"NO VIN ORDINAIRE": SALVADOR DALÍ'S WINES OF GALA

DALÍ, Salvador. Dali: The Wines of Gala. New York: Harry N. Abrams, (1978). Folio (9 by 12-1/2 inches), original color-printed pictorial cloth, pictorial endpapers, original decorative stiff paper dust jacket. $800.

First edition in English of this extravagant, lavishly illustrated book of wines and famous vineyards created by Dalí in honor of his wife Gala.

"When six years old I wanted to be a cook." This "refreshing blend of art, fun, and information" combines Dalí's art with the world's greatest wines. "He has taken late 19th-century French academic works and 15th-century miniatures depicting the wine-making process and altered them, giving them his own inimitable stamp. The results are unexpected, outrageous and amusing… Several paintings and drawings he created especially for this book." With color plates and in-text photographs and illustrations on nearly every one of the 296 pages. Gala was Dalí's wife and muse. First published a year earlier in a French edition. Translated into English by Oliver Bernier.

An about-fine copy.