remembering Japanese numbers
[San Francisco]: Seiko Tachibana, [1994]. First and Limited Edition. Accordion. One of 100 copies, small octavo size, 21 pp. Fine. Item #26041501
A lovely and amazingly creative artist book which celebrates the sound of Japanese numbers through the use of visuals...or, as the colphon states, " 'Numbers' is a book dealing with phonetics." With eleven silkscreen prints with the Japanese characters handwritten by Tachibana, who also bound this copy (per the colophon). As with most of her work, this piece "balances Asian tradition with minimalist modernity" (n.b., from the web site of the artist).
Seiko Tachibana (b. 1964) is a native of Japan and received her Masters of Art at Kobe University in Japan (1993). She then received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute (1995), and lives and works in the SF Bay Area. Her work has been shown internationally and is in the collections of many institutions, including the Los Angeles County Museum, the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, the Legion of the Honor, and the Portland Art Museum . She has received numerous awards including the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Award.
The work scarce: as of this writing, we see no other copies online. RBH records nine of her items having auctioned, but none of this particular work; our search of OCLC located seventeen copies with institutions, leaving just eighty-three for private collectors.
___DESCRIPTION: Bound accordion-style with the last leaf being mounted onto the back board, the front leaf free, the boards bound in dark- and light-grey checkered Japanese paper, the front board with a cut-out through which the title on the first leaf shows, the endpapers of olive green paper, all of the text and silk-screens on the recto, the verso covered in green Japanese paper; binding small octavo size (8" by 5 3/8"), the accordion with twenty-one leaves, per the colophon this is copy 14/100 with the addition of "II" (which may refer to the proof number), and the artist has signed at the bottom of the colophon. In a Solander case with the outer parts mirroring the book, lined with black paper (the case measures 9" by 6").
___CONDITION: Volume fine, the boards clean, straight corners without rubbing, the accordion folds without wear or tears, the interior clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; clean, crisp, and as new. The Solander case also fine, clean, also free of wear. A stunning production.
___POSTAGE: International customers, please note the following: (i) additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs, please inquire for details; and (ii) any taxes, duty, or tariffs charged by your country will, of necessity, be your responsibility.
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Price: $600.00