The Entertainer — A Rag Time Two-Step

St. Louis: John Stark & Son, 1902. Folio sheet music, illustrated color pictorial cover. 5 pp. (including cover). Early issue dedicated to “James Brown and His Mandolin Club.” A notably bright and well-preserved example with strong color and only light edge wear; small chips to corners of second and third leaves with no loss to printed portion, very good overall, an unusually attractive copy of one of the most famous publications of the ragtime era. Very good.. First edition of Scott Joplin’s celebrated ragtime composition, issued during the composer’s most productive period with his principal publisher, John Stark of St. Louis. The cover illustration depicts a sharply dressed performer stepping through a theatrical doorway while a curious onlooker peers from below. Joplin (1868–1917), often called the “King of Ragtime,” was the most influential composer associated with the style, and his partnership with Stark produced many of the era’s defining works, including “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899), “The Ragtime Dance” (1902), and “The Entertainer.” Though enormously popular when published, the piece would achieve even greater fame during the twentieth-century ragtime revival, especially after its prominent use in The Sting (1973), where Marvin Hamlisch’s adaptation of Joplin’s music introduced the composition to a new international audience.

Like many of Joplin’s works, “The Entertainer” is structured as a ragtime two-step, combining the syncopated rhythms of African American musical traditions with forms derived from the late nineteenth-century dance repertoire. The dedication to James Brown and His Mandolin Club reflects the widespread popularity of mandolin orchestras and amateur musical societies during the ragtime era, which frequently performed arrangements of current dance compositions. Few pieces of American popular music have enjoyed the enduring recognition of “The Entertainer.” We find no other first edition copies on the market at the time of writing.