Inscribed first edition, association copy, of this commemorative volume — signed by the legendary cartoonist to the also legendary composer, songwriter, and singer Tom Lehrer.
Very good in a very good jacket.
Price: $3,000.00
"For Tom with admiration..."
Across a scant 37 songs — the totality of his output — Tom Lehrer looked back to the humor of Tin Pan Alley while drawing on the sophistication of contemporary Broadway to craft a musical corpus filled with classic songs whose titles alone can still (to those in the know) draw stifled laughter: "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Elements," "(I'm Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica," "The Masochism Tango," "New Math," "The Vatican Rag," "Smut." Despite the fact that Lehrer largely retreated from the public eye at the height of his fame in the 1960s (to teach math and musical theater at UC Santa Cruz for more than 40 years), his work endured through the likes of The Dr. Demento Show (and other more informal nerd networks), as well as eventually the internet — where his mix of irony, dark humor, and daredevil composition seemed tailor-made for the social media age. Lehrer's influence is extensive, most obviously in the work of "Weird Al." But They Might Be Giants, Tenacious D, The Lonely Island, Flight of the Conchords, and numerous other musical acts (I'm looking at you, Bo Burnham) owe the composer a debt.
It's unclear on what occasion this book was inscribed, though both Lehrer and Schulz were longtime California residents, worked in children's television (Leher writing a number of songs for the PBS program THE ELECTRIC COMPANY), and had popular musicals adapted from their work. A wonderful associations between the two beloved humorists.
First printing. New York: Random House, (1979). 8.75'' x 9.25''. Original quarter brown cloth over orange boards. In original unclipped ($14.95) color pictorial jacket. 160 pages. Inscribed by Schulz on the front free endpaper: "For Tom with admiration / and every best wish — / Charles M. Schulz." An unknown hand (Schulz's wife Joyce?) has added below: "For Tom Lehrer / from / Harriet, the 5th / bird!" Jacket lightly edgeworn with some toning to extremities. Some foxing to handful of early and terminal leaves. Boards slightly bowed. Overall, sound.
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