[Sheet Music] | Celebrating and lampooning famous entertainers

[Sheet Music]

Sheet music related to conjurers and circus performers

Mack, E. General Tom Thumb's Grand Wedding March. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1863. Three foliums (332 x 250 mm). Color lithograph cover depicting Tom Thumb's wedding; cover tipped onto cardstock mat. Sheet music in three pages on two leaves, publishers advertisements on final page; leaves loose, spotting and browning, last leaf creased. In folding cardstock with plastic guard. — Marquis Chisholm. The Great Chang Polka. London: Duff & Hodgson, [1866]. Folio (358 x 268 mm). In original wrappers, upper wrapper signed by Colonel Chang in right margin, and with large chromolithographic portrait of Chang, his wife King-Foo, the dwarf Che Mah, and piano player; wrapper partially separated but holding, overall worn and soiled, but print and signature are bright and clear. Seven pages of sheet music; spotted and toned throughout. — Ehrlich, J. The Motley Polka Composed for ... Wm F. Wallet, Esq. Philadelphia: J.E. Gould & Co., 1850. Folio (337 x 254 mm). In original wrappers, upper wrapper with large lithographic portrait of the jester William F. Wallet; wrapper toned with spotting, wrapper separated at head and foot but holding. Three pages of sheet music, musical annotations in pencil; pages browned and foxed. — Levy, Juliet. Polka D'Illusion Magique Compose et Dediée á M. Hartz. New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1866. Color lithograph (355 x 272 mm). Depiction of Joseph Michael Hartz performing the "Floating Head" illusion; some browning at edges, chipped at upper left corner. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas. — Read, Edward M. The Lone Hand Galop. Burlington: H.L. Story, 1869. Folio (335 x 262 mm). In original pictorial wrappers, with a large image of a hand holding playing cards to upper wrapper; wrapper a bit worn and soiled, partially separated at head and foot but holding. Four pages of sheet music, annotations in pencil; some browning and finger-soiling to pages. — Marriott, C. H. R. Ko Ko Ri Ko Chinese Polka. London: Boogey & Co., nd. Lithograph (350 x 242 mm). Large portrait of Colonel Chang, King-Foo, and the dwarf Chung on verso; leaf toned, upper left corner with "33" in colored pencil and embossed with "Looney & Co.," small chip, closed tear, and minor dampstains to foot. — Liston, Harry. Chang. The Fychow Giant. London: C. Sheard, nd. Color lithograph (358 x 250 mm). Portrait of Chang, King-Foo, and the dwarf Che Mah on verso; leaf browned especially at edges, tiny marginal chips and short closed tears. — Lonsdale, T.S., Slade Murray. Thought Reading on the Brain. Np, nd. Color lithograph (335 x 255 mm). Portrait of Stuart Cumberland at center, surrounded by four captioned vignettes parodying Cumberland and Washington Irving Bishop's performances; tiny chips to left margin. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas.

A group of eight items, including sheet music itself and pictorial wrappers from published sheet music. The items cover a wide range of some of the most acclaimed performers of the nineteenth century: General Tom Thumb, General Chang, Joseph Michael Hartz, Stuart Cumberland, and Washington Irving Bishop, among others. Some examples offer musical notation for famous performances actually given, while others parody the entertainers, as in the case of Lonsdale and Murray's Thought Reading on the Brain.

Sold as group lot, not subject to return.