. Pearl Besuner, Photographs and Promotional Leaflet. Pearl Besuner (1901-1991) was a longtime opera singer and player. Here are 2 8" x 10"photographs of her including one of her playing in Jack and the Beanstalk (with photograph by Carlo Edwards). She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Siebel in Faust. She was also one of the featured singers in the Golden Age of Opera series. Pitts Sanborn's The Prima Donna novel was based on her life. When she appeared in 1933 in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones (in blackface), it raised no objections but fans of the play's history today consider it one of those offensive issues that the audiences of 1933 did not consider strange. Very unusual to find a photograph of her in a play in a photograph taken by Carlo Edwards whose photographs are in collections at NYPL, Columbia and Yale as well as in private collections.
14 1/2" X 10 1/2" Approx. Circa 1896-1897. Broadsheet printed on bothsides. There were two groups known as the Alabama Troubadours. The original (represented here) were those managed by C.H. Perkins. It advertised in New England from 1896 to 1897. They had moderate success attempting to put on shows in churches, public halls, and elsewhere for admission from 15 to 25 cents with reserved seats at 35 cents. Their broadsheets boldly note: A BAND OF AFRO-AMERICAN CELEBRITIES. They featured the soprano Madame Perkins known as "The Southern Nightingale". C.H. Perkins notes he is known as "The Great Tenor Songster". They announce that among their performers are 15 colored artists, [that are] Genuine colored People emancipated by President Lincoln's Proclamation. J.W. Gorman took over the name with his own African-American performers but used the term "greatest colored show" and minstrels in his ads. He was able to secure larger halls and admission was 50 cents to a dollar. The original Alabama Troubadours noted in the Barre Evening Telegram (Barre, Vermon) that they are not to be identified with Gorman's Minstrels as many believed. They write: "a company direct from the South and there is no better road". In the Colored American Magazine, August 1900 (Vol. 1, No. 3), it mentions Soprano singer Madame Perkins of Boston. Just as the Ink Spots lost so much in the early 1940's lost a small fortune by the failure to copyright their name, even so this was the case with the original Alabama Troubadours. Lightly stamped: Town Hall, Westbrook, Monday, Feb. 21st. [1898] There is no record of this broadsheet (printed on both sides) in OCLC.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. First Edition. Octavo. Signed by many of the Jazz greats of New Orleans, Preston Jackson who recorded with Louis Armstrong in 1931; the legendary clarinetist Ray Burke who recorded for over 56 years beginning with his 1927 recording at Columbia (which was never issued) his playing stands squarely in the line of New Orleans masters: he has the sweet-toned delivery of Willie Humphrey and blues-inflected as Johnny Dodds if he wished. Louis Barbarin (who signed his picture on p. 180), Chester Zardis (bass); and two signatures we could not identify (one for the banjo) and the other signed with noting the instrument. Above all is the note: Sweet Emma's Band 1978. Bound in orange cloth, spine lettered and decorated in a foil blue and silver, A near fine copy in a very good unclipped pictorial dust jacket with light wear to spine edges and corners, edges rubbed. small stain to lower corner of rear panel.
Bloomington(1997): Indiana University Press. First Edition. Large Octavo. 637pp. Falstaff, Verdie's last opera, was given it s world premiere at Milan's fabled La Scala in 1893. Here the author collected, translated and annotated 665 letters, telegrams and reviews from the years 1889-1894 to trace the genesis of one Verdi's greatest triumphs. A fine bright copy bound in maroon cloth, spine lettering gilt, in fine yellow dust jacket lettered in black.
(Stichting the Cellist's Companion, Netherlands, 2007). Quarto. ). 697 pages, the original hardcover edition which was issued in a very small print run. This work is the culmination of more than thirty-five years of meticulous compilation of cello repertoire. A catalogue of this scope has never before been published. Approximately 45,000 titles written by over 15,000 composers are listed alphabetically by composer, and ordered by opus number, and alphabetically by title. This unique project to compile all music ever written for cello solo published or unpublished is intended to be a reference work that will quickly become every cellist's companion. The categories of cello repertoire include: cello solo, cello with electronics or tape, cello and piano, cello and orchestra, cello duos and ensembles, duos with other instruments, cello solo and chamber ensemble, two or more solo instruments and orchestra, cello and voice, methods and studies. With the exception of cello ensemble music, chamber music works have been excluded unless the cello has a solo function. Unlike other catalogues which list only published music available at the time of the catalogue's publication. A Cellist's Companion: A Comprehensive Catalogue of Cello Literature includes all known works, spanning over 300 years. Published music, out-of-print editions, unpublished manuscripts, titles mentioned only in reference books, self-published works, and works mentioned only in reviews have all been included. The formidable scope of the project, combining seemingly unimportant fragments of information from multiple sources has made it possible to piece together work-lists by famous and unknown composers, as well as cellist-composers such as Romberg, Dotzauer, Davidoff, and Fitzenhagen. A fine copy bound in a pictorial paper over boards depicting a cellist in abstract.
[Bologna, 2008): Fondazione FMR Marilena Ferrari. First Edition. Quarto. . A special edition not for sale, limited to 1000 copies, The present copy is number 479. 211pp. table of contents and colophon, written in English and Italian with personal recollections of the man by Claudio Abbado, Renata Scotto, and Franco Zeffirelli, illustrated throughout by "real" photographs, single and double paged. This work is a tribute to Pavarotti's accomplishments beginning with his opera debut in La Boheme in 1961. This limited edition was not for sale but given to institutions, opera houses and some of the most prestigious libraries across the country and the world. Bound in black cloth decorated with clover, photographic pastedown of Pavaratti, lettering gilt, spine lettering gilt, housed within cloth covered slipcase. A fine bright copy.
Chicago: Regan Publishing, 1910. First Edition. Octavo. 359 pages, index, appendices and illustrations. Though a longtime Chicago police officer who rose to Chief of Police in 1901, he is best remember for being the leading expert on traditional Irish music. Many scholars have written on his influence on the Irish music of Chicago (often delaying investigations of cases when there was a chance to learn an old Irish piece of folk music). The book was printed in a small print run and read to death since at the end there is also in the appendices on the pipes, the drones and the folk lyrics. Bound in green pictorial gilt cloth lettered in black, spine gilt, light wear to spine ends and corners, gutter of endpapers have old repair (glued). A very good copy.
Buffalo, New York: Mark Hubbell Printing Company, 1930. First Edition. Octavo. No pagination. Illustrated. Printed for the Masters of Foxhunting Association of America. 32 unnumbered pages. William H. Barr who had been the Master of Foxhunting at the Lake Short Hunt Club at Derby, New York supervised the search for songs relating to fox hunting. This small collection is unique. Bound in pictorial gilt maroon cloth, gilt lightly rubbed, previous owner's gift inscription and name stamp. A very good copy.
![Vladimir De Pachmann, an Ink drawing of Him in 1892 By Frank Holme [John Francis Holme]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/638/800/1105800638.0.m.jpg)
An original pen and ink drawing of Vladimire de Pachmann in 1892 by Frank Holme most of whose 750 drawings and etchings are at the University of Arizona. He founded the Bandar Log Press.. There are very few images of the famed Pachmann with a full beard in the early 1890's who was one of the great interpreters of Chopin. Since Holme was in Chicago as a highly regarded newspaper artist, he attended concert and drew this remarkable image. His midwest tour from Chicago to Indianapolis was in late March when this item is most likely to have been drawn. By his return to London in November of 1892 his beard has been mostly removed.
New York: Herschel Fenton. Quarto. 8 pages, double folded, not recorded in OCLC. Herschel Fenton was a violinist who was given a Strativarius in 1878 and went into the music business selling both instruments and publishing sheet music. Since this price list is undated (but numbered as No. 3), it seems to fall into the circa 1880 period. While he was famous initially for selling find old violins [he offered a Strativarius at $7,000], p.4, violin bows, military instruments, etc. but he was a pioneer in selling electric banjos which today are also highly collected. Some creasing or small edge tears.
New York; (1970): Praeger Publishers. Octavo. A photolithographic facsimile of the third edition and is unabridged even to the extent of retaining the original printer's imprint. 357pp. which includes the original subscribers list. Introduction by Seoirse Bodley. Since its first appearance in 1905, this book has remained a classic in music history. Flood's book is notable both because it is the first concise history of the music of Ireland and because it has endured as a primary reference on Ireland's musical activity. The text examines the growth of Irish music from bardic times to the nineteenth century. A near fine copy bound in dark green cloth, spine lettering gilt, in unclipped dust jacket with jus a bit of wear along the upper edge.
A marvelous photograph of the blues pianist and singer who popularized the hit "Merry Christmas, Baby". He composed and made a hit of "Drifting Blues" but after a decline in his career, Bonny Raitt made him her opening act and a whole new market discovered him. The photograph measuring 14" x 11" is undated but it appears to be circa 1955. He was inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in March 1999 (just two months before his death on January).
Chicago: Bein & Fushi, 1999. Thick Quarto. Enlarged and Expanded Edition. 464 pages. While the 1945 edition was a great contribution, this new expanded edition is the definitive reference for those at the highest level of understanding Strads for whom expertise is essential. Not only is it issued in a far superior binding and high quality paper but with the research of Charles Beare and Peter Biddulph along with Harry Benson there is an improved text. Of course, it is the four additional chapters containing histories and photographs of violins not previously illustrated in any of the violin literature as well as exploring the cellos from Stradivari's last years that are part of its major contribution as well as containing several newly illustrated instruments. These new photographs are mostly from the archives of Bein & Fushi. Finally, the bibliography lists all the major contributions since the original 1945 edition as well as the location and seventy-five items not found in Herbert Goodkind's "Violin Iconography of Antonio Strativari". The index and extensive updated bibliography complete what is a major contribution to violin literature. A fine bright copy bound in red cloth lettered and decorated in black and gilt, spine black and gilt, decorative endpapers. An exceptionally nice copy.
approximately 5" x 7" note with a self-drawn caricature of Nelson Eddy drawn by himself, inscribed: To Mary Jane, Best Wishes, Nelson Eddy." One of the remarkable baritones in the first half of the 20th Century best known for his MGM films with Jeanette McDonald whose contract allowed him to have four months a year off to continue his concert career in opera.
St. Louis. MO, 1894. Octavo. copyrighted in 1895. 465 hymns with 98 pages of Scripture readings. German (fraktur script). Bound in black leather with mother of pearl accenting the cup used in Holy Communion with the original locking clasp. Lutherans in American continued using the adjective evangelisches which means Protestant referring to their tradition not the low type of religion evidenced by the American evangelical movement. These beautiful hymnals were often given for gifts at confirmation, weddings or other major events of a person's life.
1955. Business card addressed to his friend artist Arthur Secunda with his note: "most grateful for your kind letter", with envelope in his hand Pau Casals, Prades, Pyrenees. January 15, 1955. This was the year he performed Brahms: Trios Nos. 1-3, with Yehudi Menuhin and Eugene Istomin.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. First Edition. Thick Small Quarto. Signed by the author. Dunning gives over 1500 radio shows presented in alphabetical order. He provides a complete broadcast history with the timeslot, the network, and the name of the show's sponsors. He list major cast members, announcers, producers, directors, writers, and sound effects people, even the show's theme song and more. Bound in white paper covered boards backed in maroon cloth, spine lettering gilt. A handsome copy, near fine in near fine unclipped pictorial dust jacket.
Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia(2913): Published By Author. First Edition. Small Quarto. . 2nd printing, signed by the author. The story of an ancient maple tree that eventually became the center of a violin culture. Otis Omas is not only a violin maker and fiddle player but he has provided beautiful color pictures of the workshop, the students with their instruments, and the musical themes that they have interpreted. A CD in the back of their work is included. Bound in gray paper covered boards backed in black cloth, spine lettering gilt. A fine bright copy in near fine pictorial dust jacket.
Honolulu(1902 But Reprinted 1945): Ka Papa Hawaii. Oblong 12 Mo. 285p. Hawaiian Language. Reprinted in 1945 as the congregation of the Kawaiaa'o Church was now filled with servicemen who loved the old hymns which here were often sung in Hawaiian and English. It was at one time the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom and this was its hymnal based on the selections of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, includes the section He Buke No Ka Paepae ana i Ka Huhan O Ke Anaina Hoomana--page [233]-285. Some are such passages as I Korineto 13 which discusses faith, hope and love, Epeso 6:10-17 which presents the Christian's armor. Pasted in the front endpaper is the Hawaiian words to Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah [E kai oe, e Iehova, I kou ihini nei" Prefaces in English and Hawaiian. Originally property of the Kawaiahao Church, this older version still has survived in good condition with original black cloth cover.
1967. 1tls, plus she has signed a musical line from her version of "My Cup Runneth Over". Written by her to Harrie W. Johnson who collected autograph signatures, composers and lyricists which already numbered over 1,000 by the late 1930's. Here she writes a nice note to Harrie and adds a note that she is adding a musical quote of the melody and writes she is singing it as she writes. The quote comes from: I Do! I Do! (a David Merrick play that she and Robert Preston performed from December 1966 to October 1967. She adds a delightful P.S. "One of the reasons "my cup runneth over with love" is You!" The one bar musical line measures 2 5/8" x 5 9/16". Typed on the Mary Martin letterhead measuring 5 7/8" x 7"
