Books Not Focused on Cover Images

Although the books in this section include images of song sheet covers, their focus is not on song sheet illustration but on the musical compositions or their historical and cultural context. As such they provide useful background information for collectors of popular sheet music. The listing in this section is far from definitive since many other books would satisfy the criteria.

1939: From Ragtime to Swingtime: The Story of the House of Witmark. Isidore Witmark and Isaac Goldbert. NY: Lee Furman, Inc. (b&w illustrations)

1955: American Popular Music, 1875-1950. James J. Fuld. Philadelphia: Musical Americana. Background information about first issues of approximately 250 songs. [11 b&w cover images]

1970: Deac Martin’s Book of Musical Americana. Claude Trimble Martin. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (32 full-page color illustrations)

1971: Ring Bells! Sing Songs! Broadway Musicals of the 1930s. Stanley Green. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House. (more than 50 b&w illustrations)

1973: Classic Piano Rags: Complete Original Music for 81 Piano Rags. Rudi Blesh. NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (81 b&w illustrations)

1974: Stephen Foster Song Book: Original Sheet Music of 40 Songs by Stephen Collins Foster. Selected, with Introduction and Notes, by Richard Jackson. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (four illustrated b&w covers)

1974: Show Songs: From ‘The Black Crook’ to ‘The Red Mill.’ Stanley Applebaum, Ed. NY, NY; Dover Publications. (numerous b&w illustrations)

1975: Song Hits from the Turn of the Century: Complete Original Sheet Music for 25 Songs. Paul Charosh and Robert A. Fremont, Eds. Mineola, NY, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (25 b&w illustrations)

1975: Ragtime Rarities: Complete Original Music for 63 Piano Rags. Trebor Jay Tichenor. NY, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (63 b&w illustrations)

1979: Yesterdays: Popular Song in America. Charles Hamm. NY: W. W. Norton & Co. (about two dozen b&w illustrations)

1981: Scott Joplin: Complete Piano Works. Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Ed. NY: The New York Public Library. (numerous b&w illustrations)

1982: Scandalize My Name: Black Imagery in American Popular Music. Sam Dennison. NY: Garland Publishing, Inc. (52 b&w illustrated covers)

1984: The Illustrated Victorian Songbook. Aline Waites and Robin Hunter. London: Sheldrake Press Ltd. (about 12 color illustrations)

1984: Take Me Out to the Ball Game and Other Favorite Song Hits, 1906– 1908. Lester S. Levy (ed.) Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (18 b&w illustrations)

1985: Woman Composers of Ragtime. Carolynn A. Lindeman. Theodore Presser Company. (5 b&w images)

1985: Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music. John Edward Hasse, Ed. NY: Schirmer Books. (eleven illustrated b&w covers)

1986: Ragtime Gems: Original Sheet Music for 25 Ragtime Classics. David A. Jasen. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (25 b&w illustrations)

1987: Strains of Change: The Impact of Tourism on Hawaiian Music. Elizabeth Tatar. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press. (b&w and mostly color illustrations)

1988: Scott Joplin: Complete Piano Rags. David A. Jasen. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (38 b&w illustrations)

1988: Tin Pan Alley: The Composers, The Songs, The Performers and Their Times. David A. Jasen. NY: Donald I. Fine, Inc. (some b&w illustrations)

1989: Peg O’ My Heart and Other Favorite Song Hits, 1912 & 1913. Stanley Applebaum, Ed. NY, NY: Dover Publications. (36 b&w illustrations)

1989: American Solo Songs Through 1865. Nicholas Tawa, ed. Vol. 1 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music. G. K. Hall & Co. (approximately 40 b&w illustrations)

1990: American Solo Songs: 1866 Through 1910. Nicholas Tawa, ed. Vol. 2 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music. G. K. Hall & Co. (approximately 50 b&w illustrations)

1990: American Keyboard Music Through 1865. J. Bunker Clark, ed. Vol. 3 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music. G. K. Hall & Co. (4 b&w illustrations)

1990: American Keyboard Music: 1866 Through 1910. Sylvia Glickman, ed. Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music. G. K. Hall & Co. (approximately 20 b&w illustrations)

1990: The Complete Works of Harrison Fisher Illustrator. Naomi Welch. Le Selva Beach, CA: Images of the Past. (9 color illustrations)

1991: The Illustrated History of Wisconsin Music: 1840–1990. Compiled and edited by Michael G. Corenthal. Milwaukee, WI: MGC Publications. (b&w illustrations)

1991: Broadway: 125 Years of Musical Theatre. Hollis Alpert. NY: Arcade Publishing. (about 20 small color illustrations)

1992: The Music of James Scott. Scott DeVeaux and, William Howland Kenney, eds. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. (many b&w illustrations)

1993: The Ziegfeld Touch: The Life and Times of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. Richard and Paulette Ziegfeld. NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (over 30 color illustrations)

1994: The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in 19th-Century American Popular Song. Jon W. Finson. NY: Oxford University Press. (16 b&w illustrations)

1997: Cakewalks, Two-Steps and Trots. David A. Jasen. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. (b&w illustrations of 34 compositions)

1997: Doo-dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture. Ken Emerson. NY: Simon & Schuster. (several small b&w illustrations)

1998: Beale Street and Other Classic Blues: 38 Works, 1901–1921. David A. Jasen. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc. (b&w illustrations)

1999: New York: Songs of the City. Nancy Groce. NY: Watson-Guptill Publications. (numerous color illustrations)

2000: That American Rag: The Story of Ragtime from Coast to Coast. David A. Jasen and Gene Jones. NY: Schirmer Books. (b&w illustrations)

2007: Ragtime: An Encyclopedia, Discography, and Sheetography. David A. Jasen. NY: Routledge, 2014 (paperback) (19 b&w illustrations)

2007: Doo Wop: The Music, The Times, The Era. Cousin Bruce Morrow. NY: Sterling Publishing Co. (about 10 color illustrations)

2008: The American Songbook: The Singers, The Songwriters, and The Songs. Ken Bloom. NY: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2008. (numerous color illustrations)

2012: The Music of James Reese Europe: Complete Published Works. No author cited. NY: Edward B. Marks Music Company. (b&w illustrations)

2012: Joseph F. Lamb: A Passion for Ragtime – Illustrated. Carol J. Binkowski. NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. (some b&w illustrations)

2014: 150+ Stephen Foster Songs Songbook (American Folk Songs Books) (Volume 1). Ironpower Publishing. .https://ironpowerpublishing.com. (b&w illustrations)

2015: Tunes of the Twenties and All That Jazz: The Stories Behind the Songs. Robert Rawlins. Clayton, NJ: Rookwood House Publishing. (small b&w and color illustrations)

2015: The Songs of Cole and Johnson Brothers as Selected by J. Rosamond Johnson, with a Foreword by Thomas Riis. No author specified. NY: Edward B. Marks Music Company. (about 25 b&w full-page illustrations)

2016: The American Song Book: The Tin Pan Alley Era. Philip Furia

and Laurie Patterson. NY: Oxford University Press. (full-page b&w

illustrations, 1 or 2 per chapter)

2018: Ragtime Fingerstyle Ukulele: 15 Classic Rags Arranged For Solo

Ukulele. Fred Sokolow. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2018. (small b&w

illustrations)