Description
Signed first edition of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans, with an inscription by composer Aaron Copland.
Octavo, xvi, 471pp. Black cloth, title in silver on spine. No additional printings listed. Solid text block, light wear to corners and edge of spine, small mark to rear cover, faint offsetting to endpapers from jacket, a near fine example. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $3.50 retail price on front flap, sunning to spine, soiling to rear cover, shelf wear. Professional restoration to verso along spine and rear flap fold. Includes 31 reproductions of Walter Evans’ photographs at the front. (Roth, 108)
Signed “For Stuart, in friendship, Aaron” on front free endpaper. A unique association copy.
Aaron Copland (1900-1990), also known as “the Dean of American Composers,” is often recognized for his adaptation of the American pioneer spirit through songs like Appalachian Spring, Rodeo and Fanfare for the Common Man. After the success of these pieces in the 1930s and 40s, Copland received a grant from the League of Composers, funded by performing arts legends Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Copland was to create an opera for television broadcast, and was inspired by the writing and imagery of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
