Art & Photography from The Manhattan Rare Book Company

New York: J.J. Augustin, 1945. First edition. Hardcover, dust jacket. Very Good. FIRST EDITION of Brodovitch's masterpiece; of profound influence in the history of photography and photobooks. With extremely rare original slipcase. "Although known primarily as a mentor and patron of photographers, due in large part to his position as art director and graphic designer at Harper's Bazaar,… Read more about this item

Princeton, NJ: np, 1954. First edition. nb. Fine. EXTREMELY RARE AND BEAUTIFUL SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF EINSTEIN BY FREDERICK PLAUT. SIGNED ON THE IMAGE BY EINSTEIN: "A. Einstein 54". A fine photograph of Einstein in 1954, a year before his death, sitting in his Princeton home surrounded by books and holding his pipe, gazing slightly away from the camera.… Read more about this item

Mainz and Paris: B. Schotts Söhnen, 1826. First edition. Very Good. A MAGNIFICENT COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, OF BEETHOVEN'S NINTH, ONE OF THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS OF WESTERN MUSIC. "Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 was ultimately more than three decades in the making. Schiller's popular 'Ode to Joy' was published in 1785, and it is possible that… Read more about this item

London and New York: William Heinemann and Doubleday, Page, & Co, 1907. first Rackham edition. Original buckram. Very Good. Arthur Rackham. DELUXE LIMITED EDITION in exceedingly rare original slipcase. WITH: RACKHAM INK DRAWING of the Gryphon. The book: "Rackham embarked on his new edition of Alice in Wonderland, with illustrations to rival John Tenniel's, when the book… Read more about this item

Deventer: The Octopus Foundation and Sonsbeek 71, 1971. First edition. Original card covers. Very Good. FIRST EDITION OF THE RAREST RUSCHA BOOK; ONE OF ONLY AN ESTIMATED 200 COPIES. IN OUTSTANDING CONDITION. "In December 1970, Ruscha was invited to produce a photobook in conjunction with the Sonsbeek 71 exhibition in the Netherlands. Wim Beeren, the commissioner of the… Read more about this item

Zurich: Gallery Bruno Bischofberger, 1985. First edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Fine/Fine. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED BY JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT. Signed by Basquiat and numbered ("281/1000") in blue ink on the verso of title page, facing a magnificent photograph of Basquiat taken in 1982 by James van der Zee. Illustrated with 32 colored plates and beautiful color dust jacket.… Read more about this item

np: np, 1908. First edition. Framed. Very Good. ORIGINAL, HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT DRAWING OF THE YOUNG VIRGINIA STEPHEN BY FRANCIS DODD. DODD'S WORK FROM HIS 1907-1908 SITTINGS WITH WOOLF ARE THE ONLY EXTANT LIKENESSES OF HER FROM THIS PERIOD. FROM THE BENJAMIN SONNENBERG COLLECTION. Virginia Woolf famously hated being an artist's subject. According to her nephew Quentin Bell,… Read more about this item

France: np, 1965. First edition. Very Good. Cecil Beaton. INSCRIBED BY PICASSO IN RED AND BLUE CRAYON TO THE PHOTOGRAPHER, CECIL BEATON: "pour Cecil Beaton. Ami Picasso 9.6.65.". Cecil Beaton (British, 1904 -1980) photographed virtually every prominent person in public life over the course of his career, which spanned more than half a century. Everyone from the Queen… Read more about this item

New York: Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1942. First edition. Very Good. CATALOG FOR THE LANDMARK ARTISTS IN EXILE EXHIBITION, SIGNED BY ALL 14 ARTISTS, INCLUDING ANDRÉ BRETON, MARC CHAGALL, MAX ERNST, AND PIET MONDRIAN. On March 3, 1942, an historic exhibition of fourteen émigré artists opened at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City. Pierre Matisse, distinguished modern… Read more about this item

San Francisco, 1966. First edition. Very Good. One-of-a-Kind Beatles Images Portend the End of an Era. This original contact sheet of rare 1966 images of The Beatles was discovered by artist, photographer, musician, and Beatles enthusiast Dave Seabury at a garage sale near San Francisco in the late 1980s. These photos, which we have on offer, were taken… Read more about this item

np: np, 1930. Very Good. THE RISE OF PHOTOJOURNALISM AND MASS-MEDIA HELP MAKE HEMINGWAY ONE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY'S FIRST AMERICAN INFLUENCERS. After graduating from high school in 1917, Ernest Hemingway worked as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. This job exposed him to the media's growing addiction to sensationalism and taught him the craft of… Read more about this item

Karsh, 1960. Framed. Very Good. ICONIC PHOTOGRAPH BY YOUSUF KARSH, INSCRIBED BY KENNEDY IN INK ON THE IMAGE. Yousuf Karsh's masterful portrait of John F. Kennedy, taken on August 25, 1960, just weeks after he accepted the Democratic nomination, captured the nation's imagination. By 1960 Kennedy was a rising star in American politics and this photograph embodied the… Read more about this item

New York: np, 1956. First edition. Framed. CONTACT SHEET OF THIRTEEN PHOTOGRAPHS FROM CECIL BEATON'S ICONIC 1956 PHOTOSHOOT WITH MARILYN MONROE. With annotations by Beaton in white ink above the images, and his stamp on the back. Likely unique. "She romps, she squeals with delight, she leaps on the sofa....It is an artless, impromptu, high-spirited, infectiously gay performance. It… Read more about this item

np: np, 1878. custom folder. Very Good. Walt Whitman Albumen Photograph by Napoleon Sarony given to his caregiver and house mate Mary O. Davis. Signed by Davis. To call Mary O. Davis, Walt Whitman's housekeeper is akin to calling a parent its child's babysitter. Perhaps history has undermined Ms. Davis' role simply because the English language lacks the… Read more about this item

Wakefield, Massachusetts: np, 1888. First edition. Custom box. Very Good. ONE OF THE EARLIEST PHOTOGRAPHS OF LIGHTNING. This striking photograph by Alfred H. Binden (1837 England - 1892 United States) is among one of the earliest photographs of lightning. When Binden captured the image from his home in Wakefield, Massachusetts during a summer storm in 1888, he created… Read more about this item

Paris: Imprimerie Croutzet et Depost, 1924. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST EDITION of Roche's surreal, dadaist roman à clef exposing the misogynistic world of the French avant-garde. With annotations likely in Roche's hand. Like too many women artists of the early twentieth century, French writer and artist Juliette Roche (1884 - 1980) has been long overshadowed… Read more about this item

Paris: GLM, 1939. FIRST EDITION, Deluxe issue. Original wrappers. Fine. EXCEEDINGLY RARE DELUXE SET OF AVANTE-GARDE WORKS BY FOUR LITERARY MASTERS. Each copy one of only 15 deluxe issues. Includes the deluxe issue of Duchamp's important collection of aphorisms, "Rrose Sélavy". This extraordinary and complete collection (collectively "Biens Nouveaux") of works by Marcel Duchamp, Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka… Read more about this item

Paris: G.L.M., 1939. First edition. Half-morocco, wrappers bound-in. Very Good. FIRST EDITION: A REMARKABLE ASSOCIATION COPY. INSCRIBED BY DUCHAMP TO HIS GOOD FRIEND AND ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF SURREALISM, PAUL ÉLUARD. Inscribed in ink on the half-title: "Cher Eluard / Marcel Duchamp" Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) used his female alter ego Rrose Sélavy as the "author" for… Read more about this item

New York: Felicie, 1973. 1st Edition. Original cloth, original dust jacket. Very Good/Very Good. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, WITH MAGNIFICENT PRESENTATION INSCRIPTIONS, DRAWINGS, AND "PAPER SCULPTURE" BY DALI. On the inscription and drawings: Dali lavishly decorated the endpapers of this copy, writing in thick black marker (and taking up over half the page): "Pour MR Riskin /… Read more about this item

New York: LMDC [Lower Manhattan Development Corporation], 2002. First edition. Spiral bound. Fine. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of an important record of New York architecture and the history of the World Trade Center Site. Beautifully printed in full color with numerous fold-outs. Self published in 2002 by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Plans in Progress: Innovative Designs for… Read more about this item