WILLIAM SAROYAN

SAROYAN, William (1908-1991). Harlem as seen by Hirschfeld. Text by William Saroyan. New York: The Hyperion Press, 1941.

Limited edition, number 91 of 1000 copies, featuring a fantastic collection of original colour lithographs by American caricaturist Al Hirschfeld depicting life in Harlem in the 1930s.

Before Hirschfeld died in 2003, he wrote: 'I have lived almost my whole life on the outskirts of Harlem… Harlem was as familiar and as accessible to me as the blocks around your house are to you, or the fields around your homestead, or the ice floes around your igloo... Harlem people just kept on rising above whatever met them at eye level; regardless of the economic terrain or the economic weather... They perfected an art form beyond the arts, beyond the stage, beyond the Cotton Club. Very real people meeting reality head on and then stubbornly transcending it.’' He loved the Harlem series and had the entire set of twenty-four prints framed in the hallway leading to his studio. (Al Hirschfeld Foundation).

Folio (1168 x 902 mm). 24 original mounted colour lithographs and several monochrome line drawings on handmade paper. Original pictorial cloth, hand-coloured Hirschfeld drawing on front board.

[With:] HIRSCHFELD, Al (1903-2003). Manhattan Oases. New York’s 1932 Speak-Easies. A stylish commemoration of the New York establishments that thrived in flaunting prohibition between the passing of the Volstead Act in 1919 to its repeal in 1933. The book offers brief descriptions of 50 establishments, each accompanied by portraits of their head barman and a recommended cocktail from each. Quarto. 36 full-page illustrations by Hirschfeld. Original turquoise cloth, yellow paper labels to upper board and spine, in dustjacket.

[And:] – a printed caricature portrait American Popular Song: Great American Singers, signed in blue ink by Hirschfeld recto, 215 x 280 mm.