(BERLIN, Irving). WALKER, J.
The Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language in Which the Whole Language is Arranged According to Its Terminations...Revised and Enlarged by J. Longmuir
Revised and enlarged edition. Octavo. Red cloth. Gilt lettering dulled but readable, modest wear to the spine ends, a tight, very good copy. Irving Berlin's copy with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Housed in a custom quarter leather and marbled papercovered board clamshell case. Laid into the book (and now removed) are twenty slips of paper with notes by Berlin, of these, seven contain working manuscript notes for a rhyming song. The transitory and fragmentary nature of the notes are obviously inconclusive, but it appears this song is currently unpublished. Also in the book is a letter to Mrs. Berlin from a Las Vegas correspondent, and some other material. Further provenance on request. A chance to remake musical history: in an interview in his 90s (he lived to 101), Berlin claimed never to use a rhyming dictionary.
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