SWING ERA

INMAN, Bob. Swing Era Scrapbook. The Teenage Diaries & Radio Logs of Bob Inman, 1936-1938. Compiled by Ken Vail. Lanham, Maryland & Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, 2005. First edition compilation from the journals of dedicated teenage jazz fan Bob Inman, together with four original pages from the published journals, and sixteen vintage publicity portraits from Inman’s collection; the four autograph pages carrying an account of attending a ‘super-colossal’ broadcast by the Chick Webb band, four original black and white snapshots of the session, and the signatures of Webb and his band; the sixteen publicity portraits including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Inman spent his teenage years chasing the stars of the Swing Age in 1930s New York, meticulously journaling his encounters with the various stars he dogged for autographs and logging the music he listened to, both on the radio and at live performances.

[With:] TASSIA, Steven ed. Tenth Anniversary of the Valencia Ballroom 1929-1939. Spiral-bound leatherette souvenir album with numerous black and white portraits of band leaders, many signed, including Glenn Miller and Glen Gray. [With:] a set of 16 promotional colour postcards of RCA Victor and Bluebird swing stars, c.1944, with original printed envelope. [With:] STOKES, W. Royal. Swing Era New York. The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson. Philadelphia: 1944. Inscribed on the front free endpaper by Stokes and Peterson. [And:] SAMPSON, Edgar. Jitterbug Jamboree Songbook. New York: 1939. Printed piano arrangements with a glossary of swing and jitterbug terms.