Maria (In Its Original Envelope)

New York: Salamander Editions (Joseph Cornell), 1954. Original wraps. Fine. A pristine copy of Joseph Cornell's elusive 1954 artist's book called "Maria". This copy boasts wonderful provenance, having come directly from Joseph Cornell's family (further background supplied upon request). Cornell, as the art world knows, was a legendary pack rat and, of the 100 copies (as per Christie's, 2017) of "Maria" that he self-published, a handful of them (perhaps half of the run?) were tucked away by Cornell and remained untouched for the rest of his life (1903-1972). Eventually they were found in a box by his family at his home in Flushing, Queens. And this is one of these copies -- crisp and immaculate in the very rare original envelope Cornell used to protect and mail off each copy. The only difference between this copy and the ones Cornell actually pesented to friends is that it lacks the tiny photograph (usually 1" to 2") he would affix to the rear pastedown's bottom-edge before sending off. Otherwise it's identical, with its stapled white wrappers, the laid-in blue tissue and the engraved vignette (or headpiece). A very impressive copy of his 1954 artist's book, a copy which, demonstrably, has never been outside of the Cornell family before now.