Arcana:

(BEARD, PETER). Turle, Gillies, Mark Greenberg & Peter Beard. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1992. First Edition. 4to. Cloth in Pictorial Dust Jacket. Photography Monograph. Fine/Fine. 164pp, 115 b&w and 80 color illustrations. Designed by Virginia Tan. "The Art of the Maasai" presents for the first time three hundred extraordinary ceremonial artifacts - discovered by Gillies Turle and never before seen outside the villages to which they belong - that were created over many generations by members of the Maasai tribe of Kenya. What makes their discovery particularly exciting is that high art has been found in a part of the world in which, until now, it was believed no art had ever been created. The ceremonial objects brought together here are extraordinary, and Peter Beard's photographs of them are in themselves works of art. This is a book whose publication is an event in the worlds of art and African culture". A brand new, most handsome example of the 1992 Alfred A. Knopf first hardbound edition additionally BOLDLY SIGNED AND INSCRIBED "to Lee with gruntings and / greetings / (infinite)Ly / Peter / Beard" in black ink across the title page with Peter Beard's thumbprint in dark grey ink under which he has annotated "#37610" OVER A COLLAGED 4 x 6" color c-print from the sequence of images of the photographer famously being tossed by a charging Rhinoceros along with a piece of snakeskin. 0-394-58323-X Inventory Number: 026349