ILLUS.
The impetus for this catalogue of illustrated books has come from the process of publishing CASSIUS&Co.’s first artist’s book, Oliver Bak’s Caves in the Sky, which presents riso-printed reproductions of the artist’s drawings alongside a new translation of the poems of Roger Gilbert-Lecomte (1907 - 1943) by Alberte Harboe Westergaard. That the books in this catalogue will be exhibited alongside Bak’s original drawings, as well as a suite of complimentary paintings, and indeed editions of our publication, is a presentation that I feel proud to point out could only happen at CASSIUS&Co.
All items are offered subject to availability and I would request that payment is made in advance. While the small number of unusually heavy items may require some special arrangement, I can generally offer free shipping in the UK and for a fee of £25 overseas. If you would like to see some further images or if you have any questions about the items, please don’t hesitate to contact me using the information below.
Fraser Brough Director, CASSIUS&Co.
63 Kinnerton Street, London, SW1X 8ED
0207 235 3354
fb@cassiusandco.com
1. MELVILLE, Hermann. Moby Dick. illus. Rockwell Kent.
Often described as one of the finest examples of 20th century illustration. Rockwell Kent’s fantastic ink drawings for Herman Melville’s masterpiece Moby Dick, over 280 in all, are spread across this handsome three volume hardback set, published by Lakeside Press, Chicago, 1930, in a limited run of 1,000. Along with a more commercial edition produced concurrently by Random House, this book and Kent’s drawings for it can be largely credited with returning Melville to prominence in American culture, the reputation of Moby Dick having subsided since its first appearance in the 1850s. In excellent condition aside from a slight water damage on the second volume which has stained the corner of some pages. £3,000
2. GILL, Eric. Art and Love.
Gill’s beautifully-produced and illustrated essay on the two things that make him famous and notorious: art, in which his work remains some of the best of 20th century Britain, and love, in which his paedophilia, incest and beastiality are impossible to forgive. This is a Fine, or very near it, 1st edition, number 26 of 35 specially-bound copies from a larger edition of 260, published by Douglas Clarendon and Golden Cockerel Press in 1927, and is signed by the artist. Lacking the 6 loose plates supplied with the edition.
£500
3. BALTHUS, Mitsou. Preface by Rainer Maria Rilke.
The 40 drawings that make up the story of Mitsou, a stray cat that an 11 year old Balthus adopted, loved and lost, are a good contender for being the boldest, most precocious and most brilliant illustrations ever conceived by a child. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who was his mother’s lover at the time, was so charmed by them that he had them published, and wrote a preface for them himself. This is the first edition, published in 1921 by Rotapfel Verlag, and aside from a crease to the cover and some pages it is in a lovely state.
£4,000
4. WOODMAN, Francesca. A Series of Disordered Interior Geometries.
The only publication produced in Woodman's short life. While living in Rome the artist frequented the Maldoror bookshop where she found this battered and esoteric book of Italian geometry. To some extent a response to Andre Breton’s Nadja, she produced a series of photographic ‘geometries’ in response to the book, which are pasted over the pages alongside anxious notes and blottings out, producing this deeply evocative, beautiful and unsettling document. It was published in a run of 500 by Synapse Press in 1981, just a few days before the artist’s suicide at the age of 22. Most of the copies were given out at her funeral, though this particular, unique copy preceded that edition as it is the publisher’s own proof copy, and is inscribed as such.
£32,000
5. PRINNER, Anton. Le Livre Des Morts.
Hungarian artist Anton Prinner was born Anna Prinner, but changed his name and gendered appearance when he moved to Paris in the early 20th century, in hope of finding greater recognition for his work, though without much luck, his friend Picasso still forever referring to him as ‘Monsieur Madame’. His achievements in painting, sculpture and engraving are only now beginning to be taken seriously. Obsessed with Ancient Egypt, this ‘Book of the Dead’ comprises original etchings and poetries in a Surrealist mode, and employs Prinner’s own technique of ‘papyrogravure’. It is one of his finest works. This is the First edition, published by Robert J. Godet in 1948, and is in a nearly pristine state, with just the original glassine slightly rough. It is the complete set and includes the limitation page, and is housed in a bespoke slipcase.
£7,500
6. COCTEAU, Jean. Opium.
Jean Cocteau’s lucid memoir of his rehabilitation from Opium addiction, complete with the artist’s raw, powerful drawings of bodily and mental anguish as he got over the drug. This is the 1st edition and is number 14 of only 28 copies, most of which are no longer in private hands. Printed on Japon Imperial with original wrappers, very slight shelf-lean, spine lightly creased, minor creasing to corners, but a sharp and excellent example overall. Published in Paris in 1930 by Librairie Stock.
£5,500
7. COCTEAU, Jean. Le Livre Blanc.
A near pristine copy of this rare publication, an edition of 500 of which 25 feature the star on the cover as here. Published anonymously in 1949, this is the third printing of this classic homoerotic work, lovingly written and illustrated by the artist. Text in the original French.
£1,200
8. MALORY, Sir Thomas. Le Mort d’Arthur. Illus. Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Beardsley’s first major work, commissioned by J.M. Dent at the start of his career, and arguably his magnum opus, the hundreds of ink drawings and elaborative borders made for Thomas Malory’s Le Mort d’Arthur taking up much of his short career. Through the 12 parts of these volumes (complete as issued) describing the life of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table can be witnessed the changes in style and character that chart the development of Beardsley as an artist, and the work is one of the most iconic publications of the fin de siecle. This is an exceptionally Fine set, clean throughout and mostly unopened, which is highly rare given that it was issued on a subscription basis. First edition, deluxe issue, number 101 of 300 copies.
£22,000
9. CHODERLOS DE LACLOS, Pierre. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Illus. Alastair
A beautiful production by the Black Sun Press in two volumes, the text in English, and illustrated throughout by Alastair. Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a classic French epistolary novel written in the late 18th century, in which two wealthy and depraved aristocrats exchange boasts about seducing and manipulating their victims in a series of sexual scandals. It is often cited as an example of the great decadence of the Ancien regime before the French Revolution, but it is also a celebration of libertinism and, in an often quoted preface written by Andre Malraux, introduced new types of characters to the European literary tradition, namely, those whose acts are determined by an ideology.
£1,750
10. TOLSTOY, Leo. War and Peace. Illus. Barnett Freedman.
Six-volume edition of Tolstoy’s masterpiece, lavishly illustrated by Barnett Freedman. One of the finest printings in English of this remarkable work. Published by the Limited Editions Club in 1938, in a limited edition of 1500 (this is number 205). Signed by the artist. Near Fine, with just a few minor tears to the original glassine.
£1,200
11. JACOBS, Joseph. Celtic Fairy Tales and More Celtic Fairy Tales. Illus., John D. Batten
Joseph Jacobs was an Australian writer who popularised some of the best known English fairytales for a late Victorian audience. These volumes contain his selection from Irish folklore, and are illustrated in the late Victorian manner by John D. Batten. Published in 1892 and 1894 respectively by David Nutt, London. Near Fine, with some foxing to the pastedown of the first volume and an ownership inscription in pencil, otherwise a lovely pair.
£400
12. JOUVE, P. J. Heures de la Nuit.
Though this tiny book contains just one illustration, a fantastically expressive night scene woodcut by Frans Masereel, I wanted to include it anyway, for its immense charm. Published by Editions du Sablier in 1919, in a small run of 200 of which this is number 128, it contains poems about the night and its solitude by this wonderful writer, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize on five separate occasions. Minor foxing to the first few pages but otherwise in an excellent state. £500
13. GRAY, Alasdair. Lanark.
An impeccable copy of this magnificent work, which is one of the great Scottish novels. Beginning in a relatively realistic way it devolves into a powerful and imaginative fantasy of the underworld that intersects with the Divine Comedy. Illustrated by the author. This is a Fine 1st edition, in fact a review copy, published by Canongate, Edinburgh, in 1981.
£600
14. THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Illus. Roy Steadman.
Few pairings of a writer and an artist are as iconic as that of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman, who illustrated so much of his friend’s work that his wild, hectic, hallucinogenic drawings are almost a part of the writing. This is the 1st edition of the classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and is Near Fine, with the spine a little sunned but otherwise in an excellent state.
£1,000
15. VAN GULIK, Robert. The Lacquer Screen, The Red Pavilion and The Haunted Monastery
The Dutch diplomat, scholar and writer Robert van Gulik conceived of this celebrated series after making a translation of the 18th Century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An. He remarked that the long tradition of Chinese detective stories could easily be adapted to modern sensibilities, and produced a few years later the first of his ‘Judge Dee’ mysteries, set in 7th century China, and brilliantly illustrated ‘in a Chinese style’ by the author himself. This set of the three volumes were published in Kuala Lumpur by Art Printing Works in the late 1950s/early 60s, and are all in an excellent state.
£1200
16.
APOLLINAIRE, Guillaume. Le Bestiaire, ou, Cortège d’Orphée. Illus., Raoul Dufy
One of the finest illustrated works of the last century, Apollinaire’s witty, acerbic poems pairing delightfully with Dufy’s bold wood-engravings of Orpheus and his Bestial entourage. This is the second edition, published in 1919, the year after the poet’s sudden death, and is the only realistically obtainable early version, the first having appeared in such a small run that it has all but disappeared. Near Fine, numbered 953 of 1250 copies.
£2,500
17.
ed. FOER, Jonathan Sebastian. A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell
A book in which the illustrations came before the text, in this instance a compilation of literary contributions by writers based on the works of Joseph Cornell, who made sculptures out of the whole world without ever leaving his small home in New York. This is a Fine first edition published by Distributed Art, numbered 173 of 225 copies, and is signed by the authors (including Robert Pinsky and Joyce Carol Oates among many others) on the title page of each section. £500
18. BURROUGHS, William S. The Book of Breething. Illus. Bob Gale.
Published by concrete poet Henri Chopin’s OU imprint in 1974, this is a strange book (as with most of Burroughs’ output) with, dare it be said, even stranger drawings, which seem so stylistically diverse that they hardly seem by the same artist. This is the first edition, one of the first 50 numbered copies of a total run of 400, signed by the author.
£700
19. PRINNER, Anton. La Femme Tondue.
After the Second World War, French women who had had relations with Nazi soldiers were publicly shamed by having their heads shaved, and this is Prinner’s howling prose poem against the practice. One of 550 copies of which this is number 356, published by APR, Paris, in 1946. Includes two illustrations by the author of the intended eight, both signed and numbered by Prinner.
£800
20. DUBUFFET, Jean and BARNIER, Louis. La Vache au Pré Noir de Jean Dubuffet.
A conversation between the master of Art Brut and Louis Barnier, director of Impremiere Union, the printer of this publication, about the production of the Dubuffet edition La Vache au Pré Noir, which appears here in 24 plates in different colour ways. First edition, numbered 268 of 333 copies, published in 1963 by College de Pataphysique, Paris. The cover here is torn and the pages are loose. Housed in a custom green slipcase.
£200
