Here is an early printing job by Nathaniel Currier. In addition to the cover art, the enclosed pages, including music staffs and notes, were hand lithographed by Currier. If anyone can help us date this piece more accurately, we welcome the input.
Here is an early printing job by Nathaniel Currier. In addition to the cover art, the enclosed pages, including music staffs and notes, were hand lithographed by Currier. If anyone can help us date this piece more accurately, we welcome the input.
The actual text on the cover is as follows:
Update:
We received the following information from Keith Gillen
in response to our request to help date this piece of sheet music.
"The publisher's address of 239 Broadway can be used to limit the publication date between 1836 and 1843. In addition the name of the publisher changed within that timespan:
James L. Hewitt and Co. 1836-1837
Hewitt and Jaques. 1837-1841
James L. Hewitt and Co. 1842-1843
implying publication in 1836-7 or 1842-3.
The relevant reference is a book by Harry Dichter and Elliot Shapiro, "Early American Sheet Music,Its Lure and Its Lore 1768-1889," R.R.Bowker Co. (NY 1941); reprinted by Dover in 1977. (page 205). See also listing on page 47 of the same song, published ca. 1847 (1848?) by Wm. Hall and Son, with very similar verbiage on the cover (W. L. Hammond, rather than
W.T.) and a description of a very similar Currier litho.
Thank you Keith.
You can listen to the "Handsome Man" MIDI file by Robbie Rhodes, of the Mechanical Music Digest, done in a Mazurka Waltz style near the end of the piece.
The lyrics of "The Handsome Man" read as follows:
1.
My nose is ve-ry a-qui-line, My eyes are ve-ry grand,
My teeth are ve-ry beau-ti-ful, and five feet eight I stand.
My whis-kers black, mus-tachio's too, my waist a child could span,
My dark hair curls, my foot is small: I am a hand-some man.
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, a ve-ry ve-ry ve-ry handsome man,
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, I am___ a hand-some man.
2.
I wish my flirt-ing non-sense were not told with such de-light
I wish my smil-ing gave no joy, my call-ing caused no fright,
And would that I might be ex-cused from pick-ing up each fan
They're on-ly dropped to be re-turned, by such a hand-some man;
By such a ve-ry hand-some man, a ve-ry ve-ry ve-ry handsome man,
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, I am___ a hand-some man.
3.
I wish that I was ve-ry plain, I wish my eyes were green;
I wish my hair was red and straight, my fig-ure short and mean.
To shun those fe-male plagues I'd be de-formed and rude as Pan;
I wish they'd give me up and say "He's not a hand-some man."
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, a ve-ry ve-ry ve-ry handsome man,
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, I am___ a hand-some man.
4.
They take my por-trait on the sly, I don't know what to do;
Let-ters in scores come each day from lovers old and new:
Each ar-ti-cle of dress I wear, most lov-ing-ly they scan;
All clothes - they look so well on me, I'm such a hand-some man.
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, a ve-ry ve-ry ve-ry handsome man,
I am a ve-ry hand-some man, I am___ a hand-some man.
with the note: "Sung in affected style."