The History of
Music Sheet Covers
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Introduction
The ability to mass produce music covers owes a lot to the invention
of
lithography. Lithographs were produced using
wax or crayons to draw the designs on a specially prepared flat stone
which was then inked. The earliest music sheets to be illustrated by
lithography were produced in this country in about 1820 and were coloured
by hand. After colour lithography took off in the late
1830s, coloured illustrations could be produced
cheaply in large numbers.
Several artists specialised in music cover illustration and the individual style of the artists can often be recognised from the design and date.
Maxim Gauci
Nicknamed 'the father of all music hall artists', he produced many of the early engraved and hand-coloured sheets. He died in 1854. |
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John Brandard
John Brandard illustrated waltzes and polkas and other dances for the conductor Louis Jullien from 1844. Brandard’s illustration
were beautifully done, with delicate colouring and were always printed on good paper. |
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Alfred Concanen
Famous for his witty representations of London life, Concanen is considered the most prolific of the music sheet artists. He was also
was a book illustrator and regularly did line drawings for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News in the 1870s. |
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H.G. Banks
Worked with Concanen and was probably influenced by his style. He often used roundels and vignettes on his covers to illustrate several
verses of a song. From 1877 he produced covers for publishers Francis Day and Hunter and was working at a time when the quality of sheets
was in decline. |
Read on to view the history of the Illustrated Music Sheet
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