DUCHAMP, Marcel (1887-1968); Richard Hamilton (interprets); George Heard Hamilton (translates)

The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even. A Typographic Version by Richard Hamilton of Marcel Duchamp's Green Box, Translated by George Heard Hamilton; [together with] The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even Again: A Reconstruction by Richard Hamilton of Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass

London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., n.d. [1963?]. First British Edition. Hardcover / Pictorial Wrappers. On offer are two complementary works: the artist Richard Hamilton's typographic interpretation of Marcel Duchamp's Green Box (1963) and the scarce documentation of Hamilton's yearlong reconstruction of Duchamp's "The Large Glass" (1966). First Printing of the first work, a typographic analog of one of the "most complex as well as one of the most rewarding artistic experiences of modern times" (from the appendices). Demy 8vo (229 x 150mm): unpaginated (including one leaf folding and another printed on frosted glassine), with profusion of photographic plates, full-page drawings, diagrams, various typographic formats, annotations, vignettes, and musical notation, all relating to Duchamp's groundbreaking magnum opus, "The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even" (known familiarly as "The Large Glass"), a composition in oil paint, lead wire, and lead foil on two glass panels. Printed in red and black. Original lime green paper-covered boards, spine and upper cover lettered in black-and-white stippled type; original glassine dust jacket. Book and glassine jacket in excellent, unmarked condition (small corner tear to glassine). First Printing of the second work, documenting Hamilton's reconstruction of The Large Glass, Illustrated in black and white throughout. Royal 8vo (302 x 202mm): [2]pp, with 32 full-page plates and two lime-green tissue guards. Publisher's original pictorial card covers, about Fine (very light crease to bottom right pages). Fine. Item #BB2360

Hamilton's typographic interpretation of Duchamp's Green Box (`La Mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires même (Boîte verte), a collection of 94 documents explaining the development and function of "The Large Glass," assembled between 1915 and 1923. During the 1930s, Duchamp oversaw the first printed edition of the Green Box, with each of the 94 original notes meticulously reproduced in collotype in exact facsimile (including torn edges, blots, erasures, and the occasional illegibility) and issued loose in a green box, in an edition of 300 with twenty deluxe versions. By 1956, the British artist Richard Hamilton (1922-2011) had worked through the notes to develop a diagram of the areas in the glass to which he believed the subject of each notes relates. Then in 1960, Hamilton and George Heard Hamilton, professor of art history at Yale, produced this English translation of the Green Box, using typography, layout, and graphic design to communicate the intent of the original documents in a new (bound) format, the Green Book. Hamilton's reconstruction of the actual The Large Glass ("Even Again") was exhibited in 1966 at the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle Upon Tyne before traveling to London for the Duchamp retrospective, The Almost Complete Work of Marcel Duchamp, which Hamilton curated at the Tate Gallery. ”N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $649.00