Scarce first printing of Duchamp's gnomic aphorisms and puns collected under the name of his female alter ego — one of 500 copies, in uncommonly nice condition.
Near fine.
Price: $1,800.00
"The all-pervasive presence of puns in Duchamp's world of imagination shows that his was a mind that constantly slid back and forth between one potential meaning of a sign and another" — Seigel
Rrose Sélavy was first named and documented in 1921, in a signature written by Duchamp on a painting by Picabia; she then appeared in several portrait photographs by Man Ray, modeled by Duchamp, and functioned always as an avatar of the artist's "powerful — at times it seems nearly uncontrollable — fascination with puns" (Seigel). Duchamp explained the original impulse behind the persona as his wish "in effect to change identity," resolved when "suddenly I had an idea: why not change sex?" After this 1939 publication, Sélavy seemed to retire from public life, but when asked in the 1960s if this booklet had been her last appearance, Duchamp clarified that quiet did not mean dead: "She's still alive; manifests herself little or not at all." A sharp copy.
Read more: Seigel, The Private Worlds of Marcel Duchamp, 1995.
First printing. (Paris): GLM, 1939. 6.25'' x 4.5''. Original brown printed wrappers. Most leaves unopened. Volume 4 in the series "Biens Nouveaux," edited by Henri Parisot. Edition of 15 deluxe copies and 500 additional numbered copies, of which this is no. 333. Light edgewear, trace toning to gutter.
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