Hockney, David, and Stephen Spender, et al. Hockney's Alphabet

(London): faber and faber for the AIDS Crisis Trust, (1991). First and limited edition, #150/250 numbered copies (from a total edition of 300), and signed by Hockney, Spender, and 22 of the contributors. Illustrated with 26 fine off-set color lithographs of each letter of the alphabet, by Hockney, with each letter accompanied by a textual interpretation, by Joyce Carol Oates, Iris Murdoch, Paul Theroux, Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Seamus Heaney, Martin Amis, Erica Jong, Ian McEwan, Nigel Nicolson, Margaret Drabble, Craig Raine, William Boyd, V.S. Pritchett, Doris Lessing, William Golding, T.S. Eliot, Arthur Miller, Ted Hughes, Kazuo Ishiguro, Julian Barnes, John Updike, Susan Sontag, Anthony Burgess, Douglas Adams and Patrick Leigh Fermor, as well as C.C. Bombaugh and John Julius Norwich. Edited by Spender. Publisher's quarter vellum over handmade slate blue paper-covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; top edge gilt, other edges trimmed; in original matching slip case.

A near-fine copy of this deluxe limited edition work, published in 1991 to support the AIDS Crisis Trust and to raise money for those suffering from AIDS. Featuring 26 alphabetical illustrations by David Hockney, each accompanied with a textual interpretation from some of the late 20th century's most esteemed writers. This copy is signed by Hockney and editor and contributor Stephen Spender, as well as most of the contributors, including Doris Lessing, William Boyd, Margaret Drabble, Martin Amis, William Golding, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Nigel Nicolson, Seamus Heaney, Douglas Adams, Julian Barnes, Craig Raine, Kazuo Ishiguro, Iris Murdoch, V.S. Pritchett, Erica Jong, Arthur Miller, John Julius Norwich, Susan Sontag, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, Norman Mailer (ironically, considering his contribution is a letter to Spender declining to be involved with the publication), and Ian McEwan. Four of the living contributors who did not sign include Anthony Burgess, Ted Hughes, Paul Theroux, and Gore Vidal. Valerie Eliot contributed T.S. Eliot's text, who had died in 1965.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

Provenance

From the collection of Justin G. Schiller

Hockney, David, and Stephen Spender, et al. Hockney's Alphabet