Salvador Dali Maximum/Max Card w/ stamp (France, 1979).

Salvador Dali Maximum/Max Card (France, 1979)
w/ stamp designed by Dali (1978)

When this item came to my attention through an online auction, I was intrigued.  Having grown up an amateur stamp collector and the heir to sizeable stamp collections of my progenitors, I had never encountered a "max card."  I think it's a European thing.

Anyhoo, it turns out that a max card is sort of like a first day cover.  In this case, the cover is a postcard with an image of the stamp designed for France by Dali in 1978, with the actual stamp affixed to it and cancelled on the first day of issue, November 17, 1979.

The reverse side of this postcard is numbered 490, but I have no idea of the total size of the print edition.  Seems like a nice low number anyway.

I must say, if there were more Dali stamp designs in my stamp collection, I might actually enjoy my stamps a lot more.  But alas, this is the first and only.

I have never before seen any of these for sale out there, but I imagine that a ton of them exist somewhere, perhaps in stamp collecting circles.  Not really sure, but I mean, there must have been millions of these stamps produced, right?

This max card was a good deal at about two dollars mailed to me from France.

Dali: A Study of His Art-In-Jewels (Owen Cheatham Foundation 1959/1970)

Dali: A Study of His Art-In-Jewels
by The Owen Cheatham Foundation (1959/1970)

I resisted buying this book for a long time, partly because of cost and partly because of uncertainty of the contents. I am a big fan of Dali’s art, but was not sure how I would react to a book of his jewel art. The price of this old book made the purchase uncertain.

When I finally found a nice copy of this book for a decent price, I bought it. And I am glad I did. The hardcover copy I got came with the slipcase intact. The book has tipped-in color plates on every other page.

The photos of the jewels are done well, and the colors are vibrant. A very nice book considering its age. With this book, I also received supplements for three additional jewels not included in the original publication, bringing the total jewels in this edition to 28 + 3.

Be aware that there are several printings of this catalog (1959, 1965, and 1970).  It appears that there are printings subsequent to 1970, presumably with additional jewels.  The 1970 printing has 36 jewels bound into the edition.

You can expect to pay $40 and up for this book. If buying the hardcover, look for the slipcase, it has a nice color photo on the front.

Associated with this collection is a pamphlet of the same name.  It is about 7 pages long and contains a descriptive index of the jewels.  My copy has 28 jewels indexed and supplements for three additional jewels.  This fact dates the pamphlet to around 1962 (the 31st jewel was completed in December, 1961).

The pamphlet is relatively insignificant in that it has no illustrations and contains information already in the main book.  It is worth fewer than $10, and if you're lucky, it will be tucked into a catalog that you purchase.  Mine was.

Dali Sculptor - Dali Illustrator (Stratton Foundation Exhibition Catalog, 1989/1995).

Dali Sculptor - Dali Illustrator
Stratton Foundation Exhibition Catalog, 1989; reprint 1995.

As far as Dali exhibition catalogs are concerned, one thing is certain: Stratton Foundation publications do not disappoint.  I absolutely love this catalog.

It is a lengthy 261 pages and is filled with stunning full-page color photos of Dali sculptures, and generously-sized color reproductions of a number of illustration suites (etchings, lithographs, watercolors, dry-points, engravings, etc.), and much more.

You'll also find a number of unique photos of Dali at work and at play, a section of objects made of gold, and a section of works titled "anamorphoses."  These latter works appear distorted until viewed in the reflection of a round tube strategically placed on top of the work.  I remember seeing some of these in person at the museum in Figueres back in 1995.

Some of the illustration suites reproduced in this catalog are:

• Don Quichotte (1957, 12 lithographs);
• Le Tricorne (1959, 20 wood engravings);
• La Vida es Sueno (1975, 16 watercolors);
• Casanova (1967, 14 lithographs);
• Le Marquis de Sade (1968, 25 lithographs);
• Alice in Wonderland (1969, 13 engravings);
• Gargantua and Pantagruel (1973, 25 lithographs);
• Moses and Monotheism (1974, 10 lithograph-ethings);

... and many more.

There are also several short essays written by Dali scholars such as Albert Field, Reynolds Morse, and Beniamino Levi.

This is one catalog that you don't want to pass by, especially if you don't have any Stratton catalogs in your collection.  These people really put out a superb product.

You might be able to find one of these for under $20, especially if you wait it out for a rare auction, otherwise you might have to shell out about $40 for this catalog.  You definitely need one of these, so happy hunting!

Surrealist Drawings Exhibition Catalog - January through July 1988, Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

Surrealist Drawings Exhibition Catalog
January through July 1988
Salvador Dali Museum
St. Petersburg, Florida

Here is another of those somewhat elusive Dali Museum exhibition catalogs from days past. 

This one is an unpaginated 59 pages (stapled) and features no fewer than 33 early sketches, studies, and assorted drawings by Dali from the 1930's through the early 1940's.  The cover has the pictured charcoal drawing framed in dark blue with the title in gold at the bottom.

Each drawing is accompanied by a title or a reference to the painting it is a study for, the medium, the approximate date, and size.  Many of the drawings are also accompanied by a quote from one of a number of books by, or about, Dali.

The reproductions are of a decent quality and there are many drawings not normally seen elsewhere.

A neat little catalog if you can find a copy.  Expect to pay about $20 or so for one of these, though you may have a difficult time locating one.

Lautreamont: Les Chants de Maldoror, illustres par Salvador Dali.

Lautreamont: Les Chants de Maldoror,
illustres par Salvador Dali

Right now, this booklet is an enigma.  There is no copyright information and the only printed information inside the booklet reads:

IMPRIME EN SUISSE
ETIENNE ET CHRISTIAN BRAILLARD, GENEVE



Etienne Braillard in Geneva printed the Argillet edition of 1975 as the retitled Edition complete et definitive des Chants de Maldoror (according to Dali: Les Chants de Maldoror exhibition catalog, 1991).    So, it seems that this booklet likely dates to about 1975.

Let's turn our attention to the details of the booklet.  It is 6.25" x 9.25" and contains 44 plates of Dali's engravings for Les Chants de Maldoror.

These engravings are without the remarques of both the 1934 Skira deluxe edition and the 1975 Argillet edition.  For the Argillet edition, Dali engraved additional designs on the cropped plates that are different from the original remarques (according to Dali: Les Chants de Maldoror exhibition catalog, 1991).

So, the booklet images appear to represent the original unaltered engravings of 1934.

One possibility is that this booklet accompanied the Argillet edition to show the original state of the engravings, another possibility is that the booklet was a promotional catalog or advertisement for the Argillet edition.  Hopefully the actual details of this publication will soon come to light.

In any case, the reproductions in this booklet are the best quality of any Maldoror illustrations I have seen, making this a great find.  All illustrations are crisp, clear, have sufficient contrast, and are full-page.

It is not known where another of these booklets is being sold--it appears to be extremely rare.  Any estimation of collector value must be strictly conjecture, but I am not beyond such speculation.

If the booklet turns out to be associated with the purchase of the Argillet edition of 1975, then the value of this booklet may be quite high considering that one could only get it through the costly purchase of the engravings suite.  In this case, the booklet could be worth several hundred dollars.

If the booklet is simply a promotional publication that is somewhat common somewhere in the world, then the value of the booklet could easily be under $100.

My personal valuation of this item is tentatively in the $300 range.

Dali: Les Chants de Maldoror - Exhibition of 44 Etchings, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1991.

Dali: Les Chants de Maldoror

Exhibition of 44 Etchings
February 5 - August 18, 1991

Salvador Dali Museum
St. Petersburg, Florida

This is a 24-page exhibition catalog of Dali's etchings for Comte de Lautreamont's (Isidore Ducasse) Les Chants de Maldoror.  These original engravings are among Dali's earliest, dating to 1934.

This catalog presents all 44 etchings of the deluxe uncropped Skira edition of 1934 (8 full-page, 36 quarter-page), which include remarques, or pencil-like drawings that appear on the bottom or top half of the plates. 

This feature makes this catalog a good reference source beyond Albert Field's Official Dali Catalog since some of Field's Maldoror reproductions (sized at 1/16th of a page) are either missing the remarques, or the remarques have been cropped out.

Elsewhere, one can find 43 Maldoror illustrations in the Pompidou Retrospective Catalog (1979/1980) sans remarques (sized at 1/9th of a page).

This exhibition catalog also features a short essay about the details of both the 1934 and 1975 print editions of the Dali etchings, and a brief essay about Lautreamont and his Maldoror text.

This catalog is not too common but it seems that there are several for sale for around $25.  Considering that the quality of the reproductions is not great (most are too light to achieve fine detail), that price might be a bit rich for this catalog.