GERSHWIN, George
An American in Paris
Facsimile of the handwritten score. Folio. Full leather, ruled with a Greek key design, and lettered in gilt. Blue silk endpapers, all edges gilt. Fine. Laid in is a Typed Letter Signed dated 12 April 1938, from Abraham Ellis to Gershwin's mother, Rose, and who was also the unmarried Gershwin's heir. Ellis announces in the letter that he has just purchased the Manhattan Opera House (which became the Manhattan Center), and that with Rose's permission, he would like to rename the rebuilt auditorium the Gershwin Room. Apparently a private photographic reproduction of the score that was produced for family and friends, before the manuscript was eventually donated to the Library of Congress. Gershwin's mother's copy, with the letter dated less than a year after George's untimely death. A classic of 20th Century composition, and inspiration for the Vincente Minnelli film, scripted by Alan Jay Lerner around Gershwin's music and starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, and Oscar Levant.
[BTC #99122]
