This is Ragtme

New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc.. Near Fine in Very Good dj. (c.1976). First Edition. Hardcover. [no significant wear to book, just a touch of fading to covers along the bottom edges; the jacket has a few tiny edge-tears and some associated wrinkling/creasing at the bottom edge of the front panel]. (B&W photographs) A history of ragtime, "from its inception through its colorful evolution," one of the first to be published after the "rediscovery" of this musical form and its most noted practicioner, Scott Joplin, after his music was used for the soundtrack of the hit movie THE STING in 1973. The author, a highly-regarded musician himself, discusses Joplin at some length, then "goes on to depict the exciting and often bawdy settings of the music: the earthy minstrel shows, the whorehouses, the cold and commercial publishing houses of New York's Tin Pan Alley, the traditional jazz emporiums of Dixieland, and finally the prestigious concert halls of the world." The Foreword is by Eubie Blake, one of ragtime's greats, who thankfully lived long enough (until 1983, when he died at the age of 96) to experience the attention and acclaim that came his way late in life. (This was apparently a review copy, as it has the original publisher's press release laid in at the front.) .