The Artificial Kingdom:

London: Bloomsbury, 1999. First UK edition. Small black octavo, black matte illus. (color) dj; illus. (some color); 321 p. 21 cm. Includes bibliographical footnotes and index. A fine bright, clean copy, with very faint signs of edge-wear in a very few areas; in a very light shelf rubbing to near fine(+) DJ; extremely light curling to top front DJ edge. Paperback. ISBN: 9780747545354

Blurb from fly leaf: "The Artificial Kingdom is the first book to provide a cultural history of kitsch, an immensely popular aesthetic phenomenon that has always been disdained as 'bad taste', or a cheap imitation of 'real' art.' Author is from Chile, holds a PhD from Columbia Unversity and has received Rockefeller and Guggenheim awards.