Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1969) by Ruscha, Edward (Ed) - 1969

SIGNED by Ruscha on title page. One of 3000 unnumbered copies.Very well-preserved and archived copy. Original glassine wrapper has a tiny fold in upper left corner, and minor tanning on edges due to age, as shown in picture.I purchased this copy in 1982 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, when they hosted Ed Ruscha's first major museum retrospective.

Alhambra: Cunningham Press, 1967. Paperback. Very Good. . Second edition, 1967, one of 500 unnumbered copies. Glassine wrapper shows minor wear, tear, and tanning. Cover with a few very minor spots of wear. Pages are clean.

np: np, 1969. Third edition. Near fine.. Third edition of the first of Ruscha's sixteen books and an iconic early artist's book. Inspired by the look and feel of the books he encountered at the bouquiniste stands on the Left Bank during a 1961 trip to Paris, as well as his own work as a typesetter and printers devil, Ruscha self-published TWENTYSIX GAS STATIONS with an aesthetic reminiscent of iconic Editions Gallimard paperbacks. Conceiving first of the title, Ruscha took photographs to fill the requisite number on a road trip from Los Angeles to visit his mother in his hometown of Oklahoma City. The photographs, labeled with the station name and location, together form a dotted line between LA and Oklahoma, creating out of these stoically framed images of banal locations a deep emotional resonance. [Phillpot, CATALOGUE RAISONNE, 60]. Wraps. 8vo. Publisher's wraps in original glassine. SIGNED by Ruscha at inside front cover. Mild toning and chipping to glassine with price sticker at front flap and… Read More

Los Angeles: Edward Ruscha, 1967. RUSCHA, Edward. Los Angeles]: Edward Ruscha, 1962 [ie 1967]. Second edition, one of 500 unnumbered copies. Self published and printed by The Cunningham Press, Alhambra, California. The first edition was an edition of 400 numbered copies printed in 1963. Small quarto (7 x 5 1/2 inches; 179 x 140 mm). 48 pp. With numerous black-and-white photographs. Publisher's full printed wrappers lettered in red. In the original glassine dust jacket. Wittenborn and Company sticker on rear inner wrapper. Overall a fine copy. With numerous photosgrapsh by Ruscha of gasoline stations throughout the American southwest, including California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. "Twentysix Gasoline Stations, a modest publication consisting of black and white photographs with captions, is an iconic artist book. The photographs are of petrol stations, along the highway between Ruscha's home in Los Angeles and his parent's house in Oklahoma City. Clive Phillpot, writer, curator and former… Read More

1962. First Edition. Softcover. Fine. Glossy printed plain white wraps with original glassine jacket. 5.55" x 7.05" An extraordinary copy of the first of Ruscha's iconic publications, in pristine condition. The glassine jacket is all original and virtually unscathed, with the exception being a Lilliputian hole along the spine edge between the top and middle lines of text. The jacket exhibits some minor age-toning and offsetting from where this book set within a pile of two other Ruscha books for some period of time as if in a display.From what can be pieced together, this book was part of a group which was likely sent to a New York Art Book store as part of a marketing campaign to sell the books, which originally did not sell well for Ruscha. This is a first edition. TWENTYSIX GASOLINE STATIONS is dated 1962 on the title-page, and is an unnumbered copy of 400 copies printed in April 1963 by The Cunningham Press. An extraordinary copy.

Alhambra, California National Excelsior Press April, 1963. First edition, number 209 of 400. Unpaginated, pp [48]. Original printed wrappers and with the original (and rare) glassine wrapper. Some slight spotting to edges of covers and a short blue biro mark to glassine on lower cover and a small spot on upper cover but overall in very good condition and Toning to edges and spine, crease to lower cover, head and foot of spine very slight chipped but overall in very good condition. Internally near fine. Twentysix Gasoline Stations is Ruscha's first book and widely regarded as the first modern artist's books. It consists simply of black and white photographs and brief captions stating the name of the petrol company and location of the station. The book's origins lie in Ruscha's long drives from California to his parents' home in Oklahoma. It sounds dull and it is meant to be, combining as Johanna Drucker says, "the literalness of early California pop art with a flat-footed photographic aesthetic… Read More

ALHAMBRA: Cunningham Press. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1963. First Edition; First Printing. Softcover. First edition. Copy 303 of 400 copies. Near fine in white printed wrappers with orange titles in original transulucent vellum wrapper. Original asking price of $2.50 penciled on front flap. (Spine lightly toned on vellum overlay. Small bump at bottom edge running through text. ) (48pp. ) (5 1/2" X 7") Ruscha's FIRST artist book. ; 5 1/2" x 7"; 48 pages .