The Labyrinth (corner dent) – Saul Steinberg
The Labyrinth by Saul Steinberg, introduction by Nicholson Baker, afterword by Harold Rosenberg / ISBN 9781681372433 / 288-page hardcover, 10.75 x 9.75 inches, from NYRB / new copies with dented front corner from rough inbound shipping
***
Saul Steinberg’s The Labyrinth, first published in 1960 and long out of print, is more than a simple catalog or collection of drawings. These carefully arranged pages record a brilliant, constantly evolving imagination confronting modern life. Here is Steinberg, as he put it at the time, discovering and inventing a great variety of events: “Illusion, talks, music, women, cats, dogs, birds, the cube, the crocodile, the museum, Moscow and Samarkand (winter, 1956), other Eastern countries, America, motels, baseball, horse racing, bullfights, art, frozen music, words, geometry, heroes, harpies, etc.” This edition, featuring a new introduction by Nicholson Baker, an afterword by Harold Rosenberg, and new notes on the artwork, will allow readers to discover this unique and wondrous book all over again.