Songs from Irving Berlin's Alexander Ragtime Band [cover title]

[New York]: [Irving Berlin, Inc.], 1938. Covers detached, spine partly perished, covers dry [really an autograph item needing rebinding]. 4to (11 3/4 x 9 inches; 29.7 x 23 cm). 180 pages. Publisher's flexible faux leather. First edition. Presentation copy, inscribed by the composer on the front free endpaper: "To Irving Lesser(?) With best wishes and pleasant memories of "Alexander's Ragtime band" / Irving Berlin." A scarce promotional songbook issued by Twentieth Century-Fox in connection with their successful 1938 musical film "Alexander's Ragtime Band." The songbook contains piano transcriptions of three new songs written for the film-including "Now (truncated) It Can Be Told," "My Walking Stick," and "Marching Along with Time" – as well as 25 other songs written by Berlin. The recipient was possibly Irving Lesser (d. 1964), a movie producer and film distributor. (Inventory #: 409883)