78. Alexander Catalog 2 / Sketchbooks (Zweitaus.) 4

Here we have another comment from Salvador Castío, quoted in full (see Post 75):

I'm glad to see that my link to JJ Sedelmaier's article was helpful. These books [Crumb Sketchbooks (Zweitausendeins)] range in price on eBay - I've seen them go for as low as $75 and as high as $600! They really are a MUST HAVE item; they're beautifully printed and some volumes are 380 pages thick. The volumes that cover the mid to late 60s are the ones that have some color in them. All other volumes are in black and white. I believe there was going to be one last volume but it never got published.

The Alexander Catalog is a nice book. Up until the time it was published, 1993, it was, to the best of my knowledge, the first and only hardbound comprehensive catalog of Crumb's work. It was issued with a dollar bill that acted as a certificate of authenticity to the serial number below the gallery director's signature on the front flyleaf. Again, this book varies in price - from $200 to $2000 on eBay. There were initially 1800 copies published but after the show ended, gallery director Alexander Acevedo had 1300 copies destroyed! It's a nice book but I feel that the Ludwig's Museum 2004, Yeah, But is is Art? catalog and the recent Paris catalog are much nicer. Definitely worth looking for. Here's a link that you may find helpful; it's detailed listing of Crumb's exhibition history from the David Zwirner Gallery website: 

Zwirner.com Crumb.pdf


I'm glad you found the link and info useful. Keep up the good work.