Bethune Thomas Greene 1849 1908 (4 results)

Condition: Very Good. [Sheet Music] [6]p. Music on four pages numbered 2-0. Last page blank. 35 cm. Several short edge-tears. Minor foxing. Some browning around edges. At head of title-page: Dedicated to Gen. Howard. Not located in OCLC although it seems clear the the Library of Congress has or had a copy. Oliver Otis Howard, a Union General, was put in charge fof the Freedman's Bureau shortly after the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Condition: Very Good. [Sheet Music] 6 total pages (illustrated front cover blank on back followed by 3 pages of music, numbered 2-4 and a blank final page). 34 cm. Disbound (removed from a bound volume with usual stitch marks, etc.). Front cover has some soiling and minor foxing. The blank verso of the cover has substantial offsetting from the facing page of music. Pages 3 & 4 of the music have substantial foxing. Offsetting on last blank page indicates that this Blind Tom piece had been bound in next to a piece whose title seems to have been "Great Western Quick Step." This arresting image of young Thomas Wiggins, then about ten was also used for his Virginia Polka and perhaps other "Blind Tom" compositions, as is indicated at the bottom of the front cover where "Oliver Gallop" and "Virginia Polka" are both listed with our title underlined in red. 3 1/2 is printed inside a printed six-pointed star at lower right beneath the cover image (significance, if any, unknown to us). An uncommon piece of sheet music. Printed on the first page of printed music below title:"The following is from the Baltimore Sun of June 27th 'TOM' the MUSICAL WONDER.-- We enjoyed an opportunity last night to hear the performance of the blind negro boy 'TOM' at Carrol Hall, and though prepared for something uncommon, all expectation was surpassed by the reality. Nay more, all preconceived ideas of music as a science, an art or an acquisition, were thoroughly baffled, and a new question thrust upon us as to what music really is in the economy of nature. Accustomed to regard it as a gist [sic], improved and perfected by cultivation and practice, we here find it perfectly developed in a blind negro boy, and constituting a part of his nature, as much so as the color of his skin.".

Condition: Very Good. 1st ed. 7p. 35 cm. Sheet music. Light soil and minor uneven browning. Unclear meaning or purpose of the small 5 printed within an eight pointed circle on front cover. One of his less common composition. The small sketch of Bethune occupying the center of the title-page on this piece of sheet music appears to have been drawn by A. Caloma. OCLC locates 2 copies (NYPL and U of Mich Lib.). The song is identified on the title-page as copyrighted by Elise Bethune, presumably Eliza Bethune, who after much litigation was awarded control of Tom in August, 1887. He remained with her for the rest of his life, last performing around 1904.

Condition: Very Good. title-leaf, blank on back, 3p. music. Final page contains an advertisement for Marsh's Music Store, No. 1029 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. Disbound (removed from a bound volume). 34 cm. Stitch marks, etc. along left edge. Modest offsetting on last page. At head of title-page: Dedicated to Miss Cherie Bethune. OCLC has 2 entries (U Mich for both) with different publishers listed (Marsh for one and Ditson for the other -- are these entries for a single copy, possibly listing all three publishers as on our copy. 1st ed. [we presume although it is possible that not all three publisher's were initially listed].