Sale 2471 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 29, 2018

WITH A GROUP PHOTO & SIGNED BY ALL MEMBERS 288 c   (MUSIC.) [Marsh, J.B.T.] The Story of the Jubilee Singers with their Songs. Frontispiece albumen photograph of the singers. [9], 232 pages, of which 106 are printed music from the group’s repertoire. 8vo, publisher’s gilt pictorial morocco, with Fisk University’s main building illustrated on the front board, backstrip slightly faded, minor wear; a few light stains to pages 114 to 118; all edges gilt; 13 signatures of the singers on a blank leaf facing page 1. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1875 [3,000/4,000] second edition , signed by the entire troupe on a special inserted page preceding the first page of text . The signatures are headed with the notation “The Jubilee Singers (Matt 25.40),” a biblical reference:“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”The Jubilee Singers were the brainchild of GeorgeWhite, Fisk’s treasurer and music director, a white northern missionary.The group’s repertoire was drawn from actual work songs, field calls and gospel melodies, sung in antiphonal style, back and forth between the two quartets, and had a dramatic impact on audiences accustomed to hearing white minstrels in burnt cork.A small number of these books were signed and distrib- uted during their overseas tour from 1875 to 1878.