RARE BOOK GUIDE - THE RUNNERS, THE RIDERS & THE ODDS

09 September 2007

David Stone Martin - Jazz Graphics 1991



Manek Daver. DAVID STONE MARTIN. JAZZ GRAPHICS. Graphic-sha Publishing Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan, 1991 ISBN 4766105745

Current Selling Prices
$400-$600 /£190-£320


JAZZ/ DESIGN
Manek Daver has brought together around 150 of David Stone Martin's jazz record covers, as well as around 65 of DSM's portraits of individual jazz musicians in this attractive book. The text is in both English and Japanese. Small art book size (12 by 9 inches) Soft cover with a jacket. Martin's work is instantly recognisable if you ever looked through collections of ol LP's. It is also recognisable from 50s and 60s paperback covers. He drew more than 400 album covers and created covers for Time Magazine. His work is in the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian. He illustrated books, posters, billboards and advertisements for film, television and theatre, and created cover art for Asch, Clef, and Jazz at the Philharmonic labels of the 40's and 50's. Nice!



VALUE? Last summer a copy turned up at $300 and sold fairly quickly. A silly billy (possibly a relister) had one at £1200 which languished at half.com - a site that you never hear people talking about and may, like zshops, only enjoy a sort of half-life. A difficult and desirable book - hard to buy at less than $450. An online listing on ABE from a home counties Oxfam shop currently has one at £190 in slightly used but about reasonable enough condition - a great cause but a tiresome price to pay to a charity shop. Possibly it would be better to list it at say £125 and watch it walk smartly out of the door. If you suggested this at the shop itself one sunny morning you would quickly find out the meaning of the phrase "cold as charity." [ W/Q *** ]

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