Sale 2526 - Illustration Art, December 10, 2019

237 c SAUL STEINBERG, “12 Biographies / A to B.” Final illustration appearing on page 251 in his book The Labyrinth (New York: Harper & Bros., 1960) and reprinted by The NewYork Review of Books (NewYork, 2019), and reproduced in the exhibition catalogue for “Saul Steinberg: April 14-July 9, 1979,” at the Whitney Museum of American Art (Harold Rosenberg, text; chronology by Steinberg, New York, 1978). Pen and ink with collage on paper. 365x584 mm; 14 1 / 2 x23 inches, sheet. Faint pencil signature and date in lower right corner, Steinberg’s manuscript note and New Yorker stamp and label on overslip (though unpublished there). [12,000/18,000] steinberg’s brilliant series of connecting points which he chose for the last page of his iconic book. His comment to the publisher, written on the overslip, states: “12 Biographies, or anyway, 12 variations on the distance between 2 points. If the typographical variety seems confusing, I’m willing to remove it all and substitute standard Bodoni all over.”