Frank Lloyd Wright

A Non-Political Voice from Our Democratic Minority. #13 and 15 (2 Issues). Author: Wright, Frank Lloyd Title: A Taliesin Square-Paper. Square octavos (when folded). Tan printed wrappers with black and orange lettering on the covers. Two issues from the series of irregularly published broadside manifestos and short essays by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Each issue consists of one or more two-fold broadside sheets, with numerical pagination on the top of each “page”. The covers contain the title, subtitle, and the following quote: A free fearless enlightened minority is the conscience of a democratic nation. When this is stifled, democracy is gone from the life of the nation. Issue #13, dated March 17th, 1949, reproduces the contents of his acceptance speech upon receiving the AIA Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects. The acceptance speech was diplomatic yet frank, and has been seen as a reconciliation of sorts between the association and Wright, who had previously shown animus towards the organization, and who had earlier in his career referred to them as among other things, “a harbor of refuge for the incompetent, ” and a form of refined gangsterism. Conversely, in 1991 the Association recognized Frank Lloyd Wright as the greatest American architect of all time. Issue #15, dated January 1951, was published to coincide with the opening of the Italian Exhibition: A preview in Philadelphia at Gimbel Brothers Gallery. The content is a reprinting of the foreword Wright wrote for the book’When Democracy Builds’. In it the architect passionately and poetically discuses and ponders the cultural life and soul of the country. Pages have become somewhat brittle, with some light age toning. Issue #13 detached into multiple parts, but all content is present. Issue #15 with a few small closed tears at the folds, but sound overall. Sheets in fair to very good- condition overall. Both issues are protected together in modern mylar. We offer a broad selection of rare, out-of-print and antiquarian books with an emphasis on photography, architecture, art, Judaica, Bibles, Weimar Germany and the Third Reich, modernism, Olympic Games, erotica and foreign-language works, especially German, Hebrew, Polish and Yiddish. This listing was created by Bibliopolis.