The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat.

SONDHEIM, Stephen.

Item Number: 129361

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.

First editions of each of the collected lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Quarto, original boards, illustrated throughout. Boldly signed in each volume by Stephen Sondheim on the half-title pages. Laid in at front is a gift card from the writer and composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, the daughter of Richard Rodgers. Each are fine in near fine to fine dust jackets.

Stephen Sondheim’s career spanned more than half a century; his lyrics are synonymous with musical theater and popular culture. In Finishing the Hat—titled after perhaps his most autobiographical song, from Sunday in the Park with George—Sondheim not only collected his lyrics for the first time, he offered readers a rare personal look into his life as well as his remarkable productions. “The book is a masterpiece. There never has been and never will be one like it. It is about the grain of sand that produces the pearl and is indeed as honest and simple as that pearl" (Mike Nichols).