481
●
(MUSIC—EARLY MINSTRELSY.)
Monday, July 4, 1864 Grand Gala Day,
The Rubicon Crossed VENI!!! VIDI!!! VICI!!! Second Week of the Campbell
Minstrels . . . Ethiopian Oddities . . . Banjo Quartette . . . Dan Emmett’s
Plantation Scene, Black Brigade.
Large letterpress broadside, 23 x 8
7
⁄
8
inches, attached
to cardstock; discoloration down the blank right margin and along the bottom edge; paper
lightly and evenly toned; matted and in an old frame.
Brooklyn, New York, 1864
[1,500/2,500]
A large broadside for a wartime performance in Brooklyn, New York of Campbell’s Minstrels,
which included the noted black-face banjo player W.S. Budworth. This large broadside promises
“Novelty Upon Novelty,” in the form of numerous musical skits, a banjo quartette, “Ethiopian
“Oddities” and a bone solo, concluding with the “Entire Troop” in a number by the most
famous of all minstrels, Dan Emmett, titled “The Black Brigade,” no doubt a reference to the
use of black troops beginning exactly a year before.
482
●
(MUSIC.) BETHUNE, THOMAS “BLIND TOM.”
The Battle of Manassas for
the Piano by Blind Tom.
Pictorially engraved cover and nine pages of engraved music;
small oval stamp of piano dealers John Ellis and Co. at the foot of the cover. A superb copy.
Cleveland: Brainard’s Sons, 1866
[1,500/2,500]
A RARE WORK BY THE BOY
PRODIGY
.
Survivals in such
fine condition of large pieces of
printed music (14 x 11 inches)
from this era are uncommon.
But this particular work, a long
one at that, contains Tom’s own
description of the work and its
genesis. Tom’s “Director” (man-
ager) prefaces this by explaining
how he would usually announce
each piece at Tom’s concerts —
which Tom would then repeat
verbatim once they had returned
to their hotel. This gave him
the idea of allowing Tom to
make the introductions himself,
which Tom does here in the
third person — as though he
were repeating his director’s
words. His description is impor-
tant because Tom explains how
his music is describing the
build-up and then the terrible
battle that took 10,000
Union lives.
