Description
For sale: a Rare and Exceptional second edition, first printing hardcover copy of Broadway Musicals by Martin Gottfried in an archival wrap. First Edition unstated, 1979 Harry N. Abrams. First Printing with no subsequent printing.
The book is in Near Fine condition with clean, cloth boards with light smudges, strong title gilt on a convex spine and front cover, a few marks on bottom page block, tight binding, mild spine tilt, rolled spine ends, mild edge wear, and lightly rubbed corners. The interior of the book is in Near Fine condition with the previous owner’s brief gift inscription on the reverse side of first free end paper. No other marks, inscriptions, or other signs of ownership inside. The illustrated end papers and paste downs are lightly foxed and the interior pages are clean and lightly toned, making it an excellent addition to any collection.
The dust jacket is in Very Good condition with moderate to heavy surface and edge wear, the 1186 code and no price on the front flap. Looks great in a new Brodart archival wrap.
Open this book and you are in for a special treat – a front row seat at a parade of fabulous Broadway musicals. No other form of entertainment generates such electricity or excitement. and no other book about Broadway has captured the exhilaration – the energy, color and sheer size – of the musical with such lavish coverage.
This extraordinary volume explores the musical theater in all its dimensions with nearly 400 pictures, 112 of them in full color, including original production shots of all the great musicals, from Showboat to A Chorus Line, On the 20th Century, and Sweeney Todd.
The incisive text by critic Martin Gottfried gives a lively account of the musical theater: how musical comedy of the 1920s And 1930s grew into the musical play of the 1940s In 1950s and how that development was overtaken by today’s concept musical; songs in a show are spotted or placed; how Irving Berlin who can neither read nor write became one of Broadway’s greats, Berlin, Kern, Gershwin, Rodgers and Porter – the musical’s giant composers – are highlighted in individual profiles, as are the great directors.
Ships promptly in a secure mailer with book wrapped in both craft paper and bubble wrap.
