Messiah An Oratorio In Score As It Was Originally Perform'd . To Which Are Added His Additional Alterations. [Full Score] Handel, George Frideric 1685-1759 New Arrivals,Printed Music

Folio. Modern quarter dark brown mottled calf with marbled boards, raised bands on spine in decorative compartments gilt, titling gilt. 1f. (recto blank, verso fine engraved bust-length frontispiece portrait of the composer by Houbraken), 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. ("A List of the Subscribers"), 1f. (recto index, verso blank), 188, 35 (Appendix) pp. Engraved throughout. Boards somewhat worn, rubbed, and bumped; upper joint splitting. Slightly worn, browned, and soiled; several leaves guarded at inner margins. With occasional contemporary manuscript accidentals. Subscribers include Samuel Johnson, King George III, and other persons of note. Provenance With an undated note in pencil to upper outer corner of front endpaper: "Gift of Mary Zimbalist to Francis Bosworth . Huntingdon Valley, Pa ." Bosworth (1915-2008) was a writer, journalist, music critic, and social activist; Zimbalist (1915-2008) a well-known model, actress, and wife of the Hollywood film producer, Sam Zimbalist. An attractive, tall, and wide-margined copy, with the portrait in fine state. First Edition, sixth issue. Smith p. 127, no. 6. BUC p. 436. RISM H718. Handel's "Messiah retains the iconic status it had acquired by 1750 and has never relinquished, and will no doubt continue to do so while the great Christian festivals are celebrated, but it now takes its place alongside many other peaks of Handel's achievement which a happy combination of scholarly advocacy and the enthusiasm of practical musicians has, after much struggle, revealed." Anthony Hicks in Grove Music Online One of the monuments of Western music, with the attractive Houbraken portrait of the composer.