[Hutchinson, Thomas.] THE AMERICAN MUSICAL DIRECTORY. 1861. [All published.] New York: Thomas Hutchinson, 1861. 12mo. xvi, [17]-260 pages, plus [11] pages terminal ads, [10] pages of ads interleaved with the text, and ten pages of endpaper ads. Original orange cloth lettered in black. 16 x 11 cm. Ex-Sondley Reference Library with a shadow of a removed call number on the front cover, bookplate on the front pastedown (covering ads), embossed stamp on the title and several other leaves, and ink accession number stamp on the verso of title. Cloth is heavily soiled; short tears to spine ends. Hinges are cracked but holding well, and the volume is sound. Insect nibbling to the front endpapers with negligible impact on ads; also some trifling damage to top edges of first few leaves. The text is complete and in good condition, with moderate toning and light scattered foxing. Penciled correction to one word (p. 36) and a handful of old, tiny "x" marks next to some entries.
FIRST EDITION. This exhaustive reference lists the manufacturers and sellers of a multitude of musical instruments, plus performers, composers, music teachers, piano tuners, publishers, printers, engravers of music, and more. All 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Utah Territory are represented, as well as parts of Canada. A detailed index is provided. An appendix, “Music of the Church,” lists the conductors, members, and organists of choirs in New York City and a few other cities and gives descriptions of specific organs. A final section is devoted to musical societies. The numerous ads, many of them illustrated, are themselves a significant resource.
Thomas Hutchinson, the publisher and almost certainly the compiler, is known to us only through his work on other directories. In the early 1860s, he published a Central New York Business Directory and the West Chester County Directory and compiled directories for Paterson, N.J., Wilmington, Del., and several Canadian locales. His name (or perhaps that of his heir) reemerges in the bibliographic record in the late 1870s as the compiler of the Lakeside Directory for Chicago. The preface indicates his intention to continue publishing The American Musical Directory as a serial, but no other issues have been recorded.
"Comprehensive and accurate . . . The American Musical Directory is a quarry of useful information . . ." (musicologist, H. Earle Johnson, American Music, vol. I, no. 2, 1983, pp. 93).
OCLC locates only three copies: Eastman School of Music, NY Hist. Soc., and NY Public; NUC adds the LC copy; Harvard also has one. Not in the Union List of serials. $450
FIRST EDITION. This exhaustive reference lists the manufacturers and sellers of a multitude of musical instruments, plus performers, composers, music teachers, piano tuners, publishers, printers, engravers of music, and more. All 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Utah Territory are represented, as well as parts of Canada. A detailed index is provided. An appendix, “Music of the Church,” lists the conductors, members, and organists of choirs in New York City and a few other cities and gives descriptions of specific organs. A final section is devoted to musical societies. The numerous ads, many of them illustrated, are themselves a significant resource.
Thomas Hutchinson, the publisher and almost certainly the compiler, is known to us only through his work on other directories. In the early 1860s, he published a Central New York Business Directory and the West Chester County Directory and compiled directories for Paterson, N.J., Wilmington, Del., and several Canadian locales. His name (or perhaps that of his heir) reemerges in the bibliographic record in the late 1870s as the compiler of the Lakeside Directory for Chicago. The preface indicates his intention to continue publishing The American Musical Directory as a serial, but no other issues have been recorded.
"Comprehensive and accurate . . . The American Musical Directory is a quarry of useful information . . ." (musicologist, H. Earle Johnson, American Music, vol. I, no. 2, 1983, pp. 93).
OCLC locates only three copies: Eastman School of Music, NY Hist. Soc., and NY Public; NUC adds the LC copy; Harvard also has one. Not in the Union List of serials. $450
