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(FOSTER, Stephen). (Oh! Susanna.) Susannnah Don't You Cry For Me.
Single sheet measuring 9 3/4" x 7 1/4" headed with the English (Canadian?) Coat of Arms. NP: no publisher, and probably circa 1850-1870. We believe this is a Canadian printing and must have been done here given the coat of arms. Some very light creasing and very slight discolouration but in fact fine.

This is a variant edition of Foster's classic tune, first written in 1847. Foster did not have it immediately printed or copyrighted. The song became quite popular, quite quickly. This version has six verses, the original has three, with verses 1,3, 4 of our copy matching fairly closely with the original. There is some slight variation in wording and this version has a heavy "black" dialect. The curious thing is that they are using a coat of arms that is not correct given the date of the piece -- as you are aware Foster wrote it in 1847 -- the coat of arms on this broadside was discontinued in 1801 -- used by the first three Georges and then changed. So, we believe that it might be some sort of Canadian offprint / piracy. The only other copy of this that we can locate is held by Brown University, who call it "possibly an English imprint." We believe it is more probably Canadian in origin given that there is no record of it in any British Institution. Certainly the spelling and the broad Negro dialect would have been almost incomprehensible to an Englishman. A quite rare broadside version recorded in only one other example.

$1,250.00