Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Second Edition

Edward Ruscha. TWENTYSIX GASOLINE STATIONS. Alhambra, CA: The Cunningham Press, 1967. Second edition. One of 500 unnumbered copies. Paperback. Plain-printed white wraps with red lettering on cover and spine. [48]pp. with (26) b&w photos of gas stations in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Engberg B1.

7 x 5 1/2 in.

Twentysix Gasoline Stations, first published in 1963, was Ruscha's first artists' book, and one of his most important. It presents photographs of some of the gas stations he saw when he drove on Rte. 66 between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. He first traveled this well-known highway in 1956, and the imagery he saw along the way had a major impact on his art, with the gas station in particular making a frequent appearance in his paintings, drawings, and prints.

Wraps with soiling, mild edge wear, and lightly faded lettering on spine; interior with scattered soiling, dried glue visible at hinges with slight separation at rear hinge, visible dried glue with wear at inner margins between two pages, and most leaves with small scrapes and (staple?) holes at inner margin; with stamp of the American distributor, Wittenborn and Company, on title; lacking glassine dust jacket. A good copy of this scarce second edition.