Woodbury, I. B. The Dulcimer: or the New York Collection of Sacred Music. Constituting a Large and Choice Variety of New Tunes; Chants, Anthems, Motetts, &c. New York: F. J. Huntington, (1850). Ninth Edition. [11143]
Leather spine with printed peach paper over card, spine ends chipped, edges worn, some creases to the covers, oblong 6 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches, rear joint cracked and partly detached. Red wax bits on the paste-downs; they may have once held an extra book cover in place. 352 pp., some light stains & foxing. Good. Hardcover.
Title Continues: From the best Foreign and American Composers, with all the Old Tunes in Common Use. Together with A Concise Elementary Course, Simplified and Adapted to the Capacities of Beginners. - The Whole Comprising the most Complete Collection of Sacred Music ever Published.
Date taken from the copyright page, which also has "Stereotyped by C. Davidson," "Printed by C. A. Alvord." Edition printed on the back cover. The music is in round notes.
Includes 14 lessons "Elements of Music Made Easy," 15 "Rounds and Melodies for Class Practice," and 2 pp of "Instructions for Playing the Organ, Piano-Forte, Melodeon and Seraphine by Figures."
Isaac Baker Woodbury (1819-1858), b. Beverly, Mass.; d. Columbia, South Carolina. After studying music at Boston, London, and Paris, at the age of nineteen he began teaching music in Boston, traveling throughout New England. After about six years he took up residence at Bellow Falls, Vermont, where he organized the New Hampshire and Vermont Musical Association.
"In 1849 he settled in New York City where he directed the music at the Rutgers Street Church until ill-health caused him to resign in 1851. He became editor of the New York Musical Review and made another trip to Europe in 1852 to collect material for the magazine. in the fall of 1858 his health broke down from overwork and he went south hoping to regain his strength, but died three days after reaching Columbia, South Carolina.
"He published a number of tune-books, of which the Dulcimer, or New York Collection of Sacred Music, went through a number of editions. His Elements of Musical Composition, 1844, was later issued as the Self-instructor in Musical Composition. He also assisted in the compilation of the Methodist Hymn Book of 1857." - Leonard Ellinwood, Dictionary of North American Hymnology at Hymnary dot org.
