The Dealer Is The Devil: An Insider's History Of Aboriginal Art
Australian History Memoir Indigenous Studies Art History Cultural Studies True Crime Finance & Investment Art Market & Collecting
The Dealer Is The Devil: An Insider’s History of Aboriginal Art is the single most sought-after reference on Australia’s multi-million-dollar Indigenous art market. In this lavishly illustrated 480-page paperback, renowned dealer Adrian Newstead lifts the curtain on three decades of wheeling, dealing, passion and politics that turned remote-community canvases into blue-chip commodities. From the birth of the Papunya Tula movement to the boom-and-bust scandals of the 2000s, every major auction record, gallery triumph and heartbreaking forgery is unpacked with the authority of the man who was actually in the room. Collectors, curators and investors rely on this title for real-world prices, provenance checklists and artist biographies that simply do not exist anywhere else.
What makes this particular copy irresistible is the double layer of personal connection: it is signed by Adrian Newstead and carries a warm personalised inscription, turning the book into a unique piece of contemporary art history. Ex-libris stamps and light page marks confirm it was once part of a dedicated collector’s working library, adding provenance rather than detracting from value. At 245 mm high it is a substantial folio-size reference that sits proudly on a coffee table or in a display case beside the artworks it chronicles.
Young adults and seasoned collectors alike value the book’s rare combination of narrative flair and hard data—Newstead balances memoir, true-crime exposé and market analysis so fluidly that it reads like a thriller while doubling as an indispensable price guide. With Aboriginal art prices again climbing globally, owning an author-signed first edition places the buyer ahead of the next market surge. In short, this inscribed, signed copy of The Dealer Is The Devil is both a gripping cultural history and a tangible asset for anyone serious about Australian art, finance or Indigenous culture.
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