George O. 'Pop' Hart; twenty-four selections from his work [*SIGNED*]

New York: The Downtown Gallery. Very Good+. 1928. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket, possibly as issued) [modest shelfwear, black mark along bottom edge of front cover, small pencil check-marks next to some catalog entries]. (B&W art reproductions) A nicely-produced catalogue of works by this Illinois-born painter and watercolorist (1868-1933), who was well-regarded in his day. The introduction, although stated on the title page as "by Holger Cahill," is largely comprised of Hart's own comments on his life and work, apparently derived from an interview, although the 17-page piece is edited in a strange way (without quotation marks to set off his words from the third-person observations of Cahill). This is followed by a "Catalogue of Prints," which lists 82 individual works, although only 24 are reproduced in the next and final section of the book, each on its own page. The limitation statement reads: "Of this edition, containing an original lithograph, 250 copies have been printed on Normandy vellum, specially bound, numbered and signed by the artist"; below this is written "#229 / Pop Hart / Holger Cahill." (The original lithograph, the book's frontispiece, is protected by a tissue guard, and is entitled "The Champion, Mexico, 1928"; it depicts the aftermath of a cockfight, with a group of spectators observing one bird picking at the corpse of the other.) Signed by Artist .