- Title: Nine-volume book of death imagery featured at New York Book Fair
- Date: 4th April 2025
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 3, 2025) (REUTERS) DISPLAY COPY OF BOOK TITLED “REQUIEM” AT THE ABBA NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR (NYIABF) AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY CAMERA PANS TO NINE VOLUME SET OF “REQUIEM” STEREOSCOPES MADE OF HUMAN BONE AND GOLD (SOUNDBITE) (English) WRITER AND ARTIST, AUTHOR OF “REQUIEM,” LANCE SPEER, SAYING: “There's a whole
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Booksellers Ian Kahn Lux Mentis NYC New York International Antiquarian Book Fair Reqiuem dealers death esoteric rare books stereoscope
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: US
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,North America
- Reuters ID: LVA001408803042025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A nine-volume book of death imagery is one of the highlights at this year’s ABBA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair in New York City.
Each volume of “Requiem: Death in Three Dimensional Stereographs and 600 Years of Vernacular Imagery” contains 450 pages showcasing pictures of death from across the ages, from contemporary comic books to rare prints from 1493.
The images touch on themes of humor, sex, terror, horror, benevolence, pathos and finality.
Sprinkled throughout are excerpts from literature, quotes and poetry.
“There's a whole chapter on gold, silver, reliquaries and bones,” said the project’s author, artist and writer Lance Speer.
Speer curated and acquired the images on-line using search words. He said it took him 13 years to complete the project. “It’s quite comprehensive,” he said.
Speer also crafted two stereoscopes of human bone, silver and gold, which bibliophiles can choose to purchase along with the 9-volume Requiem set.
The starting price for the gold stereoscope and set is $750,000. The 9-volume-set alone starts at $7500.
Lux Mentis Booksellers' owner Ian Kahn said he liked to put a spotlight on “challenging material.”
“I sometimes joke that the more uncomfortable it is to hold in your hands, the more likely I am to think I might be able to do something interesting with it,” he said.
The 65th edition of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America NYIABF runs from April 3-6 and features 183 dealers from 14 countries.
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