AWAKE IN THE DREAM WORLD: THE ART OF AUDREY NIFFENEGGER

New York City, NY: Powerhouse Books, 2013. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. New York City, NY: Powerhouse Books, 2013. Hardcover. As New/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 120 pages. Retrospective monograph on subject. One of the most important art events of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. A brilliant production by Audrey Niffenegger and Daniel Power: Oversize-volume format. Pictorial hard boards, which feature a self-portrait, with green cloth overboards and titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Art by Audrey Niffenegger. Essays by Krystyna Wasserman and Mark Pascale. Printed on pristine-white, thick coated stock paper to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Published on the occasion of the landmark exhibition of the same name held at the National Museum of Women In The Arts Washington, DC from June 21 through November 10, 2013. Presents Audrey Niffenegger's "Awake In The Dream World". The art and achievement of Audrey Niffenegger in mid-career. "Otherworldly, provocative, and strange, 'Awake In The Dream World' channels the looming, historical grim-ness of the classic fairy tale, illuminating the dichotomy between the real and imagined through the context of fantasy, and bringing to life a macabre ensemble of folkloric characters. Reflecting her talent for cultivating a captivating narrative exclusively through pictures and her own confrontations with life, mortality, and magic, Niffenegger's fantastical body of work is reminiscent of renowned pen-and-ink predecessors such as Edward Gorey, Aubrey Beardsley, Egon Schiele, Edward Dulac, and Horst Janssen, but with a brutally honest and unapologetically strange female perspective that touches upon the universal trials of life: Death and decay, love, jealousy, redemption, and the inevitability of change. Her works on paper, lithographs, and aquatints reflect the often surreal narratives of her Artist Books. Probing darker corners of the human heart and mind, often exploring the hopeless struggle with what Shakespeare called 'this bloody tyrant, Time' " (Publisher's blurb). In the meantime, here is the illuminating introduction to the artist/writer who gave us "The Time Traveler's Wife" and other contemporary classics. An absolute "must-have" title for Audrey Niffenegger collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (on the day of publication) in black pen-marker on the title page by the artist/author: "Audrey Niffenegger May 14, 2013, Chicago". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Laid-in is the "Raven Girl: New Etchings" Exhibition Card. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and publication-day dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. 240 color plates. One of the finest American artist/writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER AUDREY NIFFENEGGER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 157687639X.