Search Results: Music from Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, ABAA

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1947. Hardcover. 8vo. Blue cloth, dust jacket. 281pp. Illustrations. Very good/very good. Some jacket edgewear, with chip at head of jacket spine. Tight, clean first edition of this account of Italian actress Eleanora Dusa and poet Gabriele d'Annunzio -- with choice autograph addition: Tipped to front flyleaf is an Autograph Note Signed from Harding, 1p (lettersheet), 5½" X 8½", n.p., 8 November 1940. Addressed to future noted Lincoln and Civil War scholar Arnold F. Gates (1914-93). Near fine. In brilliant blue fountain pen, Harding thanks an admirer for birthday wishes: "My usual cordial thanks for your customary gallant words, as well as the thoughtfully enclosed clipping," signing off boldly. Harding (1902-71) was a Bavarian-born American Biographer who penned popular biographies of Emperor Maximilian, Richard Wagner, Clara Schuman and others.

New York: Dover Publications, 1962. Paperback. 8vo. Stiff green glazed pictorial wrappers. 147pp, (7pp ads). Illustrations. Near fine. A tight and handsome first of this edition, part of this publisher's "Dover Opera Guide and Libretto Series." From the collection of conductor and musicologist Paul Clinton Echols (1944-94), with his ownership signature "Echols" in black ballpoint on the front flyleaf. An outstanding copy.

London: Proteus, 1980. Hardcover. Small 4to. Green paper over boards, dust jacket. 197pp. Illustrations, pictorial endpapers. Very good/very good. Slightest bit of jacket wear. A tight and nice first edition of this biography of the English countertenor (1912-79) who specialized in old English music. From the collection of conductor and musicologist Paul Clinton Echols (1944-94).

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, n.y.. Hardcover. Small 4to. Red cloth with gilt spine lettering. xxiii, 495pp. Very good. Faint edgewear, with spine lightly sunned. A tight and nice later printing of this famed 1927 folk music anthology.

Bloomington: The Lilly Library, 1968. Paperback. 4to. Stiff brown pictorial wrappers. (Ca. 50pp). Numerous illustrations. Near fine. Tight and sharp first edition of this exhibition catalogue, a useful pictorial survey of important patriotic tunes from the late 18th century through the Civil War.

[New York]: New York University Press, 1957. Hardcover. Small 4to. Grey cloth, pictorial dust jacket. 439pp. Frontispiece. Very good/very good. Slight bit of mild edgewear, with very slightly sunned spine -- but overall a tight and nice first edition of this (to cite front jacket panel) "Portrait of a great American, John Howard Payne -- poet, actor, playwright, diplomat, humanitarian..." Mild ex-library, with almost no and mostly-removed markings.

Hatboro, PA: Tradition Press, 1967. Hardcover. Foreword by Leslie Shepard. Small 4to. Red cloth. xv, 324pp. Very good. Almost, but not quite, rates a "Near fine," for it's a tight, clean and lovely copy. First of this facsimile reprint of the classic and now quite scarce 1924 University of North Carolina Press first edition. An indispensable reference to scholars of English music. From the collection of musicologist and conductor/director Paul Clinton Echols (1944-94).

Statesville, NC: Antique Phonograph Company Gen'l, 1978. Paperback. 4to. Stiff pictorial wrappers. 16pp. Illustrations. Very good. Modest but handsome catalogue of grammophones, music boxes, juke boxes, etc.

Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Paperback. Small 4to. Glossy wrappers. xv, 806pp. Figures, tables. Near fine. Tight, near pristine copy of this American Council of Learned Societies production.

Wildly popular, pioneering early children's program (1947-1960) that established the genre and became a cultural phenomenon: Kean wrote more than 2,000 episodes and invented the show's many colorful characters (1947-55), coming up also with its famed "Cowabunga!" tagline, its theme song and every other song sung on the show (97 of them), while Smith was its long-time beloved host. Archive of letters and documents relating to copyright infringement issues as pursued by the "Howdy Doody" chief writer and its host in the 1990s and '00s. This fascinating and complex archive contains many hundreds of items -- dozens of original letters ranging from lengthy and meaty legal topics to personal matters to brief notes transmitting newspaper articles and countless photocopied book and other excerpts containing "Howdy Doody" content, the majority with handwritten addenda from Kean. Only a few letters and an inscribed 8" X 10" photograph hail from "Buffalo Bob" Smith, who died shortly after he and Kean retained a… Read More

New York: Dover Publications, 1965. Hardcover. Complete 2-volume set. Burgundy cloth with gilt spine lettering, pictorial price-clipped dust jackets. 600pp, 758pp. Frontispieces, numerous line drawings. Near fine/very good. Jackets edgeworn, with a few small edge chips. A tight and quite attractive facsimile reprint of the classic 1905 Dodd, Mead first edition. A superb set of the classic, exhaustive text.

Boston: Oliver Ditson Company, 1930. Hardcover. 8vo. Burgundy cloth. xi, 279pp. Errata slip tipped to half-title page. Illustrations, musical notations. Very good. Slightest bit of mild edgewear; couple of upper page corners of this rather acidic-papered text chipped. Tight, nice first edition with nice associations: Front pastedown bears the custom music-theme bookplate of HOLLIS DANN (1861-1938), the distinguished head of Cornell University's music department, director of music education at New York University (who later named a school of music after him), chief of music education for the state of Pennsylvania, compiler of choral collections and prolific author of renowned music instruction texts. In addition, this copy came from the library of musicologist and conductor/director Paul Clinton Echols (1944-94).

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981. Hardcover. Small 4to. Black cloth, pictorial dust jacket. xvii, 174pp. Illustrations, pictorial endpapers. Very good/very good. Tight, decent first edition -- mild ex-library, with very few markings.

American composer of popular songs such as "Ain't It Funny What a Difference Just a Few Hours Make" (1904) and comic operas such as "Princess Beggar" and "The Yankee Consul." Handsome AMuQS, 1p, heavy stock 5" X 3" card (not lined), n.p. [New York, NY], 1930 May 17. Addressed to Frances Narder. Fine. Robyn handsomely pens three full bars of music, giving the lyrics and source below: "'It was not like that in the olden days' / From my Opera: 'The Yankee Consul' / Alfred G Robyn / 5.17.30." Most handsome, and with the original envelope present, addressed in Robyn's hand.

German-born American pianist and prolific composer of popular piano pieces such as "Farewell." ANS, 1p, 7 3/4" X 5", Wilmington, DE, 1864 July 25. Addressed to "Friend Hagen" (Theodore Hagen, 1823-71, music writer and editor of "Musical Gazette"). Near fine. Orders "2 Mozart, Sonatas Vol. I & II. 1 Beethoven do. Vol. I & II...." Unusual.

This Italian pianist, educator and composer is well known for his many piano compositions. AMuQS, 2pp (single leaf), 8½" X 11 3/4", London, England, 1907 n.d. Inscribed in Italian to "Schloesser." Very good. Two very full pages of the "Coda from Preludio e Fugato - for due Violini Viola e Violoncella." Boldly and attractively penned.

Renowned Russian-born pianist and music critic -- one of the most famous of his day. AMuQS, 1p, 3½" X 2¼", Chicago, IL, 1899 December 30. Good plus. Lightly and evenly age toned; small stamp hinge-type mounts at left edge and bottom edge (not affecting text). Hambourg boldly pens two measures of unidentified music, signing and dating below. An attractive and early example.

French composer. Rare ALS in French, 2pp, 8¼" X 10½", n.p., n.y. September 4. Near fine. Long, chatty letter with much musical content. In part: "I finished a new collection of songs... It is made up of Two Sonnets of Mallarme that I will show you when I get back if you so desire.... Obviously I will be very happy if someone plays my cantata for chorus, because it is an important work and I would love very much to hear it...." Having died at age twenty-six, Cartan's autograph is quite scarce and good music content letters rare. Comes with a TLS in French from what may have been Cartan's agent, dated 21 April 1932, just after Cartan's death, presenting this Cartan letter to music critic Irving Schwerke (1893-1975).

American composer of "Spanish Love Song." AMuQS, 1p, 9½" X 4 3/4", n.p., n.d. Very good. On printed music notation paper, Kountz writes out in black ink two lines of words and music from "The Dawn Brought Me Love & You," identifies and signs it.

This French composer produced religious and piano pieces, then transitioned to operattas; he committed suicide by jumping into the Seine River. ALS, 2pp, heavy stock 4½" X 3½" correspondence card. Addressed to Madame Comtesse de Montozon. Very good. Lightly age toned. Not translated, though clearly discussing music matters, with mention of Intermezzo, "l'Opera Comique," etc. Boldly if sloppily penned in brown ink and signed simply "Gaston Lemaire." With original envelope, also penned in his hand.