Next
Thursday, May 9th, our sale of Art, Press & Illustrated Books will
feature the inventory of the late Irving Oaklander, known to all who
sought rare books about graphic design, typography and printing over
the past 30 years.
Oaklander was a pioneer in the field; he managed to
find the most obscure items and loved matching the right book to the
collector. A teacher for 35 years before he officially started his book
business, he was a natural instructor and nurturer of interests. Irving
was even a New York City geographical trailblazer, setting up his shop
in the loft district of Chelsea back in 1990. He passed away shortly
after he, his lovely wife and business partner, Lenore, and I finished
organizing the pieces for this sale. Even as his health was failing, his
excitement in the material never waned and he eagerly showed me items
I'd never handled in my 20 years at Swann.
One
of those rarities is lot 41, an original 1935 package design for an
early lighting device, designed by the talented Dutch Jewish graphic
artist Frederika "Fré" Cohen.
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Fré Cohen, original packaging design for Inventum-Bilthoven, Netherlands, circa 1935. Estimate $1,000 to $1,500. |
Among his abundant number of excellent poster and advertising design books, many by German masters, are Carl Hinkefuss's 10 Jahre Deutsche Werbe-Graphik and Walter Schubert's Die Deutsche Werbe Graphik.
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Walter F. Schubert, Die Deutsche Werbe Graphik, Berlin, 1927. Estimate $600 to $900. |
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Carl Ernst Hinkefuss, 10 Jahre Deutsche Werbe-Graphik, Berlin, 1923. Estimate $1,000 to $1,500. |
Revolutionary masters of graphic design and typography are included, such as H.N. Werkman (whose design for Priere pour nous autres charnels
appears on the cover of the sale catalogue) and Jan Tschichold,
whose annotated copy of his De Proporties van het Boek (a bible in the
world of book design) found its way onto Oaklander's shelves.
Irving
died on 8/8/12 at the age of 88 and he would, I think, (with his good
humor along with his sense of symmetry and graphics), have been amused
at how lot 88 in the sale ended up being the run of volumes of De 8 en Opbouw, the Dutch architectural avant-garde magazine.
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De 8 en Opbouw, designed by Paul Schuitema, group of more than 40 issues, Amsterdam, 1934-42. Estimate $300 to $400. |
Many
more volumes from his excellent reference library will be offered in
our August Shelf Sale. The next Art, Press & Illustrated Books sale
on October 24 will contain more highlights from the inventory, so keep
an eye out for more graphic design treats in 2013.
Labels: Art Press and Illustrated Books, Christine von der Linn, Graphic Design, Irving Oaklander, Paul Schuitema, rare books, Typography