Stephen Sondheim Letters and Other Broadway Treasures Will Be Available at New York International Antiquarian Book Fair

A host of theatrical memorabilia, including several Stephen Sondheim items, will be available for sale at the 62nd edition of The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.

Sanctioned by Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, and produced and managed by Sanford L. Smith + Associates, the fair returns to the Park Avenue Armory April 21-24.

The Massachusetts-based Schubertiade, a gallery of rare offerings for collectors, scholars, music lovers, gift givers, museums, and libraries, will bring a treasure trove of Broadway and performing arts-related ephemera. Items include signed Playbills, an archive of personal letters and photographs from Sondheim, inscribed memorabilia from Leonard Bernstein, signed photographs from Alvin Ailey, and more.

Details of some of the Broadway-related items follow:

West Side Story, Signed 1957 Broadway Souvenir Program; $2,000
Playbill from the original Broadway production of West Side Story, signed by much of the original cast, including Carol Lawrence, Larry Kert, Chita Rivera, Art Smith, Mickey Calin, Ken LeRoy, Lee Theodore, Eddie Roll, David Winters, and Tony Mordente.

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) Archive of Personal Letters, Programs and Photographs from a close friend, 1960s-2000s; $20,000

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021). Original Childhood Photograph in clown costume; $1,000
Original first generation Alba Studio doubleweight photograph of Sondheim as a young boy at a costume party.

Leonard Bernstein. (1918–1990). "Fancy Free" – Inscribed Presentation Copy to Adolph Green; $1,500
Inscribed and dedicated by conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein to his friend, playwright Adolph Green, the dedicatee of the work, and who had expanded the work with Betty Comden into the hit Broadway musical On the Town.

Alvin Ailey (1931–1989) and Carmen Lavallade (b. 1931) Blues Suite - Signed Photograph; $1,000
Original ca. 1960 Will Rapport photograph of the dancers in performance in Blues Suite (sometimes also titled Roots of the Blues), which launched the Ailey company in 1958 and is often documented as the choreographer's first masterpiece.

NYIABF will showcase nearly 200 exhibitors from around the world. The fair’s specialties encompass art, science, medicine, literature, history, gastronomy, fashion, first editions, Americana, philosophy, children’s books, and more.

Visit NYAntiquarianBookFair.com.