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Lot Essay
"On the outer edge of eleven of the sheets, lettered index tabs have been pasted in a vertically descending order. From the front, they spell out the book's titled; from the back, they spell Société Anonyme Incorporated. In this volume, Duchamp reprints selected art criticism by his friend Henry McBride, who wrote for the New York Sun and the New York Herald between 1915 and 1922. The format for the volume is copyrighted by Rrose Sélavy. Each article is printed in progressively larger type. The characters in the last one are so big that the complete text will not fit on the three pages allotted for it, so the ending is printed on the last page in the same very small type that was used for the first article...One hundred copies were printed, but only about twenty-five were actually assembled" (A. Schwartz, op. cit.).
"Since Duchamp identifies this as the 'Dernier Dummy,' it was probably the final proof of this publication sent to Henry McBride for his review before the book was printed and assembled. After McBride's death in 1962, it was returned to Duchamp, who, in turn, gave it (as the inscription indicated, exactly forty years after it had been made) to his laywer, Joseph Solomon." (F. M. Naumann, Achim Moeller Fine Art, exh. cat., op. cit.).
The present copy is the only known example to have been, and one of only a handful of works by Duchamp that bear the signature 'Rrose Sélavy.'
"Since Duchamp identifies this as the 'Dernier Dummy,' it was probably the final proof of this publication sent to Henry McBride for his review before the book was printed and assembled. After McBride's death in 1962, it was returned to Duchamp, who, in turn, gave it (as the inscription indicated, exactly forty years after it had been made) to his laywer, Joseph Solomon." (F. M. Naumann, Achim Moeller Fine Art, exh. cat., op. cit.).
The present copy is the only known example to have been, and one of only a handful of works by Duchamp that bear the signature 'Rrose Sélavy.'