BRICE MARDEN: Notebooks 1964–1968, Karma, New York, 2015

Two-volume facsimile set, Karma, New York, 2015. Illustrated hardcover facsimiles in burgundy leatherette; 130 and 90 pages; 11 × 18.5 cm each. Edition of 1,500 copies each. ISBN 978-1-938560-48-4 / 978-1-942607-00-7. Both titles out of print.

Condition: both volumes remain unopened in their original publisher’s shrinkwrap. The plastic shows rubbing, creasing, small pressure marks and areas of slackening around the edges and corners. The books appear exceptionally well preserved beneath but have not been opened for inspection. From a collection of artist publications retained in their original wrapping.

A pair of facsimiles reproducing two of Marden’s personal notebooks from the formative period between September 1964 and 1968. The pages bring together handwritten colour instructions, drawings, pasted images, addresses, observations and references to contemporary film and culture. Karma describes the volumes as records of the artist’s working process, with their graphite and ballpoint rectangles anticipating the monochrome and panel paintings through which he first became known.

Marden began producing his early monochrome paintings during the mid-1960s. These notebooks preserve what ordinarily remained outside the finished work: private calculations, visual fragments, practical reminders and provisional ideas. Rather than explaining the paintings retrospectively, they show thought taking shape alongside everyday life.

The publisher translated two working documents into carefully simulated objects. Rounded corners, burgundy leatherette and reproduced handwriting preserve the appearance of personal notebooks while converting them into an edition of 1,500. Still sealed and retained together, this set remains close to its original moment of distribution: studio documents reproduced, published and withheld from use.

Securely packed; tracked UK and international shipping available.