The Last Days of W (Handmade Maquette with Extra-Illustrated Special Edition).
[Saint Paul. MN]: Little Brown Mushroom, 2008. Folio. Handmade maquette used in the production of Alec Soth's elegiac The Last Days of W (2008), in which the photographer revisited images that he'd captured during the two Presidential terms of George W. Bush; "a panoramic look at a country exhausted by its catastrophic leadership." Into a spiral-bound notebook, Soth has here pasted 46 inkjet prints across 62 pages—compared to a count of 36 images across 46 pages in the final publication, which often employs variant sequencing of the images. SIGNED by Soth to first page, with pencil annotations to the concluding section "Either Dusk or Dawn." Accompanied by a copy of the publication's Special Edition, printed tabloid style to newsprint; also SIGNED by Soth to front cover, with corresponding "placemat" print signed and titled by Soth to verso and hand-numbered as 72 of 100. This copy of the Special Edition extra-illustrated with inserted inkjet printouts, reproducing the commercial use for nine corresponding images (e.g. The New York Times Magazine, Telegraph Magazine). Also accompanied by a trade copy of the publication. All elements fine and housed in custom half-leather slipcase with linen chemise. An exceptional artifact from Soth's creative process, for the first DIY publication from his Little Brown Mushroom.
Item #30323
Price: $17,500.00