Smith, Samuel Francis. (1808-1895)

"My Country Tis of Thee" - First Edition

Boston: C. Bradlee. [1832]. First edition. The very rare first sheet music edition of this most famous and powerful patriotic song. 1 page, showing the music with four stanzas. Fuld p. 251. Dicher & Shapiro p. 46. Bound together with approx. 40 other pieces, including many other C. Bradlee imprints, mostly engraved, a few lithographic, including works by Lowell Mason, Hodson, Kingsley, Stevenson, Wade, Moscheles, Mozart, Bayley, Webb, Hime, Handel, Bishop, Barnet, Campbell, Weber, Granger. Braham, Mazzinghi, Kozeluch, Smith, Erben and an early imprint of Auld Lang Syne. Small folio, contemporary quarter morocco and cloth, spine/joints rubbed and splitting, overall fine.

Since its composition in 1831 by Smith, who set his words to the same melody as the British national anthem ("God Save the Queen"), "My Country Tis of Thee" served as a de facto national anthem for much of the 19th century. (3667)

Printed Music Song