Analphabet (1947)

Man Ray. Edited by Timothy Baum.

Nadada Editions. New York. 1974. Limited to 600 copies. Created in 1947 and first published here in 1974. Paperback, 12mo; illustrated silver wrappers. [c.60 pages.] 26 line drawings reproduced on rectos only; silver leaf at each end. English. 155 x 107mm. 0.1kg. . Very good; slight shelf wear, slight toning to pages.

Man Ray's drawings of the letters A-Z, published here for the first time. The drawings were created in 1947 whilst Man Ray was in California and a year before the publication of his Alphabet for Adults, Copley Galleries, 1948. Each letter of the alphabet is given a three-dimensional form, differing from the word and illustration format in Alphabet for Adults. Analphabet was possibly a spring-board for the 1948 work. This copy is inscribed by the book's editor and publisher Timothy Baum - 'Alan's Copy / That's All / Alan's Copy / Thanks / The Editor / (London, July '74)'. Baum is a noted scholar and specialist in Surrealist and Dada art.