GILBERT & GEORGE

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London: Art For All/Nigel Greenwood Inc., 1976. No. 1987 of 2,000, signed and numbered by artists at dedication page. 128 leaves. 8vo. Black and red marbled cloth; gilt titles; no jacket, as issued. Fading to cloth and gilt at spine, some bubbling to front board cloth (perhaps as manufactured); very good. First edition of Gilbert & George's epochal photographic artist's book, described on the dedication page as a "living sculpture book" encompassing the "past three years of earnest daily thoughts, shadows, deeds, cares and pleasures." Eight chapters pairing 128 titled black-and-white images (rectos) with accompanying prose anecdotes and observations (versos), each presented as a uniform block of justified-margin text. Witty, conceptual, bibulous, and ekphrastic; an enduring classic, a 50th anniversary edition of which was published (somewhat anachronously) in 2024. Parr & Badger, The Photobook v2, p. 153. Show more