BUSINESS CARDS

First [and only] edition. Signed by the author. Association copy. Hand bound by the authors in faux wood-grain card covers, tied with a knotted leather cord. Black and white photograph mounted to front cover. With 21 photographic illustrations (by Ken Price and Larry Bell). Two cards stapled to final leaf, as issued. A very near fine copy, the binding firm, bright and fresh, the contents clean throughout. Issued in an edition of 1000 copies.

Signed by both Ruscha and Bengston in blue ink on the upper cover, above which Ruscha adds the name 'Rudi!'. The recipient Rudi Gernreich (1922-1985) was one of the most original, prophetic and controversial American fashion designers of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. "I met Rudi in the late 1960s through Léon Bing, a model for many of his daringly original fashion statements. I would occasionally spot him driving his white Bentley (very slowly) to his shop on Santa Monica Boulevard near La Cienega. He would wear his own distinctly self-designed clothing. He could be stately and aloof, but at the same time remain a rather ordinary citizen. I cast him in a short movie I did with Larry Bell. Rudi played a roguish flophouse doorman who sneers and says, ''At'll be two dollars.' Here was an elegant man in real life playing a lowdown character who cleans his dirty fingernails with a screwdriver" - Ed Ruscha (System Magazine Issue 13). "We would have met around 1958 or 1960, through Pat Faure. She was probably the most sophisticated person in California at that time; she was a blender. She brought me to Rudi. He was an unusual cat, a handsome little fella when most of the designers weren't very attractive. He dressed in black, which was unusual for California at that time. Very individual, sort of like a European existentialist" - Billy Al Bengston (System Magazine Issue 13).