Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller - Old and Rare Books

Bagdad-On-The-Subway [SIGNED AND NUMBERED BY GEORGE GROSZ]

Grosz, George

New York: The Print Club, 1935. Limited Edition, first. Loose leaf. 32/150. Elephant Folio with double page cover, 6 plates (21 x 15") with tissue guards. Original beige monk's cloth portfolio with with gilt-framed black label with gilt lettering pasted to cover. The title plate is printed in red and black. Printed in Paris by Jacomet. Laid in official printed, postmarked letter from the Limited Editions Club dated 1975 with and announcement 17 complete sets from the original edition (1935) had been dicovered in thier warehouse. As a result they were offering them first to members of The Limited Editions Club.

"... Just recenly, in conducting an inventory of our library in Avon, we discovered seventeen numbered sets of prints by the internationally famous artist George Grosz (1893-1959). They are full-size, full-color collotypes of some of the watercollos that Grosz created for our edition of The Voice of the City by O. Henry. They were issued in 1935 under the title, "Bagdad in the Subway," in an edition of 150 sets..."

The color collotypes included in our portfolio are: Coney Island, The Bowery, Madison Square, Man-About-Town, Hall Bedroom, and Brown Stone Front. The prints are full-size, full-color collotypes of watercolors by George Grosz created for the Limited Edition Club publication of "The Voices of the City" by O. Henry. Now issued under the title "Baghdad on the Subway" in an edition of 150 sets. Each of the six images in the portfolio represents a different aspect of New York, from Coney Island to the residential brown stone streets.

Grosz was a distinguished German painter and graphic artist who, after serving as a soldier in World War I, expressed his angry disillusionment in scathing drawings. After the war he produces, largely in watercolor, drawings portraying the decadence of Weimar Germany. When he came to America in 1932, his work became less aggressively satirical.

Portfolio with light wear and sunning along edges with darkened square from removal of sticker price. Double page with small discoloration at middle front near spine and lightly wavy to the right of lettering. Some light creasing at top of front plate near spine and minor at bottom right. Very good to fine condition. Item #55755

Price: $6,500.00