A Gold Book

Bound book with 22 pages (including title page and two blank pages)
Medium: (total of 19 Plates)
Offset lithograph on gold paper: 13 Plates
Offset lithograph and watercolor on paper: 4 Plates
Offset lithograph on paper: 2 Plates
Year: 1957
Sheet: 14 1/4 x 11 1/4 inches (36.2 x 28.6 cm)
Edition: 100
Publisher: Andy Warhol, New-York
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann IV.106-124

The lettering was done by Warhol’s mother, Julia Warhola

 

Before Marilyn and Moonwalk, there was Andy the illustrator. Warhol’s career began as a commercial illustrator on New York’s Madison Avenue in 1949, during the massive post-war economic boom. His arrival additionally coincided with an extensive change in the motivations and strategies behind advertising, utilizing applied psychology to influence American consumers to purchase products. This stint as an ad man would further his Pop interest in cultural commercialization and start his artistic career; thus began the first chapter of Warhol’s oeuvre, dominated by charming and light-handed ink drawings.

As a master of line and contour, Warhol’s consistent and unique drawings and designs piqued the interest of his clients, earning him commissions and collaborations with some of the biggest brands of the day: Tiffany & Co., Columbia Records, and Vogue, to name a few. Though stylistically different from the Pop art that would rocket him to international stardom, these early drawings offer a glimpse at an artist well on his way to establishing an art movement that would change the way the world conceived of contemporary art and its connection to pop culture, morphing from his early successes in the commercial art scene.

The simple yet sophisticated line drawings contain a child-like whimsy – though that’s not to say Warhol didn’t take his work seriously. As reflected in his early drawings, he took to heart a piece of advice from one of his art teachers who told the young artist to paint for himself, not what others wanted to see. This wisdom would validate Warhol’s desire to draw his favorite things: cherubs, shoes, cats, and often young men. Across these drawings and hand-colored prints, we see Warhol as a compulsive creator, documenting life and fantasy with the stark clarity of ink on paper.

 

 

Title Page / (F&S IV.106)

 (F&S IV.107) / (F&S IV.108)

 (F&S IV.109) / (F&S IV.110)

 (F&S IV.111) / (F&S IV.112)

 (F&S IV.113) / (F&S IV.114)

 (F&S IV.115) / (F&S IV.116)

 (F&S IV.117) / (F&S IV.118)

 (F&S IV.119) / (F&S IV.120)

 (F&S IV.121) / (F&S IV.122)

 (F&S IV.123) / (F&S IV.124)

 

 

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Auction Results

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1. Single Plates

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Christie’s online: 27 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 2,000 – 3,000
GBP 10,080 / USD 13,003

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
A Gold Book: one plate (see Feldman & Schellmann IV.121, 1957
Offset lithograph with hand-coloring in watercolor on wove paper
From the edition of one hundred

2. Complete Book

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ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
A Gold Book (Feldman & Schellmann IV.106-124), 1957
The complete artist’s book comprising of 21 offset lithographs (five with hand-coloring in watercolor)
Fifteen on gold paper and six on wove paper
Signed and dedicated in ink ‘to Boys filles friuts and flowers Shoes and t c [Ted Carey] and e.W. [Ed Wallowitch]’, Numbered 11 from the edition of 100
With an additional offset lithograph on gold paper (see Feldman & Schellmann IV.115) pasted to the cover
Bound (as issued), the full sheets, with the original buckram boards

Phillips New-York: 12 February 2025
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 15,240

Phillips New-York: 24 October 2024
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 16,510