[African-Americana – Sheet Music] McPherson, R. C. [Cecil Mack]; Brymn, James T.; Jenkins, [?]

Build a Nest for Birdie. [Sheet Music]

New York City: The Gotham-Attucks Music Company, 1906. Sheet music measuring 10 ½ x 13 ½ inches. 6 pp including covers. Wrinkling and small tears and chips to bottom margin, some wrinkling to top right. Manuscript pencil “H Williams” on cover, erased. Very good to excellent. Item #List3634

Sheet music for “Build a Nest for Birdie,” with music by James Tim Brymn (1881–1946) and lyrics by Richard C. McPherson (1873–1944), better known as Cecil Mack, prominently featuring an inset photographic portrait of singer, dancer, and choreographer Ada Overton Walker (1880–1914), widely billed as the “Queen of the Cakewalk.” Walker, a central figure of early twentieth-century African American musical theatre, was closely associated with the Williams and Walker company and appeared in landmark productions including In Dahomey (1903), Abyssinia (1906), and Bandanna Land (1908); she frequently introduced new songs through stage performance. Brymn and Mack were frequent collaborators, producing popular songs such as “Good Morning, Carrie” (1901), “Josephine, My Jo” (1902), and “Please Go ‘Way and Let Me Sleep” (1902). Mack, an important lyricist and entrepreneur within early Black commercial music networks, co-founded the Gotham Music Company with composer Will Marion Cook; in 1905 the firm merged with the Attucks Music Company to form Gotham-Attucks, one of the most significant African American–controlled publishing enterprises of the era. The company played a key role in promoting Black composers, performers, and theatrical material at a time when mainstream publishing houses often marginalized African American creators, issuing titles such as Bert Williams and Alex Rogers’ “Nobody” (1905) and Cecil Mack, Lew Brown, and Ford Dabney’s “That’s Why They Call Me Shine” (1910). OCLC locates six institutional holdings.

Price: $250.00