Vincent Borrelli, Bookseller

Masao Yamamoto: A Box of Ku, Limited Edition Artist's Book [SIGNED]

YAMAMOTO, Masao, AJIOKA, Shintaro, NAKAMURA, Hiromi

Publisher: Tokyo: Masao Yamamoto (self-published), 1997
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Near Fine / No dust jacket as issued
Item #: 113918

$875.00

Specifics

First edition (a limited edition published by the artist prior to Nazraeli Press' release of the book of the same title), first and only original printing. Limited edition of 350 copies, hand-numbered (this artist's copy not numbered) and signed in black marker in Japanese opposite the front cover sheet by Yamamoto, with a red Japanese signature stamp). Soft cover. Leporelo (accordion-style) binding. Fine heavy Japanese paper, with title stamped in black ink on front cover; no dust jacket as issued. Photographs and brif text (in Japanese) by Masao Yamamoto. 42 pp. (lncluding front and rear sheets of leporelo) with 23 four-color plates. 10 x 10 inches.

Condition

Near Fine (1/2-inch bend to lower left corner affecting all pages; images not affected).

Description

The accordion design mirrors the 'Ku' (which means "emptiness" in Japanese) between the images -- the sequencing and spacing -- which are powerful as the formal and physical qualities of the individual images.

From Nazraeli Press (the publisher of the subsequent edition in 1998): "The photographs of Japanese artist Masao Yamamoto remind one of postcards or snapshots, records of intimate moments that are at once fleeting and eternal, private and universal. Bent, frayed and stained, the jewel-like prints -- most of which are small enough to fit into the palm of a hand -- transcend their medium and become more than their subject."