The Allen Koenigsberg Phonograph Collection
Lot 3530:
Description
This is an exceptional, complete trio of late 19th-century American softcover “songster” booklets, offering a marvelous look into period vaudeville, minstrelsy, and patent medicine advertising. The collection features Harrigan & Hart’s Mulligan Guard’s Surprise Songster (No. 76, copyright 1880, featuring a vibrant lithographed multi-character cover on the front and an illustration of the Mulligan Guard on the reverse), Merchant’s Gargling Oil Songster (published circa 1880s by John Hodge in Lockport, N.Y., featuring a colorful cover of musicians on the front and a humorous promotional Darwinian monkey illustration on the reverse), and Patterson’s Ideal Songster (containing 24 songs, printed by Chase & Co. in Bryant’s Pond, Maine, with a sharp engraved cover portrait of performer J.P. Patterson). These softcover booklets remain complete with their original paper wrap covers securely attached. The interior pages show typical age-toning, with minor edge wear, small corner chips, and light rubbing to the spines consistent with delicate antique paper ephemera, but overall remaining in very good antique condition. Two booklets measure H 6.5″, W 4.25″, D 0.15″ and the third measures H 6″, W 4.75″, D 0.15″. Please see photos for condition. From the Allan Koenigsberg collection.
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