“Old Black Joe.” Bill Emerson’s Last Character Song.
San Francisco, California: M. Gray, 623 & 625 Clay Street; Portland, Oregon: 101 First Street, [1873]. Lithographed pictorial sheet music cover printed by Grafton Tyler Brown; by special arrangement with W. A. Pond & Co. Folio. Good to very good with moderate edge wear, toning, and handling marks; contemporary William Frey music store stamp (Kearny Street, San Francisco). Good to very good. Item #List3602
An early San Francisco sheet music imprint issued during the formative years of Billy Emerson’s California career and illustrated by Grafton Tyler Brown, among the first successful Black lithographers active on the West Coast. Emerson, a minstrel and character performer, appeared in San Francisco in the early 1870s, including engagements at the Bush Street Theatre, then one of the city’s principal venues. Emerson toured Australia during this period, returning to San Francisco in 1874. The billing of “Bill Emerson’s Last Character Song” reflects the practice of issuing sheets in association with individual stage performers, despite the composition being an adaptation of a Stephen Foster song.
The pictorial cover was executed by Grafton Tyler Brown (1841–1918), a pioneering African American lithographer whose San Francisco work in the early 1870s includes some of the earliest Black-produced commercial lithography in California. This illustration is notable for the inclusion of an African American subject. Brown had opened his own firm in 1867, producing work for a range of clients including sheet music publishers. He produced his best known work, The Illustrated History of San Francisco, in 1878, before moving to British Columbia in 1882. The lyrics are credited to “Add. Ryman,” about whom little biographical information survives, suggesting a minor theatrical lyricist associated with Emerson.
OCLC 23946476, locating copies at the San Francisco Public Library, Brigham Young University, and the University of Pittsburgh.
Price: $450.00
Status: On Hold