VARIOUS SMALL FIRES

(Los Angeles): (Anderson, Ritchie & Simon), 1970. Fine.. Signed second edition of Ruscha's second artist's book, an enigmatic series of controlled burns in the human landscape. The fifteen yellow-tinted fires of VARIOUS SMALL FIRES are man-made, mostly domesticated and indoors, mostly under control: a gas stove, a welder's torch, a cigarette lighter, a cigar — with just a few blurred, unidentifiable snapshots of flames on a sidewalk, by a car, in the dark, whose purpose and safety are unknown. Ruscha stressed the subject if what is important, not the photographer: "I went to a stock photograph place and looked for pictures of fires, there were none. (truncated) It is not important who took the photos, it is a matter of convenience, purely" (quoted in Coplans). One of Ruscha's most confounding books, it is uncommon signed. 7'' x 5.5''. Original black and white printed wrappers. Edition of 3000 unnumbered copies. 16 photographs. [48] pages. Signed by Ruscha in pencil on front free endpaper. PROVENANCE: From the collection of longtime MIT Press editor Roger Conover, who published several books by and about Ruscha. Minor edgewear. (Inventory #: 49887)