Anonyme Skulpturen.

£5,000 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

an exceptional copy with the promotional poster An exceptional copy of Bernd Hilla Becher's first book, with the scarce original folding promotional poster. The publication of Anonyme Skulpturen established their work as a pivotal point at the intersection of photography, architecture, and conceptual art. 'In this book we show objects predominantly instrumental in character, whose shapes are the result of calculation and whose processes of development are optically evident. They are generally buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style. Their peculiarities originate not in spite of, but because of the lack of design.' The folding poster was distributed to bookshops to announce the publication of Anonyme Skulpturen, published by Art-Press Verlag, a Düsseldorf-based publishing house run by Hans Kirschbaum and Eugen Michel, and printed by Michel's printing firm Michelpresse, during his spare time. Hilla Becher noted in an interview that she and Bernd had been approached by several publishers, none of whom would allow them to reproduce their images as they desired. That was until Eugen Michel suggested that he could print the book if they delivered him the design, text, and images. 'He [Eugen Michel] didn't ask how expensive it would be, because he said, I'm going to do it when the printing press is available, and so I'll print one sheet today, and one sheet in two weeks, and it doesn't matter when it's ready' (Balaschak). Bernd and Hilla Becher seized upon this opportu

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.