Apr 07, 2022 - Sale 2600

Sale 2600 - Lot 166

Price Realized: $ 750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(MUSIC.) Sheet music compiled by Abigail Smith Adams Angier, granddaughter of John Adams. 319, 147, 227 pages, plus later typed index leaves bound in. Approximately 137 pieces bound in 3 volumes. Folio, contemporary 1/2 calf, worn, 2 volumes rebacked, some boards detached, "A.S. Angier" ownership labels on front boards; moderate wear and foxing, a few early paper repairs, all pages numbered in manuscript; numerous early Adams family ownership markings and inscriptions, library markings including a few perforated stamps. Various places, 1831-42 and undated
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Additional Details

Abigail Smith "Abby" Adams (1806-1845) was the granddaughter of President John Adams. At least one source describes her as John Quincy Adams' favorite niece, and describes his visits to her Medford, MA home after her 1831 marriage to John Angier (Eliza M. Gill, "Distinguished Guests and Residents of Medford," Medford Historical Register, January 1913, page 19).

The music in these volumes was almost entirely printed in the United States, and several pieces bear the inked stamps of Boston music sellers. One piece, "Araby's Daughter," has a pencil note in an unknown hand: "Abby Adams Angier used to sing this." At least one piece appears to date from before Abby's 1831 marriage: a Philadelphia printing of "When a Little Farm We Keep" is inscribed "A.S. Adams, Quincy."

One piece, Malibran's "Le Rans de Vache," is inscribed warmly to Abby by her brother Isaac Hull Adams: "Dear Abby, you will find this delightful & if you can get Mr. Joseph to sing it, I am sure you will like it." Another piece is signed "I.H. Adams." Several pieces are initialed "TBA," presumably by Abby's brother Thomas Boylston Adams Jr. (1809-1837) as their father died in 1832 before some of the signed pieces were published.

Two pieces, "Dark-Eyed One" and "The Mermaid's Cave" are signed by their author, notable composer Charles E. Horn. An 1840 printing of "Six Irish Melodies" is signed by its composer James G. Maeder.

Among the more interesting pieces is a sort of proto-minstrel song, "Bonja Song, a Favorite Negro Air for the Piano-Forte," published in New York by J.A. & W. Geib. The London first printing circa 1800 is thought to be the first printed music to mention the banjo.

Provenance: gift from Samuel J. May of Dorchester, MA to historian Ernest Newton Bagg (1861-1937); donated by Bagg in 1913 to the City Library of Springfield, and later deaccessioned; Knotty Pine Antiques auction, circa 2008-2017.