Sims Reed Rare Books×

Kinderbuch. (Children's Book)

Roth, Dieter

Reykjavik. Printed by Hólar Prent for forlag ed. 1957
Sold
Dieter Roth's very scarce first artist book, the Reykjavik-published 'Kinderbuch'.

From the edition limited to c.100 copies, with this one of 75 without cut-outs.

This very scarce example is from the collection of Vilborg Dagbjartsdóttir (born 1930), an Icelandic friend of Roth and his wife at the time; Dagbjartsdóttir's first published book 'Alli Nalli og Tunglio (Alli Nalli and the Moon) of 1959, also a book for children, was designed in its entirety by Roth. In addition to a number of books for children, Dagbjartsdóttir was a founder of Rauosokkahreyfingin (Red-Stocking Feminists) and an important Modernist poet.

'Contrary to its innocent title the book follows a strictly formal idea. It mirrors the seemingly objective rules of mathematics which Roth had imbibed in the early 1950s around the Zürcher Konkreten ... a composition of squares and circles printed in red, blue and yellow ... The book's appeal is a visional rhythm, a musical element, a synaesthetic touch.' (DIrk Dobke).

'In 'children's book', created using just two shapes and the three primary colours, Roth demonstrated his interest both in the accumulation of forms and in compositional symmetry. The shapes multiply page by page until reaching a crescendo at the midpoint ... Through a complex interplay of transparency and opacity, compositions are built in accumulated layers ... '. (MoMA catalogue).

[Dobke A1; Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective 2].
[13 unnumbered leaves including wrappers]. Square folio. (320 x 323 mm). Doubled leaves of thick paper with red, black, yellow and blue colour-printed geometric shapes in a variety of combinations recto and verso throughout. Original spiral-bound printed card wrappers.
#45939

Other Items

Bigarrure
From the edition limited to 1162 copies.
£300
Icart, Louis. Hermant, AbelBigarrure1928
The World Through Lenses
Shimomura Shotaro's beautiful presentation series of 1930s Modernist travel photographs.
£17,500
Shimomura ShotaroThe World Through Lenses1935
Pantagruel. Les Horribles et Espouvantables Faictz...
André Derain's superb woodcuts - the only colour illustrations he made for a book - for François Rabelais' 'Pantagruel'.
£9,500
Derain, André. Nasier, Alcofrybas (Pseud. of François Rabelais)Pantagruel. Les Horribles et...1943
Les Fleurs Animées, par J.-J. Grandville
Grandville's 'Les Fleurs Animées', an excellent copy in the first publisher's cartonnage.
£5,500
Grandville, (Jean-Ignace-Everard Gérard)Les Fleurs Animées, par...1847
Un Autre Monde: Transformations, visions, incarnations,...
An excellent copy of Grandville's finest book and magnum opus, an extraordinary imaginative tour de force in the original publisher's polychromatic binding.
£9,500
Grandville, (Jean-Ignace-Everard Gérard). Delord, TaxileUn Autre Monde: Transformations,...1844
Les Papillons. Métamorphoses Terrestres des Peuples...
'Les Papillons' in the publisher's polychromatic binding.
£4,750
Varin, Amédée. Nus, Eugène & Antony MerayLes Papillons. Métamorphoses Terrestres...c.1852
Petrificada Petrificante. (Pétrifié Pétrifiante)
Tàpies illustrating Paz.
£5,500
Tapies. Paz, OctavioPetrificada Petrificante. (Pétrifié Pétrifiante)20th October, 1978
A Catalogue of Superobjects - Supercomfort...
The superb, subversive photographic portfolio satirising capitalism and communism.
£20,000
Komar & MelamidA Catalogue of Superobjects...1977
Aesop's Fables with his Life: in...
A superlative large paper copy in a contemporary English binding by the Barlow's Aesop Binder of Barlow's undoubted masterpiece of English book illustration.
£35,000
Barlow, Francis. (Aesop). Behn, AphraAesop's Fables with his...1687
La Petite Classe
An excellent, complete example of the de luxe issue of Louis Legrand's beautiful 'La Petite Classe'.
£12,500
Legrand, LouisLa Petite Classe1908