HNN Website of the Month
Spellman Collection of Victorian Sheet Music Covers
Source: Reading University Library, The Visual Arts Data Service (10-9-09)
Music hall artist Miss Jenny Hill, dressed in “male costume,” stands with her hand in her pocket on the cover of the sheet music to the song “Arry,” published in London in 1882, which she apparently “sung with great success.” “Arry” is just one of more than 800 sheet music covers available through this website.
These sheet music covers, published between 1840 and 1900 primarily in the British Isles, provide a unique view into Victorian life and culture, illuminating the everyday lives of music hall artists, women, children, the royal family, and soldiers, as well as the towns and seascapes they traversed. In addition to lives and landscapes, the covers also depict Victorian sports and pastimes (e.g., "polo"), animals, natural history, military events, and exhibitions (such as the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851). Browsing is available, as is an Advanced Search. Each record is accompanied by the name of the artist or lithographer, composer, writer, and date.
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