Military sheet music covers

Ray Westlake explores these beautifully illustrated collectors’ items

At one time an evening’s entertainment consisted of gathering around a piano for a sing-song but, as Ray Westlake explains, even though those days are long gone, the sheet covers for military music are very collectable.

With our medals put away tidily in their greenbaized-lined drawers, the badge collection nicely framed and up on the walls of the study, what better thing to do next than to settle down and look at pictures of those who wore them. Images may be found in books, on postcards and as prints; indeed, finely designed and printed examples of the latter from the Victorian and Edwardian periods, be they separated from a book or especially produced as such, can command quite substantial prices. But there are affordable alternatives.

Long gone are the days when family entertainment often involved a gathering around the piano for a sing-song. Hardly ever needed now, music sheets were once produced in their thousands by publishers who would often employ wellknown artists and engravers to design covers that would attract the eye of the music-shop browser. Sheets for military music were no exception.

Nowadays sheet music can often be found, for instance, happily residing in an old piano stool tucked away at the back of an antique shop, or among mountains of old newspapers and magazines housed in some spider-filled junk shop. Patience is now required to sift through the hits of yesteryear looking for something military.

For this selection I must thank the wonderful Anne SK Brown Military Collection held at the Brown University Library, Providence, USA.