Upright folio.  8.75 x 11.5 inches, original blue cardstock wrappers bound in blue cloth with title plate to spine. 216 pp. Inscribed boldly in blue ink on the title "To Harold Arlen from his well-wisher/Jerome Kern" with Arlen adding in black ink the date "Jan 17 1934." A remarkable association copy between two of the greatest of all American songwriters.

Music in the Air, the 1932 musical written by Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics and book) and Jerome Kern (music), introduced songs such as "The Song Is You", "In Egern on the Tegern See" and "I've Told Ev'ry Little Star". The musical premiered on Broadway in 1932, and followed on the team's success with the musical Show Boat from 1927.

Arlen wrote many standards of the American Songbook—including “Get Happy,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Stormy Weather,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” and “The Man That Got Away”—which today rank among the best known and loved. His long career took him from Buffalo, New York, to Harlem’s Cotton Club, Broadway stages, and Hollywood film studios. Even with their complex melodies, harmonies, and formal structures, Arlen’s tunes remain accessible and memorable, blending influences from his father’s Jewish cantorial tradition, his experience as a jazz arranger and performer, and peers like George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. Arlen always emphasized the collaborative nature of songwriting, and he worked with the top lyricists of his day, including Ted Koehler, Yip Harburg, Johnny Mercer, and Ira Gershwin.