Edvard Munch - Lot with 4 books - 1954-1974

1. Munch (The Library of Great Painters)
• Year: 1970 (First Edition)
• Title: Munch
• Author/Editor: Thomas M. Messer
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York)
• Pages: 166 pages
• Brief description: A prized and imposing monograph in English published within the renowned series "The Library of Great Painters." The text, curated by the art historian and then director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Thomas M. Messer, offers a deep critical examination of Munch’s developmental trajectory. The dust jacket features the famous work The Dance of Life (1899–1900), and the volume stands out for its rich iconographic apparatus of 200 total reproductions, including 48 hand-applied color plates.

2. Ausstellung Edvard Munch (Munich - Cologne)
• Year: 1954
• Title: Ausstellung Edvard Munch 1954-1955
• Author/Editor: Erhard Göpel (editorial team), texts by Ernst Buchner and Sigurd Willoch
• Publisher: Haus der Kunst München / Köln
• Pages: 141 pages
• Brief description: A very rare and important German exhibition catalog, printed in softcover for the historic itinerant show held between 1954 and 1955 at the prestigious Haus der Kunst in Munich and later in Cologne. The black cover bears the iconic Self-portrait with Arm as Skeleton (1895), one of the artist’s most famous lithographs. The copy in the photo bears on the title page a refined ex-libris tag from the private collection of Adriano Bertini (Prato).

3. Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906
• Year: 1974
• Title: Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks Edvard Munchs bis 1906
• Author/Editor: Gustav Schiefler
• Publisher: J.W. Cappelens Forlag A.S. (Oslo)
• Pages: 176 pages (plus 24 pages of loose plates inserted separately)
• Brief description: A fundamental bibliographic and art research tool, this is the facsimile edition expanded (published in Norway in 1974) of the historical catalog raisonné of Munch’s graphics originally prepared by collector Gustav Schiefler in 1907. The hardcover, sand-colored cloth binding, catalogs in German in meticulous detail all the early woodcuts, etchings, and lithographs created by the master up to 1906.

4. Edvard Munch. Das graphische Werk 1906–1926
• Year: 1974
• Title: Edvard Munch. Das graphische Werk 1906–1926
• Author/Editor: Gustav Schiefler
• Publisher: J.W. Cappelens Forlag (Oslo)
• Pages: 188 pages (with critical text in German and black-and-white plates presented in an appendix)
• Brief description: This is the facsimile edition (published in Norway in 1974) of the second historical volume of the catalog raisonné of Edvard Munch’s graphic works, originally printed in Berlin in 1927. Meticulously prepared by Gustav Schiefler, the text scientifically catalogs, describes, and numbers the production of wood engravings, etchings, and lithographs created by the Norwegian master in the latter part of his career, specifically in the twenty-year period from 1906 to 1926.