Signed program of a recital of the Budapest String Quartet at Town Hall, New York, on February 18, 1934. 6 pp. Inscribed to cover (counted as p. 1) by first violinist Josef Roisman, "To / Donn Purvis / in remembrance / 30 years ago. A long time! Joseph[!] Roisman / Jan. 1964," and signed by second violinist Alexander Schneider (with enigmatic date, "March 1904," added) and cellist Mischa Schneider. Not signed by violist Stephan (or István) Ipolyi, who had left the quartet in 1936 and died in 1955. 9 x 6 inches (23.2 x 15 cm). Slightly frayed and somewhat browned; else in fine condition. Read More...
A scrapbook of magazine and newspaper clippings, publicity materials, promotional envelopes and ephemera related to the Budapest Quartet, assembled by first violinist Josef Roisman and his wife. Large folio binder containing 35 pages, many with multiple clippings on each, including articles in Japanese, Russian, Spanish and English mostly from the 1950s-1970s, but including a few earlier items such as a photostat of a 1927 broadside, and including a rare printed postcard from Paul Hindemith (a Canon surrounded by his own fanciful designs, dated November, 1945 following his 50th birthday "To all sympathetic friends most gratefully"), an untranslated telegram in Japanese and a letter from Czech-Jewish writer and journalist Joseph Wechsberg addressed to Roisman concerning Wechsberg's lengthy feature on the quartet in the New Yorker (the full text of which is included in the scrapbook). The album binding in poor condition with the spiral metal fully detached and plastic page coverings quite brittle. The pages themselves are generally toned but in reasonably fine condition given the format and nature of the material. The final entries in the album consist of three obituaries for Roisman, followed by a page of clippings about the Library of Congress concert dedicated to his memory by the Juilliard Quartet in the week following his death (with their new cellist Joel Krosnick), these presumably added by Roisman's widow.