Broom, An International Magazine of the Arts. 6 volumes, 21 issues in total, all published. Illustrated throughout with photographs, reproductions of paintings, drawings and prints. Published in two folio sizes, earlier issues, 335 x 225 mm, later issues 275 x 205 mm, bound in publisher’s illustrated wrappers designed by various artists including Lissitzky, Man Ray, Prampolini, Léger, Goncharova and others. Rome-New York-London: Harold J. Loeb, 1921-1924.
A complete run of this important modernist publication which was integral in introducing the European avant-garde to the United States in the 1920’s. Most notable for the collection of artists responsible for the dynamic covers including designs by El Lissitzky, Enrico Prampolini, Fernand Léger and Man Ray among many others.
Founder, Harold Loeb, came from a wealthy and connected New York background (The Guggenheims on his mother’s side) which allowed his ambitious project become a reality, but not without its share of complications:
“Broom set up headquarters in Rome, where its first ten issues were printed. After the first year of publication, Kreymborg left, and Loeb moved Broom’s headquarters from Rome to Berlin, where he published six more issues before his money ran out. Broom’s associate editor, Matthew Josephson, took over the funding and moved Broom’s headquarters to New York, where he published five issues, the last of which was banned by U.S. postal censors.” (Bard College exhibition, Broom: The Full Sweep, November 2010)
Full sets in their original wrappers are exceedingly rare on the market. The nature of the fragile covers, many with yapped edges, has led to few surviving in anything approaching acceptable condition. The present set has the expected edge wear with small tears and some loss to the spines along with a few instances’ of staining and toning, however, desirable nonetheless.
