26 - BILL (Max).

BILL (Max). Fifteen Variations on a Single Theme. Paris: Éditions des Chroniques du jour, [1938]. — Large square quarto, 320 x 305: (9 ff.), 16 plates. Loose sheets, in a cardboard slipcase with a gray cloth spine and the publisher’s ties. First edition of this beautiful album of 16 plates, 13 of which are in color (lithographs), of the 15 variations on a single theme that the Swiss architect, painter, and graphic designer Max Bill (1903–1994) created from 1935 to 1938, with the first plate representing “the theme.” These plates are preceded by a text in three languages (French, German, English) that comments on the constructive processes involved, “so that everyone will be able to distinguish and follow the methods that guided these compositions” (prospectus). Limited edition of 250 copies; this is one of the 20 first-edition copies on special Bristol board, presented in album form and signed by the artist on the title page (no. 10). Well-preserved copy, accompanied by the publication prospectus—in the same format as the book—featuring a color illustration. Some staining on the cover.