American Song Sheets Slip Ballads and Poetical Broadsides 1850-1870: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Library Company of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.: The Library Company of Philadelphia , 1963. A hint of edge wear, gently shelf worn, no dj, ex-library with the usual library markings, overall a clean used first edition! Brown cloth with gilt lettering on the spine. 205 historical pages of text and 14 wonderful pages of historic black and white replica's of Song Sheets, Slip Ballads, and Poetical Broadsides! "A fad in American life produced a shower of song sheets, slip ballads and poetical broadsides. Although such sheets had been printed by enterprising publishers for centuries, it was not until about 1850 that it became big small-business. Then, to meet a growing popular demand sheets, which had once been printed by the score, appeared by the thousands. They were run off in large editions, sold wholesale to dealers and sold retail by hawkers and in stationery shops and book stores. The peak of their popularity was reached during the Civil War the issues and events of which offered fertile seeds for the flowering of poetry, verse and doggerel. Gradually after the war, the rage for song sheets seems to have died down, although they did apear in plainer and cheaper form for years thereafter...." ---- from the Introduction.. First Edition / First Printing. Brown Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Ex-Library.