American Illustrated Books from Ursus Rare Books

Ursus Rare Books has published their Catalogue 358 of American Illustrated Books 1926-2017. Not all of the authors are American and some books were published overseas. It's the illustrators who were American artists. In some cases, “illustrated” is a broad term, as its the features of book design that stand out. Whatever it may be, what is most notable about these books is their visual aspect more than the text. That's not to say they don't have important text, but they tend to be notable more for the illustration and design. These are a few examples from this catalogue of illustrated books.

Alexander Calder is best known as a sculptor rather than an illustrator though the two meshed, particularly with a style he favored in the 1930s. Rather than the monumental sculptures he was also noted for these were wire sculptures. They were fashioned from wire rather than bulkier materials. He created a circus of wire figures this way. The wire figures carried over to his drawings, which used thin lines to create figures. His most notable book was this one, Fables of Aesop According to Sir Roger L'Estrange, published in Paris in 1931 (he lived for several years there at this time). It contains 50 of his pen and ink wire drawings, often animals which are features of Aesop's Fables. Ursus calls them “creative and playful,” which describes them well. It comes with an original signed drawing of “the fox and the grapes,” which typifies his style. This copy is from the deluxe issue, one of 50 on Spanish Guarro paper with an original drawing and paper knife. Item 3. $25,000.

If you would like to learn to draw animals like Alexander Calder, here is the guide. It's called Animal Sketching, with an explanation on the cover: “Mr. Calder has Endeavored to Portray in a Strong Technique the Simple Action Lines so valuable in Sketching Animals. This Book is Intended to Create Interest and Stimulate the Art Student to Make a Serious Effort to Draw Animals as He sees Them.” Published in 1926, early is his career, it uses line drawings to guide the student. Ursus notes that the line drawings were a foreshadowing of his later style. This book is still in print but this is a first edition. Item 4. $1,500.

Here is an unusual book. The title is Invisible Cities, and the reason will be clear shortly. The artist was Wayne Thiebaud, who created 12 drawings of cities. Text was written by Italo Calvino. Thiebaud wanted the images to be invisible until the reader took some kind of action. Printer Andrew Hoyem of the Arion Press came up with an idea. He printed the drawings on clear plastic in different colors. On one side the plastic plate faced the text on a white page, on the other, the single color images of cities rested on a page of the same solid color. The result was that the images were invisible. However, when the plastic was turned to line up over the preceding white background page of text, the drawings in color became visible. The pages were placed in a ring binder so they could easily be turned with the plastic resting on the adjoining pages. Published in 1999. Limited edition of 400. Item 58. $4,250.

If you think that book is odd, this one is really strange. The title is Gold Dust is My Ex Libris, although it's more commonly known as The White Cube or The Cube Book. This one could be called an artist's book, conceptual art, or even a sculptural artwork. It is, literally, a cube. As you might imagine, it takes a lot of pages for a book to reach a cube in shape. Creator James Lee Byars didn't have that much to say, so he filled the front and back of the book with blank white pages, with the printed material limited to the center section. As for the Gold Dust title, Byars frequently used gold dust in his artworks. Item 26. $3,500.

This author is noted as perhaps the greatest pop artist, but a philosopher? Andy Warhol a philosopher? Who knew. The title is The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), published in 1975. My guess is the other great philosophers, from Plato to Descartes, Locke, Kant et al. won't feel threatened by Warhol out-thinking them. This might better be described as pop philosophy. He philosophizes on subject like fame, sex, success, art and Elizabeth Taylor. It is said that Warhol's secretary did most of the writing, but I can't say. This copy is inscribed, as many of them are. This one is to Gail, and as Warhol often did, he drew a quick picture next to the inscription. However, in most copies he add a rough version of his famous Campbell's Soup can. In this one, he has drawn a vagina. I'm sure Kant never inscribed a copy of the Critique of Pure Reason this way, but if he did, that would be a very valuable book. Item 19. $5,000.

Ursus Rare Books may be reached at 212-772-8787 or pkraus@ursusbooks.com. Their website is www.ursusbooks.com.