Andy Warhol

A first edition of In the Bottom of my Garden by Andy Warhol, with a hand-colored cover and lithograph.

• Andy Warhol (American).
• Oblong quarto.
• 19 of 20 lithographs, one hand-colored, with lithograph cover, hand-colored.
• Paper-covered boards with hand-colored printed cover.

One of Warhol's pre-Pop book publications, in which his whimsical drawings are annotated by his mother's elegant calligraphy. Inspired by Flower Fairies of Autumn by Cicely Mary Barker from 1926, its title is taken from a song sung by Gay Icon Beatrice Lillie "There are Faires in the Bottom of Our Garden."

"According to Charles Lisanby, Warhol's close friend at the time, In the Bottom of My Garden came about when Warhol was influenced by books he had seen in Amsterdam, the last stop on the two men's world tour. This is also the sole basis on which to date the book. Lisanby mentioned by name the artist Grandville, whose engravings Warhol had already used for Love Is a Pink Cake and from whom Warhol now took ideas for flora and fauna. He adapted some putti from Jack Stella. To these inspirations one can add the famous Dance of Cupids (after Raphael) by Marcantonio Raimondi, from which Warhol borrowed the round dance of the putti. It is tempting to suppose that he found a book on putti containing all of these examples during his travels in Europe. The illustrations do not follow a storyline, and moreover the copies (that still exist) differ in sequencing. The blotted-line drawings focus on outlines and omit any detailing. Their comic effect, however, does not rely on the use of watercolors, which were applied (unevenly) to some pages of the book."

Schleif and Dobner