Tom, The Blind Negro Boy Pianist, Only 10 Years Old, “Oliver’s Gallop” By Bethune, Thomas (Blind Tom)

PRICE REDUCED FROM $1500 TO $1000. This quite uncommon sheet music was the first published by the well-known “Blind Tom” Bethune. Bethune had been born blind and a slave near Columbus, Georgia. His unusual ability to play the piano and recall speech was discovered at an early age so that before he was ten he was touring the country and making vast sums of money for his owner, General James Neil Bethune and his manager, Perry Oliver, for whom “Oliver’s Galop” is named. After the Civil War, Bethune was declared non compos mentis (more recent diagnoses have settled on autism) and put under the care of Gen. Bethune who continued to make money from Blind Tom’s touring. He was quite likely the most well-known and best-compensated American musician of the 19th century, though most of his earnings went to Gen. Bethune. Besides being able to play almost any musical work or even sound he heard, Blind Tom could also remember long speeches and mimic the speakers sounds and mannerisms. He died in 1908. This sheet music has been removed from a bound volume and has stab holes and light residue along the spine. There is also some staining or foxing in the upper left corner and general age-toning throughout. The image of the young Tom is quite vivid. All six pages (counting covers) of “Oliver’s Gallop” are present. This work was published simultaneously with “Virginia Polka” which had the same lithographed cover. Complete copies of this sheet music are rare. WorldCat locates fewer than ten copies in libraries though it is quite difficult to determine if any of these are the original publication or if they are complete. A copy, trimmed along the bottom edge and missing the last two pages, has recently been offered at auction with an estimate of over $1000. ; Lithographed Cover Image of Blind Tom Bethune; Folio 13″ – 23″ tall; 6 with covers pages