Stravinsky

1983 · 23983 — New York City NY: Thames & Hudson 1983. First Edition. First Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket. New York City NY: Thames & Hudson 1983. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 180 pages. Memorial collection of photographs with accompanying text. In effect the companion volume to Robert Craft's indispensable books on Igor Stravinsky. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published simultaneously with the First British Edition in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Robert Craft's "A Stravinsky Scrapbook: 1940-1971". Meticulously and lovingly selected assembled and annotated by Patricia Schwark from Robert Craft's archives with minimal yet helpful text by him. Here are photographs of Igor and Vera Stravinsky by Igor and Vera and many other friends and colleagues. It is nothing less than an intimate - and salient - pictorial treasure trove of twentieth-century cultural and intellectual history. As the book shows Stravinsky himself was very much an avid photographer Craft much less so. One of the loveliest - and most valuable - "casual snapshot" portrait-photographs Stravinsky took was of Maurice Ravel with Vaslav Nijinsky and the latter's wife Bronislava Nijinska looking out of a balcony all three looking elegant imperious and beautiful for they are three of the greatest artistic figures of the 20th century not named Stravinsky. Which Craft and Schwark save for near the end of the book like an exclamation point. It appears in book form for the very first time. "Here are revealing glimpses of Stravinsky's friendships and encounters with some of the great personages of twentieth-century culture as well as intimate portraits" Publisher's blurb. An absolute "must-have" title for Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft collectors. This copy is very prominently neatly and beautifully signed dated shortly after publication and inscribed in black ink-pen on the second blank page by the author: "Dear B. I am so sorry I was not in New York for your party. Followed by inscription in French which translates in English as 'Ah where are the snows of yesteryears'. This is the sad season for me. Love - Bob December 1983". It is signed directly on the page itself not on a tipped-in page. The recipient who is named was unmistakably a close friend of Robert Craft and by extension also the Stravinskys and cannot be named here. This title is a great book. This is the only such signed publication-year dated and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing American available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean crisp and bright. It is the single most beautiful signed copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws because they were avidly pored over. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare one-of-a-kind signed copy thus. The greatest composer of the 20th century. One of the most brilliant critics of the 20th century. A fine copy. SEE ALSO OTHER ROBERT CRAFT AND IGOR STRAVINSKY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG. ISBN 0500013101. Thames & Hudson hardcover