The North

Cambridge: Rampant Lions Press for The Enitharmon Press, 1972. Limited First Edition. Folio. Fine. Arikha, Avigdor. Number XIII of XV copies, folio size, [24] pp., with an extra suite of three etchings, all of which are signed by the artist, signed by Samuel Beckett on the limitation page. "The North" is a paragraph extracted from the short prose work "The Lost Ones" originally published as "Le Depeupleur" Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1971, by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). The story has no plot, but is rather a metaphorical exploration of the landscape of the unconscious mind, evoked through the image of a flattened cylinder and its crowded inhabitants.

Avigdor Arikha (1929-2010) was a close friend of Samuel Beckett, who he met in Paris, where he settled after escaping a Nazi concentration camp. He is regarded among Israel's greatest postwar artists, and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2005. His images of "the woman vanquished" are chillingly somber, and darkly chaotic. A remarkable collaboration between two great artists of the twentieth-century. This is from a special edition of 15 copies which were produced primarily for the publisher Alan Clodd. These were not issued in a slipcase.

____DESCRIPTION: Original white paper portfolio with enclosing lower flap, title in blind to the upper cover, loose folios as issued, three signed etchings with tissue guards, together with an extra suite of those same etchings from the text, signed, hand-set Palatino type, printed by Will and Sebastian Carter at the Rampant Lions Press on J. Barcham Green paper, 15" by 11 5/8", [24] pp., limited first edition, number XIII of XV copies, signed by the author and the artist.

___CONDITION: A fine copy, internally bright and complete, covers are clean and bright, internally free of prior owner markings; crisp and as new, a heartbreakingly lovely work.

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