SOLD AT AUCTION on MAY 15, 2023

Title: The Catcher in the Rye by Richard Prince
Artist: Richard Prince
Year: 2011
Material: Octovo in cloth boards and printed dust jacket. Shrink wrapped.
Dimensions: 8.125 × 5.75 × 1 inches
Edition size: 300
Publisher: American Place
Estimated Value: $1,000

Released in 2011 and seldom distributed since, Richard Prince’s Catcher in the Rye is an almost exact facsimile of the original, altering only the authorship, retail price, and imprint; Prince’s version also omits the author photo portrait found on the first edition, but suppressed by Salinger and excluding from subsequent printings.

In the essay “Second Thoughts on Being Original”, found on his “Birdtalk” blog, the artist recalls that:

“Catcher In The Rye, by Richard Prince” was shrink-wrapped. We brought a bunch to Central Park and started selling them. I’m pretty sure it’s legal to sell used books on the sidewalks of New York. I’m not positive. I’m not sure if my ‘Catcher’ qualified as a “used book.” It certainly was an original book. A “new” book. But it also could be described as “another” or “almost” book. I figured if anybody tried to put me on the spot I could always say, “its sculpture.”

About the Artist

Richard Prince was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1959. He lives and works in New York.