アルプス建築. タウト全集第六巻 Arupusu Kenchiku. Tauto Zenshu (Alpine Architecture. The Complete Taut, Vol.6)
東京 (Tokyo): 育生社弘道閣 (Ikuseisha Kodokaku), 1944. First Japanese edition. Hardcover. Folio. [3] [30 plates]. Original printed beige dust jacket with black text on the covers and spine. Dark blue stiff buckram wrappers, with silver lettering on the front cover and spine. A first Japanese edition of Bruno Taut's acclaimed visionary and philosophical treatise on natural utopian architecture, originally published in 1919, as "Alpine Architektur: in 5 Teilen und 30 Zeichnungen".
Here the entirety of this original visually striking work is fully and faithfully reproduced on 30 plates (26 in b/w, 4 in chromolithgraphic color) in facsimile, tipped in to heavy stock paper leaves. Each plate measures 8 1/2 x 12", which has been noted to be a slight variation in size from the original images. To accompany the original content there is a smaller staple-bound booklet (8 1/4x 6") laid in at the interior front cover, reproducing the original images in smaller scale (all in b/w photographic reproductions), with all of Taut's original German text in the images replaced by handwritten text in Japanese. The final 6 pages of the booklet contain printed commentary in Japanese by Tokugen Mizuhara. Also included is the original small 4-page folded sheet of publisher's advertisement. This work is extremely scarce, and even more so including the translation, the publisher's ads and the dust jacket in good condition.
Text of the facsimile reproduction in the original German, with the booklet containing translated text and commentary in Japanese.
Dust jacket with light rubbing to extremities. Edges and spine of jacket sunned, with a small stain near the right corner of the jacket. Light rubbing and creasing to the extremities of the binding. Tail of the spine rubbed and chipped. Interior with some light damp staining to the plates and light foxing. The title leaf (not including the plate itself) has a small hole, which appears to be a production flaw. Overall the plates are still quite vibrant and relatively clean. Translation book with some vertical creases, and some small rust stains near the staples. Binding is tight. Dj in very good, binding in good+, interior in very good- condition overall. g+ to vg. Item #52728
This work is volume 6 from the larger series Tauto Zenshu (The Complete Taut) issued by the publisher, translating the works of Bruno Taut into Japanese. Curiously only 5 volumes from the series are known to have been issued, with #4 having never been published. All volumes other than #6 are printed in a smaller format and are more common, with this large format work being the most rare.
Price: $2,750.00