Blues. An Anthology. Edited by W. C. Handy. With an Introduction by Abbe Niles. Illustrations by Miguel Covarrubias

N. Y.: Albert and Charles Boni, 1926. First edition. Presentation copy, inscribed by George Gershwin to Hellen Ingram Merrill, the wife of Charles Merrill, founder of Merrill Lynch, and the mother of the poet James Merrill, on the front free endpaper: “To Hellen - All the best on her birthday from George Gershwin”. Beneath his inscription, Gershwin has written a single bar of music, followed by the identification “Rhapsody in Blue” and the date August 14, 1926. The particular bar is a pivotal one in the composition, from which point "the whole mood of the work" changes. Several of Gershwin’s compositions are included in this anthology, namely, “Excerpt from Krazy Kat. A Jazz Pantomime”, “The Half of It, Dearie, Blues”, “Concerto in F. II Movement (Excerpt)”, and “Rhapsody in Blue for Jazz Band and Piano”. In 1925, Hellen Ingram married Charlies Merrill, and gave birth to their son, James Merrill in March of 1926. Charles Merrill owned “The Orchard” in Southampton, New York. Designed by Stanford White, it was one of the finest summer estates on Long Island, and the Merrills entertained lavishly there. One of their many guests was George Gershwin, and it was no doubt at Hellen’s twenty-eighth birthday party that he inscribed this copy of The Blues. Whether Gershwin gave this copy of Blues to Hellen as her birthday present is also plausible. Some foxing and soiling, covers lightly soiled and rubbed, but a very good copy, which appears to have been used at the piano rather than merely read. 4to, original two-toned cloth. Some foxing and soiling, covers lightly soiled and rubbed, but a very good copy, which appears to have been used at the piano rather than merely read.