Duchamp saw Box in a Valise as a 'portable museum' containing miniature versions and reproductions of many of his earlier works. Its title refers to the fact that a number of these works had been signed by Duchamp''s female alter ego, Rrose Sélavy. The box unfolds like an intricate puzzle, revealing the thematic links between works made over more than three decades. The twenty boxes in this de luxe edition each contain a unique work inside the lid. Here, drawings relating to chess pieces - a recurrent theme in Duchamp''s work - are overlayed with a silhouette of the east coast of the USA.