Ed Ruscha

First edition, first issue of Every Building on the Sunset Strip by Ed Ruscha.

• Ed Ruscha (American).
• Los Angeles: Edward Ruscha, 1966.
• 52 pages.
• Accordion-fold sequence of offset-printed black and white photographs, attached to inside of upper wrapper.
• White wrappers, spine and upper side printed in silver, publisher's silver mylar-covered board slipcase, with the original white wraparound band.

Regards à travers Le Livre 138; Engberg & Phillpot, Edward Ruscha: Editions 1959-1999. Catalogue Raisonne (B4); The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century pp182-5; The Open Book: A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present pp198-9; The Photobook: A History II, pp142-3.

Ruscha's first attempt to photograph the strip on foot failed as parked cars got in the way. He resolved this problem by driving up and down Sunset Boulevard with a motor-driven 35mm camera fixed to his truck, photographing every building between Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

The resulting photographs were laid out and joined together. The even-numbered south side runs along the top, the north side along the bottom, with the corresponding numbers printed below each building and names of cross streets.

This accurate record of a period of extraordinary growth in Los Angeles is representative of the urban sprawl taking place throughout the United States.