Last Dream Waltzes.
Columbia, Missouri: W.B. Alen, 1909. Folio, 13 ½ x 10 ½ inches, 9 pp. Very good plus with period ownership mark from Iowa, light normal wear. Item #List3625
In 1909, Blind Boone (John William Boone) was an established touring pianist and composer whose concert career had already spanned more than two decades. Blind since infancy, he had trained at the Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis and by this period, with the help of his manager John Lange Jr., he was widely known for combining classical repertoire, spirituals, and syncopated ragtime compositions in formal recital programs. In 1909 he published Blind Boone’s Ragtime Medley No. 2: “Strains from the Flat Branch” and The Last Dream: Waltzes, works which blended ragtime forms and elements of European parlor and concert music. By this time Boone was traveling with his wife and business associate, Eugenia Boone, while the long-established framework of his touring career had been shaped by his manager John Lange Jr., who had directed Boone’s concert operations since 1879 under the name of the Blind Boone Touring Company. Lange, a Columbia, Missouri businessman, handled bookings, transportation, finances, and promotion, adopting the motto “Merit, Not Sympathy, Wins,” which appeared on programs and advertising. Boone’s performances in this period were typically presented in opera houses, churches, and public halls across the United States and Canada. OCLC 43451378, locating four copies.
Price: $100.00