Description

SCARCE LIMITED EDITION OF PORGY AND BESS, SIGNED BY GEORGE AND IRA GERSHWIN AND DUBOSE HEYWARD AND ADDITIONALLY INSCRIBED BY GEORGE GERSHWIN IN THE YEAR OF PUBLICATION

GERSHWIN, George. Porgy and Bess. An Opera in Three Acts. By George Gershwin. Libretto by DuBose Heyward. Lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Production Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. New York, 1935. Folio, original full blind-stamped red morocco, custom clamshell box.

Deluxe signed limited edition of the piano-vocal score of Porgy and Bess, number 11 of only 250 copies signed by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward, and Rouben Mamoulian, and further inscribed by George Gershwin boldly over the entire front free endpaper in the year of publication, “To Mrs. John Pratt—My sincere good wishes, George Gershwin. Oct. 16, 1935.”

Porgy and Bess, Gershwin’s first and only opera, was based on the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, who wrote the libretto for the opera. “Though of course I will try to keep my own style moving in the opera,” Gershwin wrote, “the Negro flavor will be predominant throughout.” Today, Porgy and Bess is widely considered to be Gershwin’s masterpiece. This deluxe edition of the piano-vocal score (according to Fuld, no orchestral score has ever been published) was published in 1935, the year of Porgy and Bess premiere, almost simultaneously with the first edition, and is boldly signed on the limitation page (at the rear) by George and Ira Gershwin and the other principal creators of Porgy and Bess: librettist DuBose Heyward and director Rouben Mamoulian. With color illustrated frontispiece and title page. Without original slipcase. Fuld, 539. Interior fine. Particularly desirable thus inscribed by George Gershwin.