Music from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

New York: Doubleday, 1956. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/Good. The autobiography of the great American singer. 250 pages. Written with William Dufty. First edition (stated). A good-only copy in a like dust jacket, but a book that belonged to Jo and Larry McMurtry's, with their ownership signature in Larry's hand and his later stirrup bookplate on the front… Read more about this item

New York: Doubleday, Page & Co, 1910. First US edition. Hardcover. Very good. The first American trade edition of the first volume of the Ring of the Niblung Trilogy. Translated by Margaret Armour. With 34 color plates by Arthur Rackham mounted on blank leaves with tissue guards with printed captions. 160 pages. First American edition (no indication… Read more about this item

[Avalanche Records], 1971. A rare example of original album cover art by one of the legends of the medium. John Van Hamersveld (b. Baltimore, 1941) designed the iconic poster for the surf film Endless Summer while still in art school. As a professional graphic designer he did the album covers for The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, the Rolling Stones'… Read more about this item

London: Peter Owen, 1970. First British edition. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The British edition of Yoko Ono's conceptual art book, first published in 1964 in Japan, which mostly consists of instructions for performances or individual actions ("Carry a bag of peas. Leave a pea wherever you go"). Many of the pieces cannot (yet) be performed: "Prescribe pills for… Read more about this item

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984. First US edition. Hardcover. Near fine. The American trade edition of an account of Corsaro's and Sendak's preparation of Serge Prokofiev's opera L'Amour des Trois Oranges. The text is presented in an interview format, with alternating comments by Corsaro (the director) and Sendak, who designed the stage and costumes. … Read more about this item

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. The signed, limited edition of an account of Corsaro's and Sendak's preparation of Serge Prokofiev's opera L'Amour des Trois Oranges. The text is presented in an interview format, with alternating comments by Corsaro (the director) and Sendak, who designed the stage and costumes. Illustrated with… Read more about this item

New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. This classic book of Sixties rock posters has become a sort of checklist for collectors and dealers, who cite "AOR" items in their descriptions. This is the full-size original version and one of the "special limited presentation edition," which has a more psychedelic design stamped on the front board. … Read more about this item

London: Cassell Illustrated, 2021. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Iconic photos of the early years of Joy Division. A shorter ("abridged") book was published in 2007 with the same title. 256 pages. Photographs reproduced in black and white. 8 by 10-3/4 inches. Foreword by Ian Rankin. First edition (with a numberline ending in 1 on the colophon… Read more about this item

New York: Michael Di Capua Books / Hyperion Books for Children, 2003. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A picture book adapted by Kushner (Angels in America) from the opera libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister. Illustrated by Maurice Sendak. First edition (stated). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket, signed on the title page by both Sendak and Kushner. … Read more about this item

Aurora, MO: POSTER Project, 1992. First Edition. Ephemera. Fine. The first three issues of Wilson's "journal about events posters & the arts of happenings." The newspapers are printed on white heavy newsprint and folded like tabloid magazines. The issues have drawings by Robert Crumb. The second issue is dedicated to Rick Griffin, the poster artist who had recently… Read more about this item

New York: E. P. Dutton and Co, 1968. Second Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near fine. Essays by the beat writer associated with the New Journalism movement, which was in its earliest stages with this publication. Forward by Norman Mailer. This is a revised and expanded edition, and the first hardcover edition (the original 1961 edition was a paperback… Read more about this item

Boston: Ariel Books / Houghton Mifflin, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine. A story version of the classic ballet illustrated in color by Chris Van Allsburg. First edition (first printing with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy blue cloth (no dust jacket, as issued). Signed by Helprin on the title page in the year of publication. … Read more about this item

1968. Ephemera. Very good. An extremely rare, one-of-a-kind hand-painted poster promoting the appearance of the band Spirit and Jimmie Spheeris at the legendary Golden Bear club in Huntington Beach, California, from August 13-19, [1968]. The Golden Bear did not issue many posters, particularly in the 1960s, and based on this rare survivor, they may have relied on handmade… Read more about this item

[London / Maidstone], Lexington, KY and Tucson, AZ: Isolde Films / Steam Press with Petro III Graphics and Sylph Publications, 2004. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A new edition of Palmer and Steadman's 1970 book about the rock music scene in the late 1960s. Steadman supplies a dozen portraits of musicians, each incorporating a photographic element. This is one… Read more about this item

[London / Maidstone], Lexington, KY and Tucson, AZ: Isolde Films / Steam Press with Petro III Graphics and Sylph Publications, 2004. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A new edition of Palmer and Steadman's 1970 book about the rock music scene in the late 1960s. Steadman supplies a dozen portraits of musicians, each incorporating a photographic element. This is one… Read more about this item

Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 2016. [10] pages, plus an audio DVD. About 8-1/2 inches square. An edition of 100 copies. Colección Andante. Lyrics for a song photocopied on brown recycled paper. Designed by Elizabeth Valero and bound in crumpled paper and fabric over cardboard. The DVD has one short musical track. OCLC: DEIAI FQG FXG HLS IQU… Read more about this item

Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 2015. 9 pages. 6-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches. Edition of 200 copies. Colección Andante. Three poems, or perhaps song lyrics, photocopied onto various types of paper, designed and illustrated by Elizabeth Valero Molina. The covers incorporate several types of cloth as well as paper and cardboard collage elements. Montalvo is a trova musician born in… Read more about this item

College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2008. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. By the founding director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University in San Marcos. This is the uncommon hardcover issue. The book was published in paperback at the same time. 304 pages. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. First edition (first printing,… Read more about this item

New York: Sterling, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A picture book with the lyrics of classic folk songs, selected by Yarrow, the Peter in Peter, Paul, and Mary. With musical notation for guitar accompaniyment at the back and a CD of Yarrow performing the songs at the front. 48 pages. First edition (with a numberline ending in 1).… Read more about this item

Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 2016. 73 pages plus an audio CD. 8-1/2 by 11 inches. An edition of 200 copies. Colección Andante. An artist's book celebrating music copyists, who are hired to produce neat copies from a composer's or arranger's manuscript, interpreting the composer's intentions. Among the Matanzas musicians highlighted are Sigfrido Anastasio Tortoló Carrillo; Sergio Pichardo López;… Read more about this item