Music Trade Review

Issue: 1889 Vol. 13 N. 8

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Music Trade Review.
The Only Music Trade Paper in America, and the Organ of the Music Trade of this Country.
IF 1 o -a. n cL e cL
VOL. XIII. No. 8.
1879.
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 20 TO DECEMBER 5, 1889.
$3.00 PER TEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
because these two books were more wonderful than his
earlier brilliant literary productions, but for the reason
that the struggling, intriguing politician had at last
JEFF. DAVIS BILL.
EDWARD LTMAN BILL.
reached the "dizzy" heights of diplomatic triumph.
An enormous sum has been realized from the sale of
Webster's Spelling Book, more than fifty millions of
copies of which have been issued. As the writer to
whom we have referred remarks, " Could Dr. Webster
EDITOBS AMD PBOPBTBTOB8.
and his heirs have enjoyed the royalties from it they
would have found it more valuable than the cave of
All Checks, Drafts, money Orders, Postal
Monte Cristo. Yet Dr. Webster wrote it that he might
Motes and Mall matter should be
procure the means to support himself while engaged in
made to
other work, notably his dictionary, which was really
an elaboration of the spelling book."
BILL & BILL,
"Mr. Barnes of New York," and "Mr. Potter of
EDITOBS * PBOPBIETOBS.
Texas," were gold mines to their author and publishers,
for the reason that they offered brief amusement to the
great herd of the shallow-pated. No explanation is need-
3 EAST Hth STREET, NEW YORK.
ed of the financial success of Zola's works, or of
" The Quick and The Dead." " The Wide, Wide World "
SUMCBIPTIOH (including postage) United States and Canada
$».oo per year, in ad ranee; Foreign Countries. $4.00
also paid well, but because it touched the chords of the
simple, honest natures with which, fortunately, the world
, $3.00 per inch, single column, per insertion;
abounds. Mrs. Stowe is almost the only American
nnlesB inserted upon rates made by special contract.
writer of fiction who has made a large fortune thereby.
That her descriptions of the horrors of slavery were ex-
Entered at the New York Put Office at Second Chut Matter.
aggerated is conceded by many. If John Bunyan had
written " Pilgrim's Progress" and " The Holy War"
in the latter part of this century he would have been a
millionaire.
Money was made out of the early books of Rider
Haggard. There was about them an air of mysticism
which for a time exercised a peculiar fascination. By
and by the charm seemed to cloy, and this author's later
Thomas Power O'Connor, M. P., wrote a scathing bio- stories, according to some publishers, have fallen flat
graphy of the great Earl of Beaconsfield, who admitted upon the market.
the truth of the impeachments contained therein. Con-
And so it goes. Many excellent authors, whose works
sidering the picturesqueness of D'Israeli's career and
have given them more than a passing renown, have
character, the halo of romance that surrounded him, and
found it necessary to the gaining of a decent livelihood
the absolute idolatry of which he was at one period the
to take up ordinary newspaper work, or even to engage
subject among a not inconsiderable portion of the En-
in commercial enterprises. The financial success of a
glish people,one would have thought that this work,bear-
book depends upon circumstances. There must always
ing the emphatic impress of truth on every page, would
be something definite to appeal to—a fact, a sentiment,
have circulated by the million. It had a fair circulation,
a new set of ideas, a new development of public taste,
but the pecuniary results were altogether out of propor-
or otherwise.
We Manufacture all sized Organs from
tion to the pains expended upon it by the talented
Good educational works, such as school text books,
author. The reason of this probably was that at the
$25.00 to $50,000.00.
time of publication Lord Beaconsfield was rapidly are among the most profitable from a pecuniary point
attaining the very zenith of his fame. The blaze of of view. Still, it would be well if every man and woman
literary ability, and possessing original ideas
DETBOIT, MICH., glory which surrounded him drove people mad. Com- possessing
the
publication
of which would be likely to benefit and
paratively few—these few being, however, of the best
mental calibre and ihe highest moral worth—cared to elevate his or her fellow-citizens, would express such
U. S. A.
delve into the the History of the political unscrupulous- ideas in print. We have only touched upon a small
ness of a man whom half Europe had come to regard as portion of the fringe of a vast subject, and that in a
a
demi-god. If the book had been written ten years pre- very perfunctory way. Let somebody else say a word.
DOES THE WHITING OF BOOKS PAY?
viously, when D'Israeli was one of the chief defenders
of the Irish church establishment against the assaults
SOMETIMES IT DOES, AND SOMKTIMES IT DOESN'T.
MR. A. J. BROOKS, with the Sterling Company, Derby,
of Mr. Gladstone, it might have considerably expedited
Conn., made a pleasant call at the office of this paper
the
passage
of
the
Grand
Old
Man's
measure.
T " * H E subject of the financial successor failure of
on Thursday last. Mr. Brooks had just completed a
I
authors and writers of books has been exercising
Under the titles of " Edward the Seventh " and " The very successful Eastern trip as far as Maine, and had
*
a contributor to one of our daily papers. This Coming K
," Evelyn Douglas Jerrold wrote some started on a tour westward through New York, Penn-
writer points out that great popular successes are possi- brilliant satires upon the Prince of Wales. They were sylvania and Ohio. He reported that the enormous
ble without notoriety for the book or fame for the au- sold in book-stores and on the streets of London, but business of the Sterling Company gave no signs of
thor, instancing a work—probably the most successful the pecuniary returns were small. The reason was that diminition, but rather of the reverse.
recently put upon the market, whose title and the name the books were too clever—the satire and ridicule were
of whose author are very seldom mentioned. The suc- too deeply veiled to be enjoyed by any but readers of
MALCOLM LOVE, the genial chief of the Waterloo
cess of this work is due to the fact that the real and more than average intelligence. Less pains and more Organ Co., Waterloo, N. Y., was in town last week. He
actual history of a mighty nation is told in a manner vulgarity would have yielded a yellower harvest.
reported that the organ trade of his firm was in every
that thrills and fascinates the reader. The same tale
An established name is a great producer of money. way satisfactory, also that the first batch of new " Mal-
might have been told in a dull, matter-of-fact style, in Tennyson, great as he is, has on one or two occasions colm Love " pianos were rapidly approaching comple-
which case it probably would not have acquired a hun- written woful rubbish in magazines, receiving for it as tion. One of them is already perfected, and intone and
dreth part of its present circulation. Its subject is one much per line as ii the pen from which the clumsy num- appearance more than fulfils Mr. Love's anticipations.
of intense interest to every thoughtful mind, but the bers flowed had been dipped in the fountains of Helicon. A quantity will be ready for shipment very shortly.
fairy-like garb in which it is draped is the obscure au-
Lord Beaeonsfield made more money by " Lothair " These "Malcolm Love" pianos are expected to justify
thor's source of profit.
and " Endymion" than by all his otHfcr works—not to the full the epithet of " first-class,"
PUBLISHED + TWICE • EACH • MONTH
BILL & BILL,
FARRAND & VOTEY,
Builders of High Grade
PIPE^REED
Organs
Organs
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
178
EREE
I OR tija causal that lacks assistance,
For the
tl?e future iq Uje diStance,'.''' / V
tije good tljat we CM do."
private citizens in New York city, Brooklyn, and Jersey.
City whose annual incomes vary bet ween $5,000 and $10,-
000. Is it not perfectly clear that among this class alone a
larger sum than has yet been subscribed from all sources
might have been collected ?
Compare our supineness with the praiseworthy activity
and earnestness of Chicago, where capitalists are vying
with capitalists, and workmen with workmen, to secure
the great attraction of 1892; where every tenth citizen
hurries around from early morn to dewy eve with his
collecting-book; where in every store, is displayed a
placard bearing the words, " Subscriptions for the
World's Fair Fund received here;" and where the fund
already raised more than triples that secured in the
commercial capital of the Uuiled States.
If we do not want the Fair in New York, let us say so,
and put an end to this nonsense. Rut if we are con-
vinped that New York is the p'ace par excellence, as it
undoubtedly is, let us show that we have the courage of
our convictions, and that the public spirit and the
patriotic devotion to which the present glory and great-
ness of our country are due have not entirely ceased to
find an abiding place within the hearts and souls of the
citizens of the Empire City.
OUR NEW SIGN.
T H E MUSIC T R A D E R E V I E W IN
EUROPE.
appears in a new style of dress. The old design, which
has done good service for many years, is not laid aside
THE last of the series of letters from our special cor-
without that feeling of regret which should always be respondent in Paris, descriptive of the musical exhibits
inspired by the departure of a friend of long standing. at the World's Fair recently closed in that city, appears
Still it is necessary to " keep up with the age;" and a in another part of this issue.
good paper, like a good man, loses nothing by being
These letters, as our readers are aware, have treated in
fashionably and gracefully attired. It is right that its a fairly exhaustive manner of the instruments exposed to
exterior should be some sort of an indication of the view in the great exposition by representative manufac-
quality of its contents.
turers of North and South America and the various coun-
The clearness, completeness, and accuracy with which tries of Europe. Our correspondent has pointed out,
our artist has accomplished his task have elicited the with impartiality, the merits and demerits of the many
unqualified admiration of the critic. The new garb is instruments exhibited. She has also pointed out that
an illustration of one great point in our policy—a point THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW was the only publication
consisting of a rigid adherence 10 the spirit of the say- representing the music industries of America whose pro-
ing: "Think twice before you act once; and, having prietors had the enterprise to dispatch a correspondent
to the French Exposition. This, perhaps, is not to be
made up your mind to do a thing, do it well."
OUR JOB PRINTING O F F I C E .
WE have pleasure in announcing to our friends of the
music trades and all others whom it may concern that
we have added to our newspaper plant a first-class Job
Printing Office, thoroughly equipped with all the para-
phernalia neccessary to the production of every descrip-
tion of job printing in the most artistic styles, and at
price* as moderate as those of any other first-class print-
ing office in this city.
The elegant typography of THE MUSIC TRADE RE-
VEW has always called forth expressions of admiration.
The question has now occurred to us: Tf we can produce
such excellent and telling work for our own purposes, why
not give our friends and customers some of the benefits
of our magnificent plant and our skilled compositors?
Consequently we have made arrangements for the pro-
duction of all kinds of catalogues, circulars, bill-heads,
statements, cards, bills of lading, leases, certificates of
stock, pamphlets, etc., etc.; and are able to assure our
friends of the music trade and the community at large
that any work of this kind entrusted to us will receive
conscientious attention and be thoroughly and expedi-
tiously executed. All orders should be addressed to
Bill & Bill, No. 3 East Fourteenth street, New York
city.
THE present issue of T H E MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
wondered at, considering that
A CALL TO DUTY-
THE list of subscriptions to the Guarantee Fund of
$5,000,000 is of more respectable dimensions than it
was at the time of our last issue, both generally and as
concerns the music trade. Nevertheless, the fund does
not grow with anything like desirable rapidity. There is
still a sort of half-heartedness in this matter about those
whose patriotic and municipal pride and whose com-
mercial interests have been so powerfully and persist-
ently appealed to by the press of New York city. A
cheerful spontaneity has certainly not been, up to the
present date, one of the characteristics of the people of
New York in the matter of this fund. There has been,
on the part of our wealthiest citizens, an all but absolute
lack of enthusiasm. Even the amounts set against the
names of the less wealthy subscribers are painfully dis-
appointing in their minuteness.
AT this writing, the subscriptions of the New York
music trade towards the World's Fair Guarantee Fund
of $5,000,000 approximate $S5,ooo.
THE Chicago music trade have so far pledged them
selves to the extent of nearly $30,000 toward the
Chicago fund for the World's Fair.
INCORPORATION OF LYON & H E A L Y .
THE firm of Lyon & Healy, of Chicago, 111., has been
incorporated. P. J. Healy, R. S. Gregory, and C. H.
Post are the incorporators. The capital stock amounts
to half a million dollars.
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW is the only genuine organ that is exclusively
devoted to the interests of American manufacturers of
musiqal instruments. More noteworthy is the fact that
this paper has profoundly impressed the foreigner.
The excellence of its typography, the splendor of its
illustrated advertisements, the number and variety of
its trade topics, the forcible and truthful style of its
literary department—all these have stricken hundreds
of European manufacturers and dealers with admiration,
As announced by us in our last issue, the Steinway
agency in Chicago, 111., will after Jan. 1st 1800be in the
hands of a firm comprising Mr. Geo.W. Lyon, and Mr. E
A. Potter, of the French & Potter Co. Chicago, and in
which the house of Steinway & Sons may be interested
as stockholders. Arrangements for the establishment
of an extensive wholesale and retail piano and general
jobbing trade in the Western metropolis are in progress.
and have caused THE MUSIC TRADK REVIEW to be scat-
tered abroad throughout all Europe. Further, this pub-
lication has winged its way to the South American
Republics, and'even to African and Asiatic shores. All
this has come about by reason of the interest excited
by THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW in Paris.
For this enterprise we do not desire to take any credit.
It was simply our duty, as the recognized exponents of
the American music trades, to present to the old world
a reflex of the prosperous condition of those trades,
Why is this ? Do not the promoters of the enterprise
and of the skill, ingenuity, originality, and wonderful
possess the confidence of the people of New York ? Or
resources of our manufacturers. Such presentation
have we sunk so deeply in the mire of selfishness as to
must necessarily act as a healthy stimulus to our foreign
allow the spirit of greed to overshadow^ all higher and
friends and rivals, whose efforts to excel in their respec-
nobler considerations ?
tive arts will in return incite our own countrymen to
Let any one of us draw up a list of the rich men ot
yet mightier efforts.
New York, each of whom can afford to subscribe $100,-
000 better than the average clerk or citizen can afford
one dollar. It will be found upon very slight investi-
AFTER an illness extending over many months, E.
gation that these Croesuses alone could, without the Louie, wife of J. D. Bill, Senior editor of THE MUSIC
slightest inconvenience to either of them, hand over the TRADE REVIEW, died on Thursda^ the 14th inst. at
entire $5,000,000 in a single day. Or, supposing that a the family home in Lyme, Conn. The funeral occurred
complete canvass were made of all business firms and on the following Saturday.
CHICAGO, November 17, 18S9.
Messrs. BILL & BILL:
GENTLEMEN: We have absolutely no room for com-
plaint, and in fact barely enough for our coats and hats,
owing to the rushing state of affairs in our factory; and
notwithstanding the fact that we worked valiantly to
accumulate some stock for fall trade, we find ourselves
absolutely stripped of our best selling styles, and back
orders enough to make us wish we had some kind of a
double duplex duplicating machine for the rapid yet
perfect production of a few of our different styles.
The writer just returned from his annual trip among
our western agents, and found trade in a very promising
condition indeed, and looks for a season of great pros-
perity.
Of course the Bush & Gerts piano needed no intro-
duction; for springing, as it has, from the hands and
genius of the " Wooly West," it has taken a firm hold
on the dealers throughout the territory visited by the
writer. We are,
Yours respectfully,
W. H, BUSH & Co,

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