Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip

Edward Ruscha. EVERY BUILDING ON THE SUNSET STRIP. Los Angeles: Edward Ruscha, 1966 [but 1971]. Second printing (edition of 5,000), without the extra 2 7/8-in. flap at the end. Printed by Cinema Center Printing Co. in Hollywood. Paperback. Plain-printed white cardboard wraps with silver lettering on cover and spine, in silver mylar-covered slipcase. One continuous accordion-folding page created from glued segments; presenting strips of b&w images creating a photographic frieze of both sides of Hollywood's famous strip, with even numbered addresses at the top and odd numbered addresses at the bottom. Engberg B4; Roth 182-185.

Book 7 x 5 5/8 in.; 7 1/4 x 5 3/4 in. in slipcase

Private Collection, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

This is Ruscha's fourth but perhaps most celebrated artists' book. The photos in the book were taken by attaching a camera to the back of a truck, and while quite factual in nature, it connects to Pop, Dada, and other art historical traditions with Ruscha himself calling his books "a collection of 'readymades'" (Roth p.182). A pioneering artists' book and photo book, Every Building on the Sunset Strip is featured in Andrew Roth's The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century.

The first and second editions are the same (with the title page and copyright dated 1966 in both), with the difference primarily determined by the presence or lack of the extra 2+ inch flap at the end.

Wraps with thin line of residue on the front and back from slipcase interior, and spine with light creasing and very faint staining; minor spotting at edges otherwise an extremely clean interior; slipcase with scuffing, very faint spotting and stain to white edges, 1/2-in. tear at one edge and a minor tear at another, and silver foil turn-ins with light spotting, wear, and separation; lacking scarce white belly band as is typical. A lovely example; very good or better.