Up for auction is a two-volume set of the 2009 reprint of what is considered “a masterwork in art education,” The Interaction of Color, by the German American artist and educator Joseph Albers (1888-1976), who taught at Yale University, whose press first published this book in 1963 (copies of this edition sell into the low thousands). The book was reprinted in 2009, also by Yale University Press, with its two volumes sold in a black slipcase, and what I am selling is a badly water-damaged – but as far as I can tell complete – copy of this 24-year-old set, but without its slipcase. Note that this reprint contains a Foreword by Nicholas Fox Weber at the start of the yellow volume, which, but for some black-and-white illustrations and charts, includes text, with the blue volume color illustrations.

Despite their condition, I sourced (rescued from a possible dumpster death might be a better way to put it) these two oversized volumes because I thought there might be someone – a student of art, perhaps, or someone who might want to remove the undamaged color images and use them in art projects -- willing to have a complete, albeit damaged set – who’d be willing to pay considerably less for the books, perhaps as a place holder until they’re willing and able to purchase a set for over $100-200. (There’s also a paperback version available, I believe.)

The two books I’m selling -- one (with a yellow cloth binding) including text only, with several black-and-white in-text illustrations, and the other (bound in blue cloth) including numerous color illustrations – measure 10-1/2 inches wide by 13-1/2 inches high – and weigh over 7 pounds for the two.

Here's the introductory section to the Josef Albers article in Wikipedia:

Josef Albers (March 19, 1888 – March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany, into a Roman Catholic family with a background in craftsmanship, Albers received practical training in diverse skills like engraving glass, plumbing, and wiring during his childhood. He later worked as a schoolteacher from 1908 to 1913 and received his first public commission in 1918 and moved to Munich in 1919.

In 1920, Albers joined the Weimar Bauhaus as a student and became a faculty member in 1922, teaching the principles of handicrafts. With the Bauhaus's move to Dessau in 1925, he was promoted to professor and married Anni Albers, a student at the institution and a textile artist. Albers' work in Dessau included designing furniture and working with glass, collaborating with established artists like Paul Klee. Following the Bauhaus's closure under Nazi pressure in 1933, Albers emigrated to the United States. He was appointed as the head of the painting program at the experimental liberal arts institution Black Mountain College in North Carolina, a position he held until 1949.

At Black Mountain, Albers taught students who would later go on to become prominent artists such as Ruth Asawa and Robert Rauschenberg, and invited contemporary American artists to teach in the summer seminar, including the choreographer Merce Cunningham and the Harlem Renaissance painter Jacob Lawrence. In 1950, he left for Yale University to head the design department, contributing significantly to its graphic design program. Albers' teaching methodology, prioritizing practical experience and vision in design, had a profound impact on the development of postwar Western visual art, while his book Interaction of Color, published in 1963, is considered a seminal work on color theory.

In addition to being a teacher, Albers was an active abstract painter and theorist, best known for his series Homage to the Square, in which he explored chromatic interactions with nested squares, meticulously recording the colors used. He also created murals, such as those for the Corning Glass Building and the Time & Life Building in New York City. In 1970, he and his wife lived in Orange, Connecticut, where they continued to work in their private studio. In 1971, Albers was the first living artist to be given a solo show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Albers died in his sleep on March 25, 1976, at the Yale New Haven Hospital after being admitted for a possible heart ailment.

And here’s the section in Albers’ Wikipedia article entitled “Color Theory,” which is largely devoted to Interaction of Color:

In 1963, Albers published Interaction of Color, which is a record of an experiential way of studying and teaching color. He asserted that color "is almost never seen as it really is" and that "color deceives continually", and he suggested that color is best studied via experience, underpinned by experimentation and observation. The very rare first edition has a limited printing of only 2,000 copies and contained 150 silk screen plates. This work has since been republished, and is now available as an iPad App.

Albers presented color systems at the end of his courses (and at the end of 'Interaction of Color') and these featured descriptions of primary, secondary and tertiary color, as well as a range of connotations that he assigned to specific colors on his triangular color model.

In respect to his artworks, Albers was known to meticulously list the specific manufacturer's colors and varnishes he used on the back of his works, as if the colors were catalogued components of an optical experiment. His work represents a transition between traditional European art and the new American art. It incorporated European influences from the Constructivists and the Bauhaus movement, and its intensity and smallness of scale were typically European, but his influence fell heavily on American artists of the late 1950s and the 1960s. "Hard-edge" abstract painters drew on his use of patterns and intense colors, while Op artists and conceptual artists further explored his interest in perception.

In an article about the artist, published in 1950, Elaine de Kooning concluded that however impersonal his paintings might at first appear, not one of them "could have been painted by anyone but Josef Albers himself." 

The overall condition of these two cloth-bound oversized Josef Albers volumes is poor, as can be seen in all the photos I've uploaded, which show extensive water damage inside and out to the paper, which is wrinkled, puckered, spotted, torn, chipped, etc. All the pages do seem to be present, however, although some have stuck together and further damage was caused, to both images and text, when I gently opened them to take photos. These titles would make a good place holder for those who may not want to spend money on the original 2009 reprint in very good condition, which sells for well over $100 if undamaged (copies of the original limited-edition 1963 edition, which included 80 silk-screen plates, can cost tens of thousands of dollars, with single plates alone selling for as much as $1,000). Note that the original black slipcase does not come with books.

These two water-damaged but complete volumes of Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color, reprint edition published in 2009, are being sold AS IS, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE AND PICTURED WITHIN. I am setting what I feel is a very reasonable starting price for the auction, and there is NO RESERVE. I am also including a Buy It Now option.

Shipping and handling for the titles, which together weigh over 7 pounds: $10 to U.S. addresses (via Media Mail).

Note that eBay has now instituted a shipping program whereby bidders from outside the U.S. can bid on or buy all sellers' items, and the seller sends everything to an eBay facility in the US for shipping. So far, this seems to be working out well (though one item bought by someone in China never made it to its destination, though eBay very quickly refunded the buyer).  

If you want these books sent more quickly to you (e.g., via Priority Mail in the U.S.), you must request this asap after winning or purchasing them (or beforehand, if possible), and I will adjust the amount accordingly.

I will do my best to send the two volumes out to you no more than 2-3 business days following receipt of payment (that is, when eBay informs me that your payment has been posted to or otherwise cleared in my account). 

If you are the winner or buyer of these books, PAYMENT IS EXPECTED WITHIN ONE WEEK (7 DAYS) FROM THE PURCHASE DATE. If you cannot pay within this time frame, PLEASE contact me asap so we can work something out. I'm very flexible and understanding, but I would appreciate communication from you one way or another.

PLEASE NOTE THAT RETURNS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED NOR REFUNDS MADE FOR THESE BOOKS, SO PLEASE READ MY DESCRIPTION CAREFULLY, LOOK CLOSELY AT THE PHOTOGRAPHS I’VE UPLOADED, AND ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT THE CONTENTS OR CONDITION OF THE TITLES. THANKS FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING! 

Thanks for looking, and please don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions about these two damaged but still legible volumes of Joseph Albers’ Interaction of Color, a reprint edition published by Yale University Press in 2009.      

PLEASE NOTE THAT, IF POSSIBLE, I WILL HAPPILY ADJUST SHIPPING CHARGES FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES!!! (THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO SALES FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S. AT THIS TIME.)

ALSO, NOTE THAT, IF APPLICABLE, eBAY WILL ADD ANY APPROPRIATE STATE SALES TAX TO THE INVOICE.