Need Wives,” by Judith Mason.

OCLC finds only 2 incomplete holdings in North America, one complete run in the world.

$150

Willem Sandberg. Three Stedelijk Museum Exhibition Catalogues, 1935-1941.

[Willem Sandberg]. Three Stedelijk Museum Exhibition Catalogues, 1935-1941.

Three catalogues designed by the celebrated graphic designer, curator, director of the Stedelijk, and member of the Dutch Resistance, Willem Sandberg.

1. Stedelijk Museum. Bouwkunst en verwante kunsten: tentoonstelling, georganiseerd door de Tentoonstellingsraad voor bouwkunst en verwante kunsten, ter gelegenheid van het 80-jarig jubileum van het genootschap Architectura et Amicitia, van 23 Nov. t/m. 15 Dec. 1935, in het Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam. Amsterdam: Architectura et Amicitia, [1935]. 8vo, 63, [5] pp.; exhibition catalog of Dutch architecture and applied arts with graphics and typography by Willem Sandberg, illustrated throughout, with orig. illus. color wrpps., a bit rubbed with small closed split at front hinge, unobtrusive contemporary stamp on front cover, “Kunst ...”

Includes an introduction by architect M.J. Granpré Molière and checklist of the exhibition. A very rare catalogue with an exemplary abstract cover design by Sandberg. OCLC locates only 1 US holding: Columbia Univ.

2. Stedelijk Museum and C.W.H. Baard. 40 jaar Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam: Tentoonstelling van Hedendaagsche, Monumentale Kunst, 14 September – 13 October 1935. [Amsterdam]: [Stedelijk Museum], [1935]. 8vo, 51 pp.; exhibition catalogue with forward by Stedelijk director C.W.H. Baard and 24 b/w pls. reproducing works from the checklist, color wrpps. designed by Willem Sandberg, sl. darkened, small numbered tag on spine.

“Ontwerp Sandberg” printed in lowercase on rear wrapper. OCLC finds 7 copies in North America, only 2 outside museum libraries (Harvard and Toronto).

3. Stedelijk Museum and J Q van Regteren Altena, et al. In Holland staat een huis: het interieur van 1800 tot heden : tentoonstelling in het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Juli-October 1941. Amsterdam: Satdsdrukkerij, [1941]. Oblong 8vo, 64 pp.; WWII-era exhibition catalogue with impassioned introduction the history of Dutch interior design followed by room-by-room descriptions with photographic illus. (arranged chronologically by alphabet from 1800-1940), in color wrpps. with folding floor-plan of exhibition in rear wrapper, typography and design by Willem Sandberg, some edge-wear. OCLC records 8 North American institutional holdings.

$175

Çayir Yapraklari (Leaves of Grass)

​Whitman, Walt. Trans. Suat Tașer. Çayir Yapraklari [Leaves of Grass]. Ankara: Buket Basimevi, 1961. Oblong 12mo unfolds to 6 x 23 cm; 19 pp. excerpted translations from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, incl. 5 pp. intro. (in translation) by prominent American editor and socialist Max Eastman; color illus. wrpps. toned with two small stains (one from staple) on front wrap. Signed and inscribed by Taser, an important poet and political activist, on the first leaf.

Scarce, OCLC finds only 3 copies in North America.

$325

Sala Permanente de Artes Plásticas de Cuba

Habana: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, n.d. (ca. 1955). 4to, 16 pp.; chiefly illustrations, with text describing the national collection of modern Cuban art and its installation in the brand new Palace of Fine Arts, designed by architect Alfonso Rodríguez Pichardo in color illus. wrpps., fair: rubbed with creases and warping, some small losses and a damp-stain affecting several pages (but not the images). Includes list of painters, sculptors, and printmakers whose work was publicly exhibited in this first iteration of the museum.

Very scarce celebration of Cuban modern art museum. OCLC locates 3 copies in North America.

$325