Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs

Title: The Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs
Genre: Fine Arts/Music
Authors: Selected and edited by Margaret Bradford Boni; arranged for the piano by Norman Lloyd; introductions by Anne Brooks; foreword by "the late" Carl Van Doren
Illustrator: Aurelius Battaglia (1910-1984)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, New York, New York
Year: 1952 (second printing)
Pages: 360
Format: Hardcover, with dust jacket
Provenance: Unknown
Song Categories: Only Yesterday: From 1890; Conflict and Expansion: From 1850; Independence—On to the West: From 1776; The Promised Land: Before 1776
Notes: Beautifully designed and selected catalog of classic American songs, presented with piano arrangements and playful imagery by modern illustrator Aurelius Battaglia. To justify the lavish treatment, the publishers priced this volume at a hefty six dollars—in today's currency, that's $56.83! The artwork (only some of which is shown below) truly makes this book a keeper. From the dust jacket: "AURELIUS BATTAGLIA, who painted the more than 400 illustrations, attended the Corcoran School of Art in Washington. He has been a newspaper and magazine illustrator, and an artist at the Walt Disney Studio; he has planned educational films for the Navy and now concentrates on book illustration."













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