Edwin Meyrick (2 results)

The Brazos Boat Glee. Sheet music with lyrics. 4 pp., last page blank. Written on a visit to Galveston in 1831, when Texas was still a part of Mexico. Exceptionally rare. A Texas incunabulum. References to it are scant and even erroneous, due to the absence of known copies. After her visit Mary Holley went on to write the first book in English about Texas. Henry Austin, the dedicatee (his name is misspelled Austen in the dedication), was Mary's brother and an early Texas migrant. There are two contemporary editions of this song, the present one and another, undated, entitled The Brazos Boat Song, "written composed and dedicated to Mademoiselle Labranche by Mrs. Holley," that was published in Baltimore by John Cole. That edition is known, so far as we know, in a single copy at the Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. [With] The Texian Grand March. For the piano-forte. Dedicated to Genl. Sam Houston and his brave companions in arms. Sheet music. Cover page (pp. [1-2 (blank)] and last page of music (p. 7) only, missing two leaves, pp. 3-6. Idealized scene on title page of a wounded and bedridden Sam Houston accepting the sword of Santa Anna in surrender. Evidently the piece consisted when vended of two 4to sheets, one tucked inside the other. The pages in the albums were numbered by hand, as was the custom of the time, and the two pages present were numbered sequentially, so evidently the missing pair had already been misplaced at the time of binding. The above two items are still in situ in two bound volumes of the period assembled for one contemporary owner. Spines are lacking in both. The albums contain numerous other pieces of interest and value. The volumes were assembled when full-page lithographic covers were replacing the old style that opened with the music on the center pages, and the owner included many pieces so illustrated. A number of pages toward the rear of one of the volumes were damaged by pressed leaves, but the important pieces were not affected. Further details on request.

"Texas remained prominent in newspapers throughout the country during 1836, and printers and publishers issued several images relating to incidents from the revolution.[P]ublishers quickly issued three lithographic illustrations of Santa Anna's surrender to Sam Houston. Wounded in the battle, Houston, who had two horses shot from under him and his left ankle shattered by a rifle ball, painfully reposed under an oak tree in the Texian camp when the captured Santa Anna was brought before him. That scene.became the subject of two lithographs issued by New York publishing houses. The first is an illustrated sheet music cover for 'Texian Grand March'.The image erroneously shows the wounded but victorious Houston receiving Santa Anna's surrender while lying on a cot in his tent, rather than under an oak tree, and with a wounded right leg." - Tyler. Streeter notes three variants, varying in imprint and lithographer's name, with Swett replacing Anthony Fleetwood (suggesting, according to Tyler, that the stone had worn down and needed replacement). The Streeter copy, the same issue as the present, sold for $110 to Harper. EBERSTADT 162:542. STREETER SALE 349. STREETER TEXAS 1171B. TYLER, TEXAS LITHOGRAPHS, pp. 35-36 and fig. 1.24. Lithographed title, with a large vignette by Moses Swett showing Santa Anna surrendering to an injured Sam Houston. Dbd. Minor foxing and toning.