Every Building on the Sunset Strip
Every Building on the Sunset Strip is one of Ed Ruscha’s most iconic artist’s books and a defining work in the history of conceptual bookmaking in the 1960s. The book presents the buildings along the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles as a long fold-out photographic sequence. Ruscha treats the city not as romantic scenery, but as rhythm, inventory, and typographic presence. The leporello format turns the book itself into a street: the reader literally unfolds the Strip. This 1966 second issue belongs to the larger printing, yet it remains bibliographically important because it lacks the additional terminal flap found in the earliest copies. That small material distinction makes the copy especially relevant for collectors attentive to the printing and folding history of Ruscha’s books.
Quantity
Ruscha, Edward
Ruscha, Ed
Every Building on the Sunset Strip
1966 | Los Angeles | Ruscha, Ed
A key work of conceptual book art, reducing Los Angeles to line, rhythm, and object. This second issue also documents an important bibliographical moment in the book’s early history.
Every Building on the Sunset Strip is one of Ed Ruscha’s most iconic artist’s books and a defining work in the history of conceptual bookmaking in the 1960s. The book presents the buildings along the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles as a long fold-out photographic sequence. Ruscha treats the city not as romantic scenery, but as rhythm, inventory, and typographic presence. The leporello format turns the book itself into a street: the reader literally unfolds the Strip. This 1966 second issue belongs to the larger printing, yet it remains bibliographically important because it lacks the additional terminal flap found in the earliest copies. That small material distinction makes the copy especially relevant for collectors attentive to the printing and folding history of Ruscha’s books.
€2,000
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-8 (Octavo) approx. 20 × 26 cm
Edition Particulars
One of 5000 copies of the second issue, without the additional c. 5 cm flap at the end of the final folded page.
Print Run
5000
Inscription
No inscription
Product DETAIL
The book consists of a continuous photographic record of both sides of the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Ruscha photographs façades, shops, parking lots, signs, and low urban structures as a visual inventory of a specific place and time. The images are not presented as isolated artistic compositions, but as an almost mechanical sequence evoking the experience of moving or looking along the street. The leporello format creates a horizontal continuity in which the city unfolds as both panorama and document. There is no narrative plot, yet the structure is clear: the street itself becomes the subject and organizing principle of the book. Its dry, precise, and seemingly neutral tone gives the work its enduring conceptual power.
Char, Rene · Stael, Nicolas de
Arrière-histoire du poème pulvérisé
*Arrière-histoire du poème pulvérisé* is a later illustrated edition of a key text in which René Char looks back on the genesis and inner background of *Le Poème pulvérisé*. Published in 1972 by Imprimerie Union, it opens with a colour frontispiece by Nicolas de Staël. The pairing of Char and de Staël is especially charged: two post-war voices, each seeking concentration, clarity, and rupture in his own medium. This copy is one of only six hors commerce copies on Arches and is signed. The autograph presentation inscription to Doctor Marcel Zara, with poetic quotation and October 1972 dating, makes it a deeply personal copy.
Illustrated Book
€920
Waldberg, Patrick · Ernst, Max
Aux Petits Agneaux
A artist’s book resulting from the collaboration between writer Patrick Waldberg and surrealist master Max Ernst. This first edition includes 19 original lithographs printed on luxurious vélin d'Arches. Published in Paris in 1971 in a limited edition of 174 copies signed by both author and artist, and presented in a custom publisher’s box.
Illustrated Book
€2,200
Derain, André
Amis & Amille. Mystère du XIVe siècle.
This sumptuously bound book brings a medieval mystery to life through a rare collaboration between ancient literature and modern illustration. The geometric box design on garnet morocco provides striking contrast. André Derain’s 22 color lithographs – including one double and three full-page – enhance the narrative with expressive visual force. Printed on Rives vellum in an edition of 180 numbered copies, this copy (No. 72) was made for Baroness Vaxelaire and includes a suite on fine Japanese paper. The binding by Lucie Weill exemplifies artisanal excellence. A harmonious blend of narrative tradition and graphic daring.
Illustrated Book
€1,460
Bédouin, Jean-Louis · Hallart, Guy
L'arbre descend du singe
L'Arbre descend du singe is a beautifully illustrated edition that highlights the collaboration between the poet Jean-Louis Bedouin and the artist Guy Hallart. The work, published in a limited edition, is characterized by a rich dialogue between poetry and image, where the visual compositions reflect the dreamy and often cryptic nature of Bedouin's texts. The book is a tangible testament to the artistic symbiosis between the two creators and offers a unique insight into a creative dialogue from the mid-1970s.