Frieze Masters 2023 | Shapero Modern

Shapero MODERN

FRIEZE MASTERS 2023

Shapero MODERN

Frieze Masters 2023

+44 (0)20 3693 2197 modern@shapero.com

www.shaperomodern.com

41-43 Maddox Street London W1S 2PD

modern prints

1. LICHTENSTEIN, Roy. Imperfect (Corlett 223), from Imperfect Series, 1988

£60,000 [ref: 102163] Roy Lichtenstein created the ‘Imperfect’ series between 1986 and 1988 alongside the renowned Californian printmakers, Gemini G.E.L. The series combines the techniques of woodcut and screenprint, each piece also with areas of metalised Mylar collage elements. It was an ambitious project due to the unusually vast sheets of paper Lichtenstein chose to print on, giving each piece with a commanding presence on a wall. The present work is a geometric abstraction of eccentric shapes, some of which even pierce the boarders of the image’s edges. By incorporating different panels of ben-day dots, block-colours, stripes and metalised surfaces, Lichtenstein creates the illusion of a multifaceted surface. This complex design, coupled with the way the 2D shapes appear to pierce their printed boundaries, cleverly creates a sculptural, 3-D appearance.

Woodcut, screenprint and collage in colours, 1988, on 3-ply Supra 100 paper, signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 45, printed

by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, published by Gemini G.E.L. Los Angeles, with their blindstamps, inkstamp and workshop number RL87-1156 verso, 170.6 x 230 cm. (67¼ x 90½ in.) Corlett 223.

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2. LICHTENSTEIN, Roy. Imperfect (Corlett 222), from Imperfect Series, 1988

£85,000 [ref: 100826] Woodcut and screenprint with collage in colours, 1988, on 3-ply Supra 100 paper, signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition 45, printed and published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, with their blindstamps, inkstamp and workshop number RL87-1152 verso, 170.2 x 202.9 cm. (67 x 80 in.) Corlett 222.

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3. PIC A SSO, Pablo. Françoise aux Cheveux Ondulés, 1946

£95,000 [ref: 109831] Shortly after the Second World War, Picasso returned to the medium of lithography whilst working at Fernand Mourlot’s studio in Paris. His lithographic portraits of his current muse and lover, Françoise Gilot, produced during this time are particularly fine. Picasso enjoyed the flexibility of lithography as it allowed him to showcase the sequential development of stages in one work and thus show the workings of his mind as he progressed. He famously remarked ‘the movement of my thoughts interests me more than the thought itself’. The present image, amongst the others of Gilot in this series served as ways in which Picasso could understand and capture her multiple personalities and moods.

Here he has used the freedom of the lithographic crayon to simplify Gilot’s features into free-flowing, minimal lines encouraging the viewer to focus on her state of mind within, instead of just regarding her beauty.

Lithograph, 1946, on Arches watermarked wove paper, signed by the artist in pencil, inscribed ‘epreuve d’artiste’, one of six artist’s proofs, aside from the edition of 50, printed by Mourlot, Paris, 65 x 50 cm.

(25½ x 19¾ in.) Mourlot 47; Bloch 403.

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4. PICASSO, Pablo. Françoise, 1946

£70,000 [ref: 109830] Françoise Gilot was both Picasso’s lover and artistic muse during their ten year relationship (1943-1953).

She was just 21 years old when they met in Paris and despite their 40 year age gap, Picasso was consumed by Gilot; her vitality and distinguished beauty were what most attracted him to her after he had grown tired of his previous mistress, Dora Maar. When depicting Gilot, Picasso relished in taking her striking features and transforming them from a true likeness to a simplified abstraction to encourage the viewer to focus on her state of mind rather than her surface beauty. The women in Picasso’s life have always played an important role in his creative expression, whether that be in an emotional or erotic dimension, the tumultuous nature of his relationships were a vital influence to his artistic process.

Lithograph, 1946, on Arches watermarked wove paper, signed by the artist in pencil, inscribed ‘epreuve d’artiste’, an artist’s proof (Mourlot calls for five proofs), aside from the edition of 50, printed by Mourlot, Paris, 65 x 50 cm. (25½ x 19¾ in.) Mourlot 46; Bloch 402.

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5. PICASSO, Pablo. Françoise,

1946

£125,000 [ref: 107948] Françoise Gilot was Pablo Picasso’s muse and lover during the period 1943-1953. This decade spent together was to be one of the most transformative periods of Picasso’s artistic career; Europe was emerging from World War II, the artist left Paris for his first residence in the South of France at Vallauris and he and Gilot became parents to children Claude and Paloma. Françoise Gilot was just twenty-one years old and an art student in Paris when she first met Picasso, presenting a fortyyear age gap between the couple.

Picasso had grown tired of his then mistress Dora Maar and swiftly became consumed with Gilot’s striking beauty and vitality.

He created numerous portraits of Gilot throughout their relationship, often in a hyper-stylised, abstract manner. In this lithograph, Picasso uses his simplified mark-making to capture her characteristic dark arching eyebrows, luscious locks and youthful doe-eyed face.

Lithograph, 14 June 1946, on Arches wove paper, signed in pencil by the artist, numbered from the edition of 50, 64 x 49.5 cm. (25¼ x 19½ in.)

Bloch 399; Mourlot 43; Reuße 150.

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6. PIC A SSO, Pablo. Portrait de

Femme II, 1955

£65,000 [ref: 107075] This abstract, three-quarter profile is of Picasso’s second wife, Jacqueline Roque. The couple met during the summer of 1952 whilst Roque was working at Georges and Suzanne Ramié’s Madoura pottery works in Vallauris, the studio where Picasso made his ceramics in the South of France. The couples love endured until the artist’s death in 1973, Picasso adored Jacqueline so much so that for seventeen of the twenty years the couple spent together - the longest relationship of Picasso’s life - Roque was the only female Picasso painted.

When Picasso embarked on his late, great period, his biographer John Richardson succinctly defined and characterised as ‘l’époque Jacqueline.’

In this lithograph, Picasso bestows Roque with an elegant, sphinx-like appearance. The straight line of the nose which extends directly from the forehead to the tip is particularly evocative of these ancient Egyptian sculptures, as well as in the calm gaze in her characteristically almondshaped eyes.

Lithograph, 1955, on Arches wove paper, signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 50, printed by Mourlot, Paris, published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 66.4 x 50 cm. (26⅛ x 19¾ in.) Bloch 780; Mourlot 272.

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7. PIC A SSO, Pablo. Bouquet

dans un Vase, 1959

£30,000 [ref: 107708] When Picasso moved to the Côte d’Azur in the 1950s he found it harder to produce etchings and lithographs as both required specialist equipment, however it was not long before he met the local printmaker Hidalgo Arnéra who introduced him to the linocut process. Together the artist-printmaker duo created the groundbreaking ‘reduction method’ of linocutting, where only a single piece of linoleum was required to print each colour one wanted to use.

During this decade, Picasso’s linocuts are characterised by their wonderfully rich colours and bold patterning as shown here in ‘Bouquet dans un Vase’. The classical motif of a still-life is simplified to suit the sweeping, fluid lines of Picasso’s modernist linocut. Inspired by his surroundings in Vallauris, Picasso limited his palette to terracotta colours to emulate the sun-baked villages of the South of France and the hues of his clay ceramics which he was producing at the same time.

Linocut in colours, 1959, on watermarked Arches paper, signed in pencil, artist’s proof aside from the standard edition of 50, printed by Imprimerie Arnéra, published by Galerie Louise Leiris, 75.1 x 62.1 cm. (29½ x 24½ in.)

Bloch 0914; Baer 1242 third state of three, III.b (of C)

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8. STELLA , Frank. Swan

Engraving Circle I, State V, 1983

£22,500 [ref: 108234] Swan Engraving Circle I is linked to Stella’s wider series called Circuits (1980-84), whereby all the artworks are linked through the theme of fragmentation.

Swan Engravings is one of Stella’s most extensive printmaking projects to date, including twenty-five prints published over three years. The name for the series itself comes from the Swan Engraving Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut with whom Stella worked with.

The present work was printed using both the methods of intaglio and relief printmaking and incorporated metal scraps and etched magnesium fragments that Stella found lying around in the Swan Engraving Company.

Stella’s incorporation of varying elements – fragmented shapes, lace patterns, letters and numerals – reminds us of early20th century cubist collages.

Once the metal collages were assembled, ink was applied and printed; the relief elements of the plates created a raised, embossed effect in each print. Stella’s style was lively and spontaneous, he never hesitated when assembling the plate nor in the printing process itself, often completing the entire process in a single day in ‘one hit’.

Etching, relief and engraving in colours, 1983, on light mauve TGL handmade paper with their blindstamp lower centre, signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 5, published by Tyler Graphics Ltd., New York, 132.1 cm. (52 in.) diameter Axsom 165e

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9. STELLA , Frank. Atvatabar I, 1995

£185,000 [ref: 107174] At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century fantastical tales of other worlds and eras began to grip the imaginations of the public. The title Atvatabar I references the science-fiction story The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw. The story is based on the theory that the planet on which we live is a hollow shell that is one thousand miles in thickness within which are entire continents and oceans that are all lit by an interior sun. Within this fictional earth, fifty million people worship a living goddess of surpassing beauty named Atvatabar. Stella’s circular composition confines an abundance of abstract forms and structures, referencing the book’s advanced social, philosophical and religious matrix that exist within the earth’s interior walls. Given this piece is part of Stella’s Imaginary Places series, it is not surprising that Bradshaw’s book has earned its place, praised to be one of greatest imaginative efforts put forth by a modern writer.

Unique acrylic, resin, formed paper and fiberglass, 1995, signed and dated on the relief centre left: ‘F. Stella, 95’, 136.5 x 137.2 cm. (53¾ x 54 in.)

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1 0. TWOMBLY, Cy. Five Greek Poets and a Philosopher, 1978

£60,000 [ref: 102242] Cy Twombly rose to fame in 1950s New York, with a new, graffiti-like style influenced by the work of surrounding Abstract Expressionists, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell. In 1957, a life-changing move to the city of Rome sparked the creation of Twombly’s, now iconic, unique pictorial language. Twombly suddenly found himself enlightened by the city’s ancient art, its classical history, mythology and poetry, as well as the desire to record his own lived experience. The current piece is the amalgamation of all he had absorbed: a fusion of the written word and mark making, raw and energetic in style, evidently inspired by ancient mythology and poetry yet true to his graffiti-like roots.

Complete set of seven lithographs with embossment, 1978, on Richard de Bas mould-made paper, initialled and numbered in pencil from the edition of 40 verso, printed by Matthieu Studio, Zurich-Deilsdorf, published by Propylaen Verlag, 65 x 50 cm. (19¾ x 25½ in.)Catalogue Raisonne: Bastian 67-73.

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11. WARHOL, Andy. Tomato Soup, from Campbell’s Soup I, 1968

POA [ref: 109835] Warhol’s ‘Campbell’s Soup’ has become a defining emblem of American consciousness. ‘Tomato Soup’ was first created by Warhol in 1962 as one of the 32 paintings of Campbell’s soup flavours exhibited in his first solo show at Fergus Gallery in Los Angeles. The series, which Warhol reproduced prolifically throughout his career in the form of screenprints, attempted to capture the mechanical process of production that challenges the beliefs of how ‘high-art’ is created. In the 1970s, some of his prints were even handed out for free at exhibitions, or printed onto tote bags, which people blue-tacked onto their wall or used as shopping bags. The series is also an ode to post-war consumerism and food marketing, Warhol said of Campbell’s soup, ‘I used to drink it. I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and over again’.

Screenprint in colours, 1968, on wove paper, signed in ball-point pen and numbered with a rubber stamp, verso, from the edition of 250 (there were also 26 artist’s proofs lettered A-Z), printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., Inc., New York, published by Factory Additions, New York, 88.9 x 58.4 cm. (35 x 23 in.) Feldman and Schellmann II. 46

12. WARHOL, Andy. Cheddar Cheese, from Campbell’s Soup II, 1969

£65,000 [ref: 107059] Screenprint in colours, 1969, on wove paper, signed in ball-point pen and numbered with a rubber stamp verso, from the edition of 250 (there were also 26 artist’s proofs lettered A-Z), printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., Inc., New York, published by Factory Additions, New York, 88.9 x 58.4 cm.

(35 x 23 in.) Feldman & Schellmann II.63.

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1 3. WARHOL, Andy. Queen Elizabeth II, from Reigning Queens, 1985

POA [ref: 109829] The present work is one of four portraits forming Warhol’s renowned portfolio ‘Reigning Queens’. Completed towards the end of his life, the portfolio is considered one of his most notable and iconic works.

Queen Elizabeth II of England, Queen Beatrix of Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland were all chosen by Warhol because they had each assumed their thrones through birthright. Warhol was fascinated by the fame, and sometimes the infamy, of global figures and political leaders, but arguably more so by the feminine power.

He chose the official photograph of the Queen released for her Silver Jubilee in 1977 to create this screenprint and then overlaid abstract blocks of colour and off-register line drawing to transform the portrait into a work of Pop Art. His use of official state portraiture - the kind that often appeared on stamps and currency – emphasises Warhol’s interest in the power of an image, notably its mass production and repetition, making ‘Reigning Queens’ a series that succinctly encapsulates a number of Warhol’s enduring fascinations throughout his career.

Screenprint in colours, 1985, on Lenox Museum Board, signed in pencil, one of 10 artist’s proof, aside from the standard edition of 40, printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, published by George C. P. Mulder, Amsterdam, 100 x 80 cm. (39¼ x 3¼ in.) Feldman & Schellmann II.334

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14. WARHOL, Andy. Queen Ntombi

Twala, from Reigning Queens, 1985

POA [ref: 109735] Queen Ntombi Twala is one of four portraits which makeup Warhol’s renowned portfolio Reigning Queens, 1985. Each of the four Queens were chosen by the artist because they assumed their thrones through birthright. Queen Ntombi Twala remains the current ruling monarch of Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) along with her son and is considered an important, powerful addition to Warhol’s series as the only non-European Queen.

Using his characteristic vibrant colour blocking and off-register line drawing technique, Warhol has transformed this regal state portrait into one that is distinctly ‘Pop’. In this transformation, Warhol is further building on the regal status of Queen Ntombi to that of international pop-culture stardom. In the present piece, Warhol is showcasing his mastery of off-register line drawing to enhance the elements of her jewelry and crown, drawing attention to the sitter’s prestige. The Reigning Queens portfolio highlights Warhol’s lifelong fascination with female icons as powerful global figures as well as his preoccupation with the proliferation of their image.

Unique screenprint in colours, 1985, on Lenox Museum Board, signed in pencil, numbered and inscribed ‘TP’ a unique trial proof, aside from the standard edition of 40, printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, New York, published by George C. P. Mulder, Amsterdam, 100 x 80 cm. (39¼ x 31½ in.)

Feldman & Schellmann IIB.346-349

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books

signed by the artist 1 5. B A SQUIAT, Jean-Michel. Drawings. Zurich, Gallery Bruno Bischofberger, 1985.

£8,500 [ref: 110000] A catalogue from the exhibition of Basquiat’s work at the Gallery Bruno Bischofberger in Küsnacht/Zurich and at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York. The works exhibited were from his travels abroad during the winter of 1982/83.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 22, 1960. He began his career making street art composed of enigmatic writings on buildings and walls in downtown Manhattan in the late 1970s. His work quickly rose to the spotlight, and by the early 1980s he gained the attention and acclaim of galleries and museums internationally. In what is often classified as a neoexpressionist style, Basquiat drew on social and political themes like systematic racism, identity politics and commodity culture. The artist died at the age of 27 on August 12, 1988 in his studio on Great Jones Street in New York City.

Limited edition, one of 1000 numbered and signed copies; oblong folio (35.5 x 26.5 cm); with one photographic portrait by James van der Zee and 32 colour plates; publisher’s cloth binding with dust-jacket, minute wear with a small tear to top of jacket, otherwise a near-fine example.

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16. BERLÈSE Abbé Lorenzo. Iconographie du genre camellia ou description et figures des camellia les plus belles et les plus rares peints d’après nature dans les Serres et sous la direction de M. L’Abbé Berlèse par M.J.-J. Jung. Paris, Abbé de Sainte-Rose, [1839-]1841-1843.

£47,500 [ref: 107400] An exquisitely bound copy of Berlèse’s monograph on the camellia with superb coloured engravings, from the celebrated Fairhaven Library.

Abbé Lorenzo Berlèse (1784-1863) was an Italian priest who became fascinated with the camellia plant upon his move to Paris, where he was to be a chaplain. Camellias captured the Western imagination when travellers to Japan and China would return with the so-called ‘Japan rose’. It was named camellia by Carl Linneaus, and began to be cultivated successfully and in larger numbers toward the end of the eighteenth century.

Berlèse accumulated a significant collection of camellias over twenty years, eventually deciding to record them in the present monograph. J.J. Jung, a lesser known artist, engraved the plates in a striking style, affirming the strong influence of Redouté over botanical works of this period.

The Fairhaven Library was renowned for the excellence of its books, featuring the great classics of illustrated natural history in fine fresh condition.

Provenance: Henry Rogers Broughton, Second Baron Fairhaven (armorial bookplate).

First edition. 3 volumes, folio (35.7 x 25.9 cm.) 300 fine stipple-engraved plates, partially printed in colour and finished by hand, contemporary navy calf with gilt romantic style decoration, spines gilt in compartments, pink watered silk endpapers, occasional light spotting. a few plates lightly toned. Nissen BBI 150; Dunthorne 30; Great Flower Books, p. 50 Shapero Rare Books

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superb collection of 183 botanical watercolour drawings 17. [BOTANICAL WATERCOLOURS]. Hortus botanicus. Vienna c.1810-1820.

£375,000 [ref: 108342] This unique collection of fine botanical watercolours follows the Linnaean system. The manuscript heading for each genus and species indicates where in Karl Ludwig Willdenow’s comprehensive and influential revision of Linnaeus’s Species plantarum (Berlin, 1797-1805) each plant appears. Willdenow revised some of Linnaeus’s classifications and the contents leaves note these changes. The Linnaean class numbers are labelled on the spines, as follows: 3.2; 5.1; 5.2; 5.4; 7-8-9; 10.1; 11; 14.2; 16.1; 16.2; 17.1; 19.1; 19.2; 19.3; 21.1; 21.12; 24.2. The final volume in this set contains fungi, though without any Willdenow references as his revision of Linnaeus was not completed.

The fine watercolour drawings all contain the details of their sources, with the name of the original artist in the lower left corner and the printed source in the lower right hand corner; a few also have manuscript notes on the verso indicating if, for example, the seed pods are not shown. The artist of these exceptional drawings is unknown.

The bulk of the plates are taken from Jacquin’s numerous works, in particular Icones plantarum rariores (1781-1793), Florae Austriacae (17731778) and Plantarum rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis (1797-1804), along with Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis (1789), Curtis’s Botanical Magazine and Flora Londinensis, Oeder’s Flora Danica, Scopoli’s Deliciae florae et faunae insubricae (1786) and Cavanilles’s Monadelphiae classis dissertationes decem (1790). Other significant botanical works are also mentioned, including Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis, Rheede tot Drakenstein’s Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, Roxburgh and Banks’s works on the plants of Coromandel, Waldstein and Kitaibel’s Descriptiones et icones plantarum rariorum Hungariae (1802-1812), and Pallas’s Flora Rossica.

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The paper is all Dutch and datable to the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century, with various watermarks from the makers C&J Honig, J. Kool, J. Villedary and D. & C. Blauw.

17 volumes (from a set of 33, volumes numbered 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 18, 20-22, 24-26, 28, 29, 33), folio (430 x 301mm.), a total of 1983 watercolour botanical drawings, some drawings double-page, some plates on shorter paper with extended margins, manuscript contents page at the start of each genus with the reference to Willdenow’s edition of Series plantarum (whose publication dates between 1797 and 1805 are noted in the top left-hand corner, with the entry number from Willdenow given in the top right), contemporary quarter morocco over cloth boards bound by E.L. Geyer of Vienna (with tickets), flat spines elaborately gilt, leaves uncut, marbled endpapers, some light foxing at margins (not affecting illustrations), spines and boards lightly discoloured, extremities rubbed TBC Shapero Rare Books

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signed by the author and artist 18. C ALDER, Alexander; PRÉVERT, Jacques. Fêtes. Paris, Maeght, 1971.

£12,500 [ref: 108821] Complete portfolio of Fêtes, with seven aquatints and the original wrappers designed by Calder.

Fêtes is a prose poem by French author Jacques Prévert, honoring Calder’s remarkable achievements as a modern artist. Prévert explained that Calder is a ‘sorcerer…of happiness’, one whose art is a “pleasure of eyes and heart.” Prévert was struck by Calder’s seemingly effortless process, in which spontaneity, originality, and pure freedom of expression made him unclassifiable.

In preparing the illustrations for this project, Calder devised an unconventional technique for printing the brilliantly coloured aquatints that accompany Prévert’s text. Calder first made a preliminary drawing in colour, and then cut sheet metal that had been prepared in aquatint to match the drawing. The various metal forms served as printing surfaces, which were laid out on a press and colours applied. The metal plates were then run through the press, transferring the colour to the paper, while simultaneously embossing the sheet.

Limited edition, one of 150 copies on vélin d’Arches, this numbered 75, from a total edition of 225, signed by the author and artist in pencil on the justification; folio (46 x 34 cm); complete portfolio of 7 aquatints in colour after Calder; loose in the original engraved wrapper with Calder’s design, original orange cloth box, title in black to spine, corner bumped and partly faded, a fine copy.

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from the collection of the 5th Duke of Marlborough 19. [CHINESE SCHOOL]. Album of watercolours of flowers, fruit and silkworms. Circa 1800.

£150,000 [ref: 108333] A sumptuous collection of mounted watercolours depicting Chinese silkworm cultivation, birds (including parrots), Asian fruits and multiple species of flowers; the work of exceptionally fine draughtsmanship from a Chinese school. Stylistic variety suggests a number of hands. The Chinese characters on the painting of silkworms read Quan Yuan Hao Jian Bo, meaning a shop (the first three characters) that sells silk foil (the last two characters). The spines of two volumes are labelled ‘Flowers’, and the third is labelled ‘Silk Worms, Fruits &c’.

From the library of George Spencer-Churchill, fifth Duke of Marlborough (1766-1840). The armorial design on the covers exhibit the coronet of a marquess indicating that the albums were bound whilst the Duke was Marquess of Blanford. He had a famed library at Whiteknights Park, near Reading, which was sold in 1819 due to financial difficulties exacerbated by his extravagant lifestyle. At Whiteknights the Duke had established the gardens as some of the most renowned in England at the time, richly described by Barbara Hofland in A Descriptive Account of the Mansion and Gardens of White-Knights, 1819. They featured a folly of a ruined Gothic chapel, exotic botanicals imported from China and India and a Chinese temple. He was a passionate botanist, and much of his library reflected this love for natural history, this rare collection of watercolours being no exception. Lord Macartney’s Embassy to China in 1793, saw the opening up of the Imperial lands to the West, so it is likely that these drawings were produced in the last decade of the eighteenth or the first decade of the nineteenth century.

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John William Fordham Johnson (1866-1938) was a British-born Canadian businessman, who became Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia in 1931.

Provenance: George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (armorial binding); Whiteknights Library sale, Part I, 7 June 1819, lot 3596, for £140; Fordham Johnson (bookplate).

3 vols, folio (50.9 x 37.4 cm); 244 mounted watercolours of flowers, fruit, birds and silkworms on Chinese paper, comprising vol.1: 82 drawings of flowers, vol.2: 82 drawings of flowers, vol.3: 8 drawings of silkworms, 7 of parrots, 59 of fruit/flowers, 6 of junks, nineteenth-century russia gilt, gilt armorial of George Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford (later 5th Duke of Marlborough), light foxing to a few plates, one volume rebacked retaining original spine, one volume with light water stain to upper cover, lightly scratched, some loss of leather to spine.

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one of 120 copies - signed by Christo 20. CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE; SCHELLMANN, Jorg. Wrapped Book Modern Art [with] Modern Art: From PostImpressionism to the Present (unwrapped copy) [and] Christo Prints and Objects, 1963-1987: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, Abrams Original Editions; Abbeville Press, 1978; 1988.

£15,000 [ref: 109220] The book Modern Art by Sam Hunter and John Jacobus wrapped in transparent polyethylene with light natural fibre rope and jute string, signed by Christo in black felt-tip pen on the wrapper, numbered 40/120 (total edition includes 20 artist’s proofs). This is accompanied by an unwrapped, readable first edition copy of Modern Art in fine condition.

‘Christo made this edition to help fund the publication of the book Christo: Running Fence by Calvin Tomkins, David Bourdon, and Gianfranco Gorgoni, published by Harry N. Abrams, New York.’ (Schellmann 95) Christo began wrapping and packaging objects in the late 1950s. His early works made use of items from daily life – such as books and boxes – which he draped, folded and bound in fabric. Later he collaborated with his wife Jeanne-Claude to wrap entire buildings and environments. While visually the folds of fabric in their works refer to classical forms from art history, the process of wrapping relates more broadly to cultural practices of preserving, shrouding and concealing. Also included is Schellmann’s Christo Prints and Objects, 1963-1987: A Catalogue Raisonné.

First edition, number 40 of 120 copies (total edition includes 20 artist’s proofs), signed by Christo; wrapped by the artist in transparent polyethylene with light natural fibre rope and jute string, the wrapping undisturbed, housed in a custom cream cloth drop-back box together with an unwrapped, readable copy of Modern Art, a fine example; [with] Prints and Objects: first edition; 4to; over 180 illustrations, 66 in colour, very slight age-toning; publisher’s black cloth, silver lettering to spine and upper cover, with the pictorial dustjacket, slightly toned, else near-fine. Schellmann 95.

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one of 150 copies 21. EISLER, Max. Gustav Klimt. An Aftermath. Vienna, Staatsdruckerei, 1931.

£27,500 [ref: 109837] This spectacular portfolio preserves six of Klimt’s paintings that were destroyed at the end of the Second World War. Sixteen of Klimt’s paintings were in storage in the Schloss Immendorf, a 16th-century castle in Lower Austria, which was set on fire by a retreating tank division of the German army. The six which are reproduced here are two from Klimt’s Faculty Paintings, originally created for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna, ‘Médecine’ (printed here in colour and heightened in gold) and ‘La Jurisprudence’, while from the famous Lederer collection are ‘Les Amies’, ‘Malcesine sur le lac de garde’, ‘Jardin paysan avec des poules’ (each printed here in colour), and ‘Gastein’.

Max Eisler (1881-1937), the publisher of this portfolio, was an art historian at Vienna University who published the first Klimt monograph in 1920. He intended this portfolio to complement the only folio set produced in Klimt’s lifetime, Das Werk, which had featured Klimt’s works and was overseen by him up to 1913. Fragile collotype plates cannot be reused. As such, this necessitates the completion of a run on the first go and also dictates a limited production number. Printed by hand, the collotypes required deft handling by the printer, Osterreichische Staatsdruckerei - a complicated and lengthy process involving gelatin colloids mixed with dichromates, the creation of 16 colour separation thin glass filters to achieve the light-sensitive internegative images which could faithfully capture all of the painting’s tonal gradations and colours, exposure to actinic light, and delicate chine colle papers which allow for greater colour saturation.

Limited edition, one of 150 copies in English, from a total edition of 500, square folio (48 x 45.5 cm); half-title, 30 mounted plates (15 printed in colour), loose as issued in original green decorated cloth portfolio, upper cover gold-stamped, spine a little faded, housed in a slipcase, a fine copy.

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Frost discovered Lorca in the mid-1970s. Or rather, he first discovered the Duende, what Lorca defined as those moments in reality that are so heightened, and felt with such intensity, that one is forced to confront the significance of the experience. For fifteen years, Frost read and re-read Lorca’s poetry, in which he found a mirror of his Duende experience: ‘With Lorca I travel on a ride to no-man’s land. There I am; my emotions take on a new distance and the extent between life and death becomes forever.’

deluxe copy with an original signed watercolour 22. FROST, Terry. Selected poems of Federico Garcia Lorca. London, Austin/Desmond Contemporary Books, 1989.

£16,500 [ref: 108602] The complete portfolio of Selected poems of Federico Garcia Lorca illustrated by Terry Frost with 11 etchings and aquatints.

This is one of 15 copies with an original signed watercolour.

By 1989, Frost had developed his Lorcan theme to the point where he wished to dedicate a whole suite to the Spaniard’s poetry, an assembled box of printed images that would encapsulate his cohabitation with these words over the past two decades. Eleven poems were chosen, with eleven etchings to accompany. In their strength of colour, form, and harmonious arrangement, their technical complexity, involving multiple processes including hand-colouring and embossing, they are undoubtedly the most accomplished and coherent of Frost’s many portfolios of prints.

Limited edition, one of 15 copies with an original watercolour, from a total edition of 75 (and 15 hors commerce); folio (61.5 x 42); eleven etchings and aquatints in colour some with handcolouring, on Arches wove paper, each signed in pencil to bottom right corner, justification signed and numbered by the artist, original watercolour signed and countersigned in pencil, loose as issued in illustrated wrappers; in the original black calf box with printed vellum label and title in red, vellum label detached, lined with black moiré silk, a very good copy.

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one of 250 copies 23. GIACOMETTI, Alberto. Paris sans fin. Paris, Tériade, 1969.

£37,500 [ref: 101200] Giacometti’s testament to art and modern life in his beloved Paris.

For the publisher, Tériade, it would be a milestone, the last great publication he would see through the press. The two men [Tériade and Giacometti] had maintained a close friendship ever since the Surrealist Years. The one hundred and fifty lithographs are a profoundly interpenetrating view of Giacometti’s experience of Paris. He selected the plates to be printed and determined the order of their relationship, numbering each one. The frontispiece shows a nude figure of a woman plunging forward, as though diving into space, and is immediately followed by a quantity of views of city streets, then of interiors familiar to the artist. We come upon views of his studio, of the cafes he frequented, of Annette’s apartment in the rue Mazarine and Caroline’s in the Avenue du Maine, strangers at cafe tables, passers by, parked automobiles, the towers of Saint-Suplice, bridges across the Seine, The Eiffel Tower. To accompany the hundred and fifty plates, a text of twenty pages was planned, but the artist never got further than a few rough drafts. True, he was a devotee of words, Paris sans fin, however, said too much to the eye to be in need of other symbols (James Lord, Giacometti: A Biography).

First edition, number 157 of 250 copies on Vélin d’Arches from a total edition of 270; large 4to (42.2 x 32 cm); artist’s signature stamp to limitation page, 150 lithographs after Giacometti, loose as issued in publisher’s printed wrappers, glassine wrappers, cloth chemise and slipcase.

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Usual copies are folded, showing often the mark of the fold on the plates. The two additional prints, each a vibrant reproduction of a work by Larionov in pochoir, are on a thick and fibrous, tan / yellow handmade paper of larger size than the wrappers for the book (512 x 330 mmm / 510 x 340 mm); these two pochoirs are very uncommon and it is rare to find them included with the portfolio. Goncharova and Larionov are credited with bringing cubism to the theatre, Goncharova with the ‘Coq d’Or’ of 1914 and Larionov with ‘Les Contes Russes’ in 1915.

one of 100 large paper copies 24. GONCHAROVA, Natalia; LARIONOV, Mikhail; PARNAKH, Valentin. L’Art Décoratif Théatral Moderne. Paris, Edition ‘La Cible’, 1919.

This impressive portfolio was published for Larionov and Goncharova’s large exhibition of their theatrical work, held at the Galerie Barbazanges to celebrate their arrival in Paris. It comprises a series of pochoirs and prints of several of the designs on display.

Valentin Parnakh’s essay discusses Larionov’s theories about dance and theatre, and singles out the artist as the initiator of new types of choreography, including dances based on free movements, types of gait, animal movements, mechanical dance, and social dance related to work. ‘Entre les nouvelles formes que le vingtième siècle a données aux arts, l’expression nouvelle de l’art décoratif fut trouvée par la génie de deux peintres - Larionow et Gontcharova.’ (From the text by Valentin Parnakh).

£35,000 [ref: 109767]

Provenance: lot 190 in the sale ‘Une Bibliothèque de Connaisseur’, Guy Loudmer, Paris, December 1989.

The scarce publication reproducing Goncharova and Larionov’s works for the avant-garde stage, an exceptional copy that includes the two rare additional colour pochoir plates by Larionov. From the edition limited to 515 copies, with this one of 100 large paper, broadsheet subscriber copies signed

by Goncharova and Larionov and numbered in ink and including the very scarce two additional prints.

Broadsheet (49.8 x 36.2 cm); 6 bifolia: 12 leaves + 14 leaves of plates; pp. 18; leaf with justification, leaf with title with circular pochoir publisher’s colour vignette (by Larionov), copyright verso, 6 leaves with Valentin Parnakh’s analysis with 8 tipped-in illustrations on glossy paper (6 in colour), leaf with list of plates, leaf with list of text illustrations and 14 hors-texte plates: 6 pochoir colour plates (2 by Goncharova and 4 by Larionov) and 8 colour plates (listed as ‘Gravures’), 3 tipped-in; sheet size: 500 x 360 mm or the reverse; loose as issued in original publisher’s printed paper portfolio with flaps, front cover with title and large vignette in black by Larionov, one cloth tie.

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with the rare supplement 25. GOULD, John. Monograph of the Trochilidae, or a family

of humming birds. London, published by the author, 1861.

£175,000 [ref: 105704] Gould’s masterpiece... an incomparable catalogue and compendium of beauties (Fine Bird Books). Of all the bird families, the hummingbird held the greatest fascination for Gould. Most of the plates were drawn from specimens from his own collection, which he had built up thanks to a burgeoning trade in the fashionable little bird, and with the help of a pool of co10llectors whom he commissioned to hunt for rare or unknown varieties in the wilds of South America. He exhibited the collection - which included nearly 2000 birds from 300 different species - in the Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park for the Great Exhibition in 1851, attracting nearly 75,000 visitors and consolidating his reputation as one of the greatest living ornithologists. Although his claim that the subscribers to the Trochilidae included ‘nearly all the crowned heads of Europe’ (Tree, p. 164) was a slight exaggeration, the magnificence of the illustrations as much as the vogue for ‘hummers’ did attract a larger and more brilliant audience than all of his other works except The birds of Great Britain. To illustrate the birds’ iridescent plumage, Gould had used a costly technique of painting in varnish and oils over pure gold leaf, which he claimed to have invented but which he seems in reality to have borrowed with very little modification from the American hummingbird specialist William Bailey.

Gould died after the publication of part 1 of the Supplement. He had already supervised the preparation of many of the plates, and the project was completed by Sharpe for the text, W. Hart, who did the drawings, lithographs and colouring for the 58 remaining plates, and the ornithologist Osbert Salvin, who directed the general production.

Soon after Gould’s death his bird collections, which by then included 5378 hummingbirds, were purchased by the Zoological Society, and are now part of the British Museum’s natural history collections.

First edition. 6 volumes, folio, (55 x 35.5 cm); 418 hand-coloured lithographs, many heightened with gold leaf & other iridescent mineral paints, overpainted with transparent oil and varnish colours, after John Gould, H.C. Richter and W. Hart; Contemporary half green morocco, spines with raised bands richly decorated in gilt, titles, volumes all gilt, all edges gilt. A fine set. Anker 177; Fine Bird Books p. 78; Nissen IVB 380; Sauer 16; Wood p.

365; Zimmer pp. 258 & 263-64.

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26. GOYA Y LUCIENTES, Francisco de. Los Caprichos. Madrid, Rafael Esteve (?) for the artist, 1799.

£200,000 [ref: 110154] The complete set of eighty etchings with burnished aquatint, drypoint and engraving, 1797-1798, on laid paper. A very good set from the first edition, published by the artist in an edition of approximately three hundred copies. With Los Caprichos, Goya for the first time made his visions of the more sinister side of Spanish society – and the human soul in general – accessible to a wider audience, beyond his small group of friends and patrons. Goya was commercially ambitious, and set himself an enormous undertaking, prepared over several years and based on hundreds of drawings. Harris has estimated that he produced 300 sets (i.e. 24,000 impressions) of the Caprichos, making it at the time the largest series of prints ever conceived by a single artist. But the bitter reality was that perhaps only some thirty sets of this first and only lifetime edition were sold. In 1803, the artist gave the plates and the remaining impressions to the King, presumably to escape the wrath of the Inquisition.

A crushing failure at the time, in hindsight Los Caprichos is the pivotal work of Goya’s entire oeuvre. In one grandiose, dark symphony he unleashes his unsparing satirical sense and his wild imagination, plate after plate, tied loosely together by related motifs and laconic, often mysterious titles. The only plate without an engraved title is perhaps the most famous of all: the artist, overcome by sleep, with his head resting on a table, is surrounded by creatures of the night: owls, bats, a cat and a lynx. On the front of the table the following words appear vaguely out of the aquatint surface: El sueño de la razon produce monstruos. The phrase is ultimately untranslatable, as sueño can mean both ‘sleep’ and ‘dream’. This ambiguity – does Reason dream up monsters or do monsters arise as Reason sleeps? – is characteristic of the entire series. Having first conceived it as the title page, Goya changed his mind and placed it as plate 43 right in the middle of the series, dividing the series roughly into two parts.

The first part is largely devoted to satires of courtship and prostitution, mocking the vanities and pretensions of the young and old. It is in the nightmarish second part that the monsters arise, witches and demons fly, and goblins awake. Beyond the mere evocation and critique of superstition and witchcraft, the precise meaning of these later plates is even more cryptic. Concealed through visual puns, word play and allusions to proverbs, they often ridicule the idle and ruling classes, the clerics and the nobility.

Wickedly satirical and subversive as the Caprichos are in their imagery and content, they also represent a technical revolution. Having previously created a number of competent yet ultimately conventional etchings after Velazquez, Goya in this series suddenly and completely mastered the aquatint method. In particular through his use of blank paper for glowing highlights among dense shades of grey and black, he created images of dramatic and disturbing beauty. What makes Los Caprichos one of the greatest unified series of images ever produced, is not just his extraordinary draughtsmanship or his technical mastery, nor his sharp satirical wit, but the intensity of his imagination and the depth of his humanity.

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Provenance: Georges Bontemps, 1799-1883, of Paris and Birmingham (bookplate).

First edition, one of approximately 300 copies; quarter broadsheets (311 x 205mm); 80 plates on a single uniform stock of unwatermarked laid paper; etchings with burnished aquatint, many with drypoint and/or burin (fine impressions printed in sepia, printing with great contrasts and bright highlights, the aquatint just beginning to show a little wear on some plates, with the scratch on plate 45, with wide margins, some pale spotting mainly on the first few pages, otherwise in very good condition; black morocco binding by Lebrun, signed on the spine and dated Paris 1844 on the rear cover, tooled in gilt with the Self-Portrait of plate 1 and the name of the artist on the front cover, the motif and title of plate 32 on the back cover, marbled endpapers; within a matching red morocco box, with the name of the artist, the title and the name of the binder on the spine, the inside with a black and gilt morocco inlay showing all the tools used for the binding.

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unique copy with seven original drawings 27. LOUŸS, Pierre; CHIMOT, Edouard. La Femme et le pantin. Paris, Éditions d’Art Devambez, 1928.

£7,500 [ref: 109669] An exceptional copy of Chimot’s La Femme et le Pantin, printed specially for W. Vincens Bouguereau, the grandson of the painter William Bouguereau. Extra illustrated with seven large original drawings signed by Chimot and finely bound for the recipient by Marot-Rodde.

Provenance: William Vincens Bouguereau (exlibris lettering in gilt to upper doublure).

Unique example, printed specially for W. Vincens Bouguereau on vélin d’Arches filigrané, from a total edition of 211; 4to (31 x 26 cm), inscribed in ink by the artist, seven original drawings signed in pencil by Chimot tipped in or bound at the front, 16 full-page engravings after Chimot in colour, three extra suites of engravings in three states of which one is on vellum, two plates uncalled for in four states also bound at the rear, gilt paper guards plus black silk moiré guards, a.e.g.; specially bound for Bouguereau by MarotRodde (signed at bottom of upper doublure), red morocco art deco design with silver inlay and gilt ruled, black morocco doublures, gilt ruled, title in gilt to spine, corresponding red morocco chemise and slipcase, a fine copy.

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28. MATISSE, Henri. Six Signed Proofs of Original Etchings by Henri Matisse …

Made to Serve as Illustrations for Six Episodes in James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ which have their Counterparts in Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. New York, The Print Club, 1935.

£37,500 [ref: 109998] Rare suite of etchings, limited to only 150 sets, each plate signed in pencil by Matisse.

Number 23 from an edition of 150. The plates depict episodes in the edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses published in 1935 by the Limited Editions Club and illustrated by Matisse.

They comprise: ‘The Calypso Episode’; ‘Aeolus, Cave of the Winds’; ‘The Cyclops’; ‘The Episode of Nausicaä’; ‘The Circle Episode’; and ‘Symbolic Landscape: Ithaca.’

Limited edition, number 23 of 150 copies, numbered and signed by Matisse, folio (41.5 x 32 cm); complete set of six etchings on Arches vellum paper, each signed, numbered and captioned in pencil by Matisse; brown cloth folding portfolio.

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29. MIRO, Joan (artist); JARRY, Alfred (text). Ubu Roi. Paris, Teriade, 1966.

£19,500 [ref: 105931] Rare surrealist illustrations by miro; a key text of the Theatre of the Absurd This portfolio illustrates the play ‘Ubu Roi’ by the French writer Alfred Jarry, that premiered in 1896 and was part of the genre of the Theatre of the Absurd. Miró chose to create thirteen large, colourful double-page lithographs for his 1966 illustrations, employing imagery that is characteristically biomorphic and humorous, in keeping with themes of the play. The prints, however, are vividly coloured and finished and are perhaps slightly more painterly than most of Miró’s graphic work.

Limited edition number one of 180 (from a total edition of 205), signed by Miró in pencil on colophon; folio (43 x 33 cm). pp. (viii), 133, (xv), 13 lithographs printed in colours by Miro,printed by Mourlot, on Arches wove paper, all loose as issued in the publisher’s printed wrappers, cream coloured chemise and matching slipcase; a very attractive copy. Cramer 107; Artists’ Books in the Modern Era 1870-2000.

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30. MIRÓ, Joan; ÉLUARD, Paul. À toute Épreuve. Genève, Gérald Cramer, 1958.

£48,500 [ref: 109078] ‘One of the most triumphant feats of book illustration in our century’ (Soby).

In 1947 when the Swiss art publisher Gérald Cramer suggested to Paul Éluard that they make a livre d’artiste from his poem À Toute Épreuve, Eluard immediately suggested Miro. The layout and execution of the landmark publication is a reflection of the artist’s connection with the poets of the 1920s, which led to major transformations in his visual language. Miró, working in intense sessions with the publisher Cramer, re-imagined the text as an entirely new object and the result is one of the most beautiful and visually thrilling books ever printed.

It wasn’t until 1958, more than a decade after Cramer voiced the idea that the book was ready. On reflecting upon the creative process, Miró wrote to Cramer, ‘I have made some trials which have allowed me to see what it was to make a book and not merely to illustrate it. Illustration is always a secondary matter. The important thing is that a book must have all the dignity of a sculpture carved in marble’. With these words Miró wonderfully summarises the importance of livres d’artistes.

Illustrated with 80 woodcuts, 11 of which are with collage elements, Miró demonstrates his distinctive style of curvilinear lines and biomorphic shapes. He sought to meld the realm of the unconscious to essential life forms, veering toward abstraction but always maintaining links to humanity, nature, and the cosmos.

Limited edition, one of 130 copies; 4to (32 x 25 cm); signed by Miro, illustrated with 80 woodcuts including the front cover (eleven with collage), loose as issued, occasional minor offsetting; in the original printed wrappers, publisher’s vellum-backed wood veneer chemise and slipcase, a fine copy. Cramer 49.

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copy number one - with 35 original drawings 31. [PETRONIUS]. DERAIN, André. Le Satyricon. Paris, Aux dépens d’un amateur, 1951.

£22,500 [ref: 108430] A superlative example of this book, finely bound by Antoine-Legrain. The justification calls for the first 33 examples to have two original drawings, one extra suite of the 36 engravings and two extra suites of the ornaments. This example has 8 original drawings of the plates and 27 original drawings of the ornaments, as well as a volume containing 9 extra suites, six more than is called for.

Although the copper engravings were executed for a project of Ambroise Vollard in 1934 they were only published after his death under the direction of Andre Derain himself. The text, translated by Heguin de Guerle, is hand-set in Baskerville 24 type. A particularly attractive work. Derain’s style lends itself perfectly to the Satyricon.

Provenance: Francis Kettaneh (blue morocco bookplate to verso of initial blank leaf ).

Limited edition, copy number one of a total edition of 280, 2 vols; folio (44 x 33 cm); 8 original drawings bound at the front (4 ink, 2 pencil, 1 gouache and one charcoal), 43 wood-engraved ornaments in the text and 36 (of which 3 are not used) copper engraved plates, 27 original sketches for the ornaments are bound at the rear, all by Derain, vol. II includes a suite of 36 engravings on papier Ancien, a suite of 36 on papier Auvergne, a suite of the ornaments on Malacca in black, a suite of the ornments on Malacca in grey, a suite of 8 un-used ornaments on Malacca, a suite of 33 engravings and a further three suites of 36 engravings, a.e. g., red suede endpapers; finely bound in tan morocco by J. Antoine-Legrain, elaborate maroon and brown onlay design with black and gilt lines to both covers of vol. I, title in black to spine of vol.I and title in gilt to spine of vol.II, housed in custom half brown morocco chemises with titles in gilt and slipcases, a fine example.

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signed by picasso and iliazd 32. PICASSO, Pablo; ILIAZD; GREY, Roch [pseud. OETTINGEN, Hélène]. Chevaux de minuit. Cannes & Paris, Degré Quarante et Un, 1956.

£65,000 [ref: 109080] ‘Picasso’s stylistic range from the animals of the 1942 Buffon to these horses is a vast one. Here he has restricted himself to an extreme simplification of outline, accented only by the drypoint burr, yet vividly descriptive of movement. The typographic layout by Iliazd carefully balances and sometimes echoes the design of the plates’ (Artist and the Book) The poem Chevaux de Minuit by Roch Grey (pseudonym of Baroness Hélène Oettingen) was edited by Iliazd after her death in 1950.

The two had been friends and Ilia Zdanevich felt that the writer’s work had been under-appreciated in her lifetime, having not received recognition in either mainstream or avant-garde literary circles. It was his aim, especially in the later part of his career to bring to light the work of marginal writers by collaborating with famous artists, many of whom were his close companions.

Limited edition, one of 52 copies on vieux Japon from a total edition of 68 signed by Picasso and Ililazd; folio (32 x 22 cm); with 12 engravings, of which 2 are hors texte and 10 are in text; pages are folded in three with engraving in centre and text either side; in original vellum wrappers with a drypoint etching on the cover, in a folded vellum sleeve with the spine imprinted with the title, vellum wrappers slightly stained otherwise a fine copy.

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one of 50 deluxe copies with a signed etching 33. PIC A SSO, Pablo. Le Tricorne. Paris, P. Rosenberg, 1920.

£32,500 [ref: 105577] Picasso’s ‘supreme theatrical achievement’ (John Richardson).

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Le Tricorne was commissioned by Diaghilev after a trip to Spain with the Ballets Russes in 1916 inspired him to create a new work which incorporated traditional Spanish folk dances. Through Stravinsky he met the young Spanish composer Manuel de Falla and also enlisted legendary flamenco dancer Felix Fernandez Garcia to assist Leonid Massine with the choreography.

With the music and choreography in place and a successful London season giving him the financial means, Diaghilev instructed his favourite Spanish artist to produce the set and costume designs. Picasso moved to London in May 1919 to work on the project and produced some twenty different studies for stage sets, at least four for the drop curtain and approximately 30 for costumes and decor. The drawings which were finally chosen for the ballet are reproduced in this album. Picasso’s designs reflect his Spanish heritage and Cubist style, combining classical forms with the bold, bright colours distinctive to the experimental Ballets Russes.

Limited edition, one of 50 deluxe copies, this being number 40, from a total edition of 250, 4to (28 x 20.5 cm); 63 reproductions (31 with pochoir colouring) and an etching on Arches, signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, with full margins, loose as issued, each plate blindstamped P.R. on the lower right corner; folder with title and justification on japon, illegible dedication to title, unsophisticated tape repairs to folder, slight age-toning to plates; in the original cloth backed marbled chemise, label pasted to upper cover, black ties, an excellent example. Cramer books 8.

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3 4. TREW, Christoph Jakob. Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortis curiosorum nutrita

manu artificiosa Doctaque pinxit Georgius Dionysius Ehret... [Augsburg], 1750-1773.

£37,500 [ref: 107704] One of the greatest eighteenth-century botanical books, with 100 fine hand-coloured plates after paintings by Georg Dionysius Ehret.

Georg Dionysius Ehret, the greatest botanical artist of the 18th century, was unrivalled in his ability to ‘achieve realism, majesty, ineffable colour, all in one breathtaking look’ (Hunt). He was born in Heidelberg in 1710, and originally worked as a gardener, practising drawing in his spare time. His artistic abilities led him into the service of a Regensburg banker named Leskenkohl who had commissioned him to copy plates from van Rheede tot Draakestein’s Hortus indicus malabaricus (1678-1693). It was during this period that Trew met Ehret.

‘Trew was a Nuremberg physician, anatomist, and botanist who at various times served as dean of the medical school at Nuremberg, as an Imperial Counselor, and as personal physician to the Emperor. He was made a Pfalzgraf and served as a patron of botanical (and anatomical) illustrators, filling roughly the same position in Germany as that occupied by Sir Hans Sloane in England’ (Cleveland Collections p.397). Trew was to remain a friend and patron of Ehret’s throughout his life, and by 1742 the germ of what was to become the present publication was already under discussion when Trew wrote to Christian Thran in Carlsruhe ‘Every year I receive some beautifully painted exotic plants [by Ehret] and have already more than one hundred of them, which with other pieces executed by local artists, should later on... constitute an appendicem to Weinmann’s publication’.

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Ehret moved to London in the late 1730’s, where he painted the recently introduced exotics at the Chelsea Physic Garden and established himself as a teacher of flower-painting and botany. Discussions about the projected work continued by letter until in 1748 when Johann Jacob Haid of Augsburg agreed to produce the engravings from Ehret’s drawings. The first part was published in 1750, with six subsequent parts appearing before Trew’s death 1769. The text to the final three parts remained unwritten and the plates to parts IX and X were still to be produced. The work was bought to a conclusion by Benedict Christian Vogel, Professor of Botany at the University of Altdorf. This copy does not include the engraved general title, or the portrait of Vogel but this ‘is normal when the decuria [or part] titles are present’ (Johnston Cleveland Collections p.397), it does however include what appears to be a rare preliminary text leaf not called for by either Hunt or Stafleu & Cowan, but possibly listed by Johnston. The two columns of text in German and Latin on the recto are headed ‘Avertissement’.

The German text ends with Haid’s name and the date June 1750. The conclusion of the Latin text is on the verso, again in two columns, and takes up about a third of the page. The remainder of the page is taken up by a list in Latin, in three columns, headed ‘Index plantarum, quarum imagines pinxit D. Ehretus / suntque Norimbergae in Museo D.D. Trew’ followed by a list of 240 individual plants.

10 parts in one volume; folio (510 x 345 mm), engraved title in red & black, 3 mezzotint portraits of Trew, Ehret and Haid, 100 fine hand-coloured engraved plates after Georg Dionysius Ehret by Johann Jakob & E.D. Haid, each with captions, minor spotting to margin of plate XXXIII, touching on image; [ii](title), [iv], 56, [2](index)pp.; contemporary mottled calf, boards with rolled gilt borders, spine gilt in seven compartments, with morocco label lettered in gilt, cobalt blue endpapers, spine a little rubbed, wear to edges and extremities, covers with a little damage, bound without the 10 divisional titles, a very good copy with plates clean and fresh. Dunthorne 309; Hunt II, 539; Great Flower Books (1990), p.144; Nissen BBI 1197; Pritzel 9499; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 15.131.

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