Patty Slayton wrote in 010512 MMDigest:

> I have a collection of all of the old sheet music with the original
> covers for the Scott Joplin's rags.

If that was the original sheet music then Max Morath, the ragtime piano
player, would give you a small fortune for it. At least that's what he
says in his stage performance monologues before he sits down at the
piano to play rags.

He says he has searched the world for copies of the original sheet
music, and one time he heard of a complete set of original Joplin sheet
music for sale.  He located the owner and told him he would be over to
buy it.  He said he was ready to pay anything asked.

When he got there, he found that the owner had decided to make the
sheets of music look more attractive, so he'd taken scissors and cut it
all down to fit into some clear plastic binders, unwittingly destroying
their value.  Morath said it drove him to drink!

Tom Baker