[Arthur W. Dow | Association Copy] Composition

Dow, Arthur Wesley. Composition: A Series of Exercises Selected from a New System of Art Education. Boston: J.M. Bowles, 1899. Composition and presswork by the Heintzemann Press. The extremely scarce first printing (the second printing in 1899 was published by The Baker and Taylor Company). Illustrations in green-gray depicting Dow’s theory of Notan, along with additional illustrations on glossy paper. Paper covered boards with grey-toned page edges. Measures approx. 9.25" x 11.5". Loosely inserted is a 1-page letter from Dow (as director at the Department of Fine Arts at Columbia) to Frederick W. Gookin, who is most well known as the curator of Japanese prints at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). The letter is dated "April 4, 1908" and Dow mentions receiving a catalogue from an exhibition, and references "Oriental art" in a sentence following. Accordingly, the exhibition being referenced would have been the famous exhibition of "Japanese Color Prints", which ran from Mar. 5 to Mar.