Work, Henry Clay. (1832 - 1884). Song of a Thousand Years. Chicago: Root & Cady. [1863]. Upright folio. Illustrated front wrapper with large red, white and blue engraved flag, 2 pp. music, rear wrapper with publisher's advertisement for Root's "Musical Curriclum" [sic]. Early pencil inscription upper rights, small tears, stains and foxing around the edges, spine separated along lower third. A good copy of this scarce abolitionist minstrel tune.
Henry Clay Work was born in Middletown, Connecticut on October 1, 1832 the son of an abolitionist. Like his father, Work too was also an active abolitionist and Union supporter. His home became a stop on the underground railway, and was instrumental in the escape of several thousand slaves seeking freedom. Clay, a self-taught musician, was trained as a printer and began a career setting musical type. In 1853, working as a printer in Chicago, his first song was published, “We Are Coming, Sister Mary.” The song would become a staple in the Christy Minstrels over the next 10 years. During the Civil War, Work composed several popular songs including “Marching Through Georgia” (later adopted as Princeton University’s football fight song) and the present song which "has about it a rise and swell, and a sublimity both in expression and melody, that surpasses anything else that he has written." (Louis Albert Banks, "Immortal Songs of Camp and Field, " p. 139)
Work, Henry Clay. (1832 - 1884). Song of a Thousand Years. Chicago: Root & Cady. [1863]. Upright folio. Illustrated front wrapper with large red, white and blue engraved flag, 2 pp. music, rear wrapper with publisher's advertisement for Root's "Musical Curriclum" [sic]. Early pencil inscription upper rights, small tears, stains and foxing around the edges, spine separated along lower third. A good copy of this scarce abolitionist minstrel tune.
Henry Clay Work was born in Middletown, Connecticut on October 1, 1832 the son of an abolitionist. Like his father, Work too was also an active abolitionist and Union supporter. His home became a stop on the underground railway, and was instrumental in the escape of several thousand slaves seeking freedom. Clay, a self-taught musician, was trained as a printer and began a career setting musical type. In 1853, working as a printer in Chicago, his first song was published, “We Are Coming, Sister Mary.” The song would become a staple in the Christy Minstrels over the next 10 years. During the Civil War, Work composed several popular songs including “Marching Through Georgia” (later adopted as Princeton University’s football fight song) and the present song which "has about it a rise and swell, and a sublimity both in expression and melody, that surpasses anything else that he has written." (Louis Albert Banks, "Immortal Songs of Camp and Field, " p. 139)