Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Man Ray. Self Portrait - SIGNED. Atlantic Little Brown, 1963.
Price: US$1164.25 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 1st edition 1st printing hardback in unclipped dustjacket. SIGNED dedication by the author, with a doodle of a heart, on the title page with no other inscriptions. Book and dustjacket both in near fine condition. Not a book club edition, ex library or a remainder. Am happy to supply scans.
Seller: Mungobooks, Poole, United Kingdom
Man Ray. SELF PORTRAIT SIGNED. Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1963.
Price: US$2889.95 + shipping
Description: Very Good+ in a Very Good+ dust jacket. Faint foxing on flaps. Rubbing along panel edges. ; Personalized by author on half title page with a drawing. ; Signed by Author.
Seller: Rare Book Cellar, Pomona, NY, U.S.A.
Man Ray. Self Portrait / Man Ray. Atlantic Monthly / Little Brown, 1963.
Price: US$3750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Signed and inscribed by Man Ray with an original drawing of his trademark floating eye and face. This copy is inscribed on the half title to Frank Goodman, 'one of the last of the old-time Broadway press agents, a star handler and headline hustler' (New York Times). The drawing and inscription are on the half title. The inscription, which is bordered by and incorporates the drawing, reads 'For Mr. Frank Goodman Man Ray April 2, 1963'. The floating eye is above Ray's signature, and the nose and mouth extend beneath the inscription. CONDITION: Nice copy in the original black cloth in gilt and copper, in first issue jacket complete with $7.95 price (slight surface wear to jacket with wrinkle at top; book has been recased with new endpapers; some light staining to top and bottom edges of text). Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky 1890-1976), American painter, photographer, and conceptual artist active in France, a leading light of the Dada and Surrealist movement. Jess McKinley's obituary in the New York Times offers a brilliant look back at Goodman's career: 'In an era when movies like 'Sweet Smell of Success' made Broadway seem like the most glamorous and gritty terrain in entertainment, Mr. Goodman was as reliable a presence as broken hearts and dreams come true. From 1939, when he started his career, to 1961, Mr. Goodman represented more than 50 Broadway productions, including eight shows in 1960 alone. Over the years, Mr. Goodman would act as a booster and sometimes as a baby sitter for every type of show person and show personality, from the volatile genius (Jerome Robbins of 'Gypsy') to the delicate ingénue (Audrey Hepburn in 'Gigi' in 1951) to the predictably haunted playwrights (William Inge and Clifford Odets, among others). Summing up his career in his unpublished memoir, Mr. Goodman started with an adage about the publicity game: 'You don't get paid for the work you do; you get paid for the grief you take.' Mr. Goodman seemed to believe that, but only to a point. 'Still and all,' he wrote, 'there's worse ways to make a living'.'B/w Illustrations.
Seller: Arundel Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$6800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: WONDERFUL SURREALIST PHOTOGRAPH OF DUCHAMP, MAN RAY, AND LAURIE SAVAGE. Inscribed by the photographer Naomi Savage: "Greetings of the Season from Naomi and David Savage, with Man Ray, Duchamp, and Laurie looking on.". Having met in 1915, Man Ray (American 1890 - 1976) and Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887 - 1968) were lifelong friends and frequent collaborators whose powerful intellectual chemistry allowed them to respond freely to each other's ideas in an artistic dialogue filled with in-jokes and innuendos. For example, among their earliest collaborations is Man Ray's portraits of Duchamp's alter-ego, Rrose Selvay, whose name is a pun on the French phrase, Eros, c'est la vie. Man Ray and Duchamp's mutual rejection of traditional art-world ideologies and art-making practices remained a mainstay of their long friendship. Today each artist is associated with a range of avante-garde movements such as Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, and Conceptual Art. Photographed in 1963 by American photographer Naomi Savage (1927 - 2005) the two artists sit side-by-side with their shoulders touching as they face the camera. The expression on their faces is an enigma. The landscape behind them is blurred, which distorts any normal sense of depth and presents Man Ray and Duchamp as one dimensional as a paper cutout. Hovering over the shoulder of Duchamp is Laurie Savage, the daughter of photographer Naomi Savage. Laurie's unexpected presence adds a level of Surrealism, but also creates a sort of family snapshot: the photographer, Naomi Savage, was Man Ray's niece, making Laurie his great-niece. Naomi Savage studied photography with American photographer Berenice Abbott (American, 1898 - 1991) (who briefly worked as Man Ray's studio assistant in Paris) at the New School for Social Research before studying art at Bennington College. But it was during an apprenticeship in Hollywood with her uncle and mentor Man Ray that she began to develop her trademark exploration of innovative photographic techniques. "The darkroom," he told her, "was a place to make fearless tries at whatever images came to mind." She took his advice to heart, experimenting with alternative photographic, mechanical, and electronic techniques throughout her career. Her photographs belong to collections of leading museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fogg Museum at Harvard University, and the Museum of Modern Art. The Smithsonian Archives of American Art retains her papers. Provenance: From the collection of American photographer Arnold Newman (1918-2006). Gelatin silver print. 7 3/8 x 6 in. (18.7 x 15.2 cm). Archivally framed under museum glass to an overall size of 16 x 13.5 in. Photograph flush mounted to board (as presented by Savage), with Savage's inscription on board verso. In excellent condition with a few very minor hairline scratches only visible under raking light.
Seller: Manhattan Rare Book Company, ABAA, ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.