Kurt Schwitters / Die Kathedrale Die Silbergäule Bd 41/42 The Cathedral 1st ed

  
Die Kathedrale Die Silbergäule, Bd. 41/42 The Cathedral, published as vol. 41/42 of The Silver Horses. Author: Schwitters, Kurt Title: Die Kathedrale Die Silbergäule, Bd. 41/42 of The Silver Horses Publication: Hannover: Paul Steegemann Verlag, 1920.

First Edition Edition: First Edition. Description: An essential Dada publication from Kurt Schwitters, who founded a one-person Dada-adjacent movement dubbed Merz, a nonsense word coined to refer to collages made from found materials or, perhaps, art from commerce.

The collage that gave name to the movement is lost; the word, reproduced here on the cover of this bound volume of eight lithographs by Schwitters, is one of its earliest surviving appearances. Merz comes from the last four letters from a scrap of paper printed with the name of the Commerz Bank. The lithographs in Die Kathedrale-the title (according to MOMA's website) "reflects the Expressionists' embrace of the Gothic cathedral as an emblem of unification in the arts"-reproduce collages, transfers from shoe soles and other objects, and drawings. It is the first sustained expression of Schwitters's Dadaist ideas, which he would continue to explore for decades to come. While Schwitters was a fellow traveler with the artists of the Dada movement, he was never officially part of the group and the printed text on the paper seal of this chapbook reads in part (translated from the German) Beware: Anti-Dada. References: Castleman, A Century of Artists Books, p.

158 (figures 104 and 105); Wye, Artists and Prints: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art. Because this work straddles the traditions of art and books, the physical descriptions in reference works vary widely. From an art point of view, this work includes eight lithographs; one on the cover and seven inside. The cover includes a collage element, the seal. The unprinted back cover also contains a printed collage element, the adjoining part of the seal created when the book is opened (the seals survive in a wide range of states, from missing, to roughly torn, to neatly cut, each created at random by the first "user" of the book).

From a book perspective, this is a chapbook with 8 leaves, saddle-stitched (bound with two wire staples) into printed covers. The first seven leaves have lithographs of Schwitters's collages printed rectos (front side) only, with blank back and facing pages.

The final leaf is a list of books in the Die Silbergaule series backed with a page of ads from the publisher. The front wrapper has a Schwitters lithograph on the cover, with the printed seal slip. The inside front cover has a list of Schwitters's earlier works.

The inside back cover has a publisher's ad; the back cover is not printed but has the back half of the paper seal affixed. The book measures 8-13/16 by 5-5/8 inches. First edition (first and only printing; typically thought to be one of 3000 copies, but Die Kathedrale is much scarcer than that number would suggest).

With a short tear (1/4 inch) to the top edge of the front cover. Front paper seal creased; generally a very good copy with a complete, if torn (as intended) seal.

NOTE: Page [15] of this book prints an ad from the publisher for its Die Slibergäule "radical book" series. The ad claims 150,000 copies in print and lists books through volume 55/56, also published in 1920. It is often the case that the first printings of books published in series can be identified by the list of other titles in the series. This does not appear to be the case with Die Kathedrale.

No reference book notes this ad as an issue point (or identifies any variants at all). The one copy I have been able to examine has the same list of books, including Die Kathedrale as 41/42 and ending with 55/56; the Kunsthaus Zurich copy also has the same ad.

It appears that Paul Steegemann, the publisher, had planned his 1920 publication season by the time Die Kathedrale was ready to go to press and included forthcoming titles in the ad. Subject: ART, Art - Monograph, Artist's Book / Livre d'artiste, Germany. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the International Online Booksellers Association (IOBA), and the Cascade Booksellers Association (CBA), and we adhere to their codes of ethics. Condition grading is done in compliance with IOBA's published standards. This listing was created by Bibliopolis.