FIRST EDITION OF PATTI SMITH'S ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, INSCRIBED BY MAPPLETHORPE

SMITH, Patti. Robert Mapplethorpe. [New York]: Bellport Press, 1987. Quarto, original brown cloth, original dust jacket. $1500.

Limited first edition of this understated work on Robert Mapplethorpe by his close friend and former lover, Patti Smith, one of only 2000 copies printed, with 18 mounted color photographic plates by Mapplethorpe comprising flower still lifes, portraits (including of Smith and Andy Warhol) and nudes accompanied by Smith's lyrics, inscribed by Mapplethorpe to Maria Morris Hambourg, founding curator of photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"While still in school, [Robert Mapplethorpe] began living with Patti Smith, whom he met in Brooklyn. Maxine de la Falaise McKendry remembered that when Robert first met Smith he kicked a hole through from his apartment to hers so that they could communicate better. 'Patti and I built on each other's confidence. We were never jealous of each other's work. We inspired each other. She became recognized first. Then she had a record contract. She pushed ahead. There was a parallel happening to each career'" (Vanity Fair). While Smith and Mapplethorpe initially had a romantic relationship, Mapplethorpe eventually felt driven to explore his sexuality—providing experiences that would color his work from then on. Smith married another man and had two children. Still, the couple remained close friends, contributing to each other's work with photographs (in Mapplethorpe's case) and essays and spoken word (in Smith's case). Smith produced this book in the lead-up to Mapplethorpe's groundbreaking exhibition at the Whitney and just two years before his tragic death from AIDS at age 42. Published in Tokyo the same year by Parco.

Book in fine condition, in a near-fine dust jacket with very slight soiling. An attractive signed copy.