I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Lyrics on Several Occasions
London: Elm Tree Books - Hamish Hamilton, 1977. Item #06675
“This Book Is Honored to Be in Your Library”
A Gracious Presentation from Ira Gershwin to Leslie Bricusse
GERSHWIN, Ira. Lyrics on Several Occasions. A selection of stage & screen lyrics written for sundry situations; and now arranged in arbitrary categories. To which have been added many informative annotations & disquisitions on their why & wherefore, their whom-for, their how; and matters associative. By Ira Gershwin, Gent. London: Elm Tree Books – Hamish Hamilton, [1977].
First UK edition. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 3/8 inches; 216 x 137 mm.). xvi, [1–2], 3–362, i–ix, [3, blank] pp.
Publisher’s original red cloth over boards, spine lettered in silver, top edge stained black. Lower corners very slightly bumped, otherwise fine. In the original pictorial dust jacket, near fine, with only light wear and a touch of toning—an unusually well-preserved example of a jacket often found faded.
Inscribed on the front free endpaper in a bold, characteristic hand:
“Dear Leslie Bricusse:
This book is honored to be
in your library
With kindest
Regards
Ira Gershwin.”
A superb association copy, uniting two of the most accomplished lyricists of the twentieth century.
Ira Gershwin, whose collaborations with his brother defined the American musical idiom, here addresses Leslie Bricusse, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning writer behind Willy Wonka, Doctor Dolittle, and countless standards - an artist who, in many respects, carried forward the urbane wit and structural elegance of the Gershwin tradition.
What distinguishes this inscription is its tone: not merely courteous, but deferential and admiring - “honored to be in your library” - a phrase that elevates the volume from a routine presentation to a genuine gesture of peer recognition.
Published late in Gershwin’s life, Lyrics on Several Occasions serves as his definitive self-curated anthology, enriched with annotations, anecdotes, and reflections on the genesis of his work. In this context, the copy becomes something more than a book: it is a symbolic passing of the torch between generations of master craftsmen.
Association copies of Gershwin are uncommon; those inscribed to major creative contemporaries of Bricusse’s stature are decidedly rare, and highly desirable in both literary and musical collecting spheres.
Price: $2,250.00