Arguably, all the hardcover librettos of musicals from long ago are collector's items, some more than others. A few of them seemed to
disappear relatively quickly--She Loves Me, for instance. Oddly, Happy Hunting was around forever, though the show itself never
caught on in any real sense, while She Love Me was sort of an instant classic, or at least a cult favorite.
I might be wrong about this, but I think at least some of the "book club editions" bore paper dust jackets instead of the coated stock
used on the copies sold in bookstores, back when they still had bookstores.
What always fascinated me was why some of the books sported the show's poster art on the cover while others had those Random
House plain covers with just lettering or even alternative art. Goldilocks had a design of some weird kind that had nothing to do with
the show, for instance. Does anyone know why, say, Wonderful Town, Fanny, and I Can Get It For You Wholesale had the plain
cover while The Golden Apple and Funny Girl had the logo artwork? And My Fair Lady had an attractive cover with stage shots even
though the show's Hirschfeld art was more or less iconic. Was it just to save money, or was there some contractual
problem? |
