Search Results: Composers from Royal Books, Inc.

Redding, CT: Charles Ives, 1922. First Edition. First Edition. Second issue, in publisher's blue cloth with titles and rule in gilt on the front board and spine, and with pages 37-39 printed, and no dust jacket as issued. Fine condition. A collection of avant-garde short pieces in every imaginable format (marches, violin sonatas, group sing-a-longs, etc.) written by Ives using the poetry of Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wordsworth, Keats, James Fenimore Cooper, and others as lyrics. Notable as much for musical content as for the long essay by Ives at the rear regarding his typically involved conceptual intentions for this particular gathering of compositions. An eccentric publication by one of our greatest and certainly most eccentric twentieth century composers.

Redding, CT: C.E. Ives, 1922. First Edition. First Edition. A self-published volume of songs by Charles Ives, selected from a volume published earlier the same year, titled "114 Songs." Like "114 Songs," this was printed for distribution among the composer's friends, and judging from the small number of copies in world libraries (OCLC locates 12 libraries with copies, whereas 106 are listed with copies of "114 Songs"), it must surely have had a much smaller printing. A selection of "folk songs" by Ives, many dedicated to the work of literary greats of the generation that preceded him (Shelley, Wordsworth, Goethe, Longfellow). Characteristically, simple melody lines are played against a complex and sometimes argumentative accompaniment. Very Good in tan paper-covered boards, with a brown quarter-binding, moderately worn at the corners, brief spotting on the front board, and a touch of wear to the paper spine label, firm and clean overall. Contemporary owner name in fountain pen at the top right… Read More

1969. Autograph note signed from composer Adele Franz to producer Daniel Selznick. The note, executed on Franz's stationery, noting that she is delivering herewith the LP soundtrack recording for an obscure play titled, "Long Time Between Loves," along with a script for same. Included is a photostat of Selznick's detailed response, in which he mentions his favorite songs on the record, noting that it has "the primitive charm of French cabaret music." Adele Franz worked most notably as an actress under the name Adele Longmire, and is best known for her roles in "Battle Circus" (1953) and the film noir, "The Turning Point" (1952). Daniel Selznick, the son of David O. Selznick, is best known as a producer for films such as Peter Bogdanovich's "Targets" (1968) and various documentaries about Hollywood. His association with his father allowed him many opportunities to meet and correspond with numerous actors, actresses, and directors of note. Note: 5 x 4 inches. Bonded stationery stock, Near Fine.… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1961. Vintage publicity photograph of composer Henry Mancini from the 1961 film. With cropping annotations in ink and pencil on the verso, along with Mancini's stamp. From the archive of film historian and author Joel Finler. A bestselling paperback author who has recently moved into a small development in the California suburbs becomes the de facto relationship expert for the housewives in the community, to the displeasure of their husbands. In addition to the theme for "Bachelor in Paradise," prolific composer, conductor, and pianist Mancini wrote the themes and soundtracks for hundreds of films throughout the late twentieth century, most notably including themes for The Pink Panther film series, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), and "Victor/Victoria" (1982). He was nominated for 18 Academy Awards throughout his career, winning four. 8 x 10 inches. Near Fine.

London: Anthony D'Offay Gallery, 1989. First Edition. Softcover. First Edition. Produced in conjunction with an exhibition of the work of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Jasper Johns which ran from October 31 to December 2, 1989 at the Anthony d'Offay Gallery, and from January 23 to March 25, 1990 at the Tate Gallery. Near Fine in wrappers.

N.p.: ARTE, 1994. Vintage borderless vernacular color photograph from the 1994 television documentary, showing writer and composer Paul Bowles sitting on a chair on an airplane tarmac, having evidently refused to board a plane. Printed mimeo label affixed to the verso, dated 7.3.1994. Born in New York, Bowles began traveling between Paris, Berlin, Morocco, and New York at a young age, befriending a number of prominent artists and writers in the process, including Christopher Isherwood, Tristan Tzara, and Gertrude Stein, who encouraged Bowles to write his first musical compositions. Using the advance on a contract from Doubleday, Bowles moved to Tangier in 1947, where he would write his first novel, "The Sheltering Sky," largely based on his experiences in the Algerian desert. He would remain in Tangier for the remainder of his life, publishing three more novels, a substantial amount of short fiction, and numerous musical compositions, as well as working as a translator of works in Moroccan Arabic,… Read More

Los Angeles: Republic Pictures, 1952. Vintage black-and-white still photograph from the 1952 film. Production number rubber-stamped and in ink on the verso. A biographical musical about American composer Stephen Foster. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus.

New York: Children's Songs, 1949. Original manuscript and typescript for "The Howdy Doody Show" theme song "It's a Howdy Doody World," created by and belonging to the song's composer Edward Kean, INSCRIBED by Kean in the margin: "From Edward Kean / to / the very special Scott Petersen man!," and further annotated by Kean in manuscript ink. The listing also includes a typed letter signed from Kean to the manuscript's recipient, in which he writes that of the 51 songs in his collection that he wrote for the show ("most while taking showers"), only a dozen or so were manuscript originals as opposed to photostat reproductions, with "It's a Howdy Doody World" being one of the few that he "really liked." Also included is a modern photocopy of a 1953 biography of Kean written for NBC that states "he hopes to see his name in lights on Broadway," to which Kean has affixed a manuscript note reading "TACO BELL made it, but I didn't," plus a couple of other typescript and manuscript marginalia from the… Read More

New York: Praeger, 1970. First Edition. First Edition. INSCRIBED by Cage in 1971 to Ellsworth Snyder: "for Ellsworth Snyder, / with admiration and friendship / John Cage, Madison '71." Ellsworth Snyder and Cage were longtime friends. Snyder performed the composer's work on many occasions, perhaps most infamously at Cage's much-protested 1965 appearance at the University of Illinois: "At one point [Snyder] crawled under the piano, made a show of carefully marking a precise point on the under-body of the instrument with a tape measure, then hit that spot with a mallet. Even more provocative for that particular audience, he had planted a loose piano string in the instrument, and after striking an unusually percussive chord he slowly pulled the ostensibly broken string out of the piano. By this time the audience was screaming and throwing objects at the stage." (Johanne Rivest, "In Advance of the Avant Garde: John Cage at the University of Illinois, 1952-69," 1999). Snyder contributes an essay to… Read More

Beverly Hills, CA: United Artists, 1970. Original photographic mock-up from the 1970 film, showing actor Richard Chamberlain in character, with the background retouched in gray paint, matted and mounted on illustration board. With annotations to the mat and board in manuscript ink and pencil. Based on the 1937 collection of personal correspondence between Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his patron Nadezha von Meck, edited by her granddaughter Barbara von Meck and Catherine Drinker Bowen. Director Ken Russell's dramatic and visually stunning depiction of composer Tchaikovsky's turbulent life. Presented largely in flashbacks, nightmares, and fantasy sequences, the film illustrates the true stories of his nymphomaniac wife, his homosexual feelings for Count Anton Chiluvsky, and his unusual relationship with his widowed patron, to whom he never spoke. Shot on location in Somerset, England. Photograph 8 x 10 inches, board 10 x 15 inches. Generally Very Good plus, lightly age-toned, with faint soil to… Read More

N.p.: N.p., 1940. Vintage borderless photograph of French-Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, filling his pipe with tobacco in front of his extensive, mounted pipe collection, circa 1940s. With the stamp of Omnium-Presse on the verso, along with a stamp noting the letter P, and cropping annotations in pencil. Honegger was best known as a member of Les Six, an alliance of six French composers in Montparnasse who declared opposition to contemporary classical styles, particularly the work of Richard Wagner and impressionist music popularized by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. 6.75 x 9 inches. Very Good plus overall.

London: National Film Archive, 1950. Vintage photograph of noted Hungarian-American composer Miklós Rósza conducting an orchestra, circa 1950s. Stamp of National Film Archive on the verso. From the archive of film historian and author Joel Finler. Although he was also a renowned orchestral composer, Rósza is perhaps best remembered for his prolific work in film scores. He received 17 Academy Award nominations over the course of his lengthy career, winning three for "Spellbound" (1945), "A Double Life" (1947), and "Ben-Hur" (1959). 10 x 8 inches. Near Fine.

N.p.: N.p., 1963. Vintage photograph of composer Henry Mancini leaning out of a car window, holding a compilation of his greatest hits on 8-track tape. Printed mimeo snipe in French affixed to the verso. Prolific composer, conductor, and pianist Mancini wrote the themes and soundtracks for hundreds of films throughout the late twentieth century, most notably including themes for The Pink Panther film series, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), and "Victor/Victoria" (1982). He was nominated for 18 Academy Awards throughout his career, winning four, and was nominated for 72 Grammy Awards, winning 20. 10 x 8 inches. Very Good plus, lightly age toned.

N.p.: N.p., 1958. Vintage borderless photograph of composer Michel Legrand and chanteuse Juliette Greco, circa 1958. Stamp of photographer Guy Le Page on the verso. Greco and Legrand collaborated on several releases in the 1950s and 1960s, most notably Greco's self-titled album produced by Columbia in 1960. 7.25 x 7.25 inches. Near Fine.

New York: Arts at St. Anna's, 1991. Original program for a performance by the Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by David Alan Miller, held at The Town Hall in New York City on June 8 and 9, 1981. The performance featured four pieces: "Freeform" and "Shivering Air," composed by Glenn Branca, "Sanctus," composed by John Cale, and "The Forest," composed by David Byrne, who also performed this piece at the concert, support by the orchestra and the group New York Voices. With brief notes by each composer regarding their pieces. From the collection of Glenn Branca. 7 x 9.75 inches. Ten pages, saddle stapled in self wrappers. Near Fine.

Paris: Marie-France, 1960. Vintage borderless photograph of Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma at the piano, circa 1960s. With the stamps of Marie-France archives and photographer Edward Quinn on the verso. Kosma was primarily known as a composer for film, despite his education at the Budapest Conservatory in Hungary. He was introduced to director Jean Renoir by writing partner Jacques Prevert in the 1930s, and would go on to work with Renoir as well as a number of prominent French directors in the ensuing decades, most notably including Marcel Carne. 9.25 x 6.25 inches. Near Fine.

Stockholm: Svenska Dagbladet, 1980. Vintage borderless photograph of jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Dizzy Gillespie sitting in a doorway in Sweden, with a sign in Swedish above him that translates to "No Parking Around the Clock." Mimeo snipe and printed label affixed to the verso, crediting photographer Dan Hansson, with a date stamp reading 11 JUNI 1980. 9.5 x 7 inches. Fine.

N.p.: N.p., 1970. Vintage borderless reference photograph of musician Burt Bacharach playing the piano and singing in a recording studio, circa 1970s. With a Columbia-Warner copyright stamp on the verso. 10 x 8 inches. About Near Fine.

New York: The Kitchen, 1975. Vintage invitation for four concerts by Steve Reich and Musicians at The Kitchen in New York, featuring performances of three seminal pieces by Reich, "Violin Phase" (1967), "Music for Pieces of Wood" (1973), and the aptly named "Work in Progress for 21 musicians and singers," an early iteration of his landmark "Music for 18 Musicians," which premiered the following year. After the release of "Drumming" in 1970, Reich moved away from the "phase shifting" technique, and began working on more intricate, elaborate pieces, experimenting with augmentation and larger ensembles. This period of growth culminated in the piece which would eventually be named "Music for 18 Musicians," a breakthrough work and turning point in minimalist music. Single sheet on card stock, 6.5 x 21 inches, scored in threes for mailing. Recto only except for the return address and bulk address block. Faintly toned, else Fine.

N.p.: N.p., 1950. Vintage borderless photograph of composer and electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhauser, circa the 1950s. With manuscript pencil annotations on the verso. 12 x 8.5 inches. Near Fine.