Blind Tom Brochure, New York, circa 1867, Plus

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The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of...

By Cowan's Auctions

Dec 3, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-12-03 10:00:00 2020-12-03 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Road West: The Steve Turner Collection of African Americana, Part II https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/the-road-west-the-steve-turner-collection-of-african-americana-part-ii-5998
Cowan’s Auctions is pleased to be offering Part II of the Steve Turner Collection of African Americana. Comprised of over 240 lots, this remarkable collection tells the history of African Americans, especially their role in settling the western frontier in the 19th and early 20th century. Cowan's Auctions dawnie@cowans.com

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• Lot Description
  Songs, Sketch of the Life, of Blind Tom The Marvelous Musical Prodigy, The Negro Boy Pianist. New York: French & Wheat, n.d., ca 1867-1870. 
  
  8vo (145 x 233 mm). Engraved portrait of Tom on front wrapper. (Evenly toned). Original printed wrappers (very minor wear to bottom edge.)
  
  The combination program and brochure includes a biography of Tom, testimonials, opinions from the international press, and a selection of lyrics. The rear wrapper prints his repertoire played at his concerts including a large selection of works by contemporary and classical composers, popular music, "Imitations" such as "[Immitation of a] Dutch Woman and Hand Organ,"  and "Descriptive Music" which included his original compositions "The Rain Storm," reportedly written when he was just 5 years old, and "The Battle of Manassas."
  
  [With:] HUTTON, Laurence. Curiosities of the American Stage. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1891. 8vo. Profusely illustrated. (Light marginal toning.) Original red cloth gilt (wear to extremities, spine darkened). FIRST EDITION of Hutton's history of theater and entertainment. Lists "Blind Tom" with an engraved portrait on p. 235. Includes a chapter titled "The American Stage Negro" chronicling black roles beginning with Othello and an extensive history of black face and minstrelsy. It includes a portrait of African American actor Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) as Othello, though the rest of the actors illustrated are white men who perform in black face. 
  
  The story of Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins (1849-1908) is one of beauty and tragedy intertwined. He is described by many today as an autistic savant and was presumed to be mentally deficient in his lifetime, described by many contemporaries as nothing more than a human parrot. Such discussions often overshadow his artistic achievement. He demonstrated a preternatural skill in playing the piano, was able to memorize long passages both music and speech, and possessed an uncanny ability to recreate almost any sound he heard. Belying his supposed “idiocy,” he wrote and published music and continuously toured throughout the United States, including the western frontier, as well as internationally most of his life.
  
  Born into slavery in Georgia, he was purchased as a young child with his parents by James Neil Bethune (1803-1895). Blind at birth, Tom’s musical talent was recognized early and Bethune leased Tom to a Barnum-style spectacle producer at the tender age of 8. He performed as often as four times a day earning his enslaver over $100,000 a year. In 1860, he visited Congress and played for President James Buchanan, possibly the first featured performance by an African American at the White House. He almost certainly earned more than any other pianist of the day, though it is the tragic reality that his earnings went to neither him nor his family.
  
  Despite the outcome of the Civil War, Tom by any practical measure never seems to have gained his own freedom. Declared non compos mentis, General Bethune applied for Tom’s guardianship and continued to exploit his labor. In 1875, Bethune transferred management of Tom to his son John. After John’s death, Tom was at the center of a fierce custody battle. In the proceedings, he is often written about as though he was property, rather than a person. Even in 1895, when Bethune was on his deathbed, the New York Times headline read, “The Owner of ‘Blind Tom’ Ill.”
  
  Musically, he is best remembered for composing The Battle of Manassas (1861 or 1862) which poignantly represents the complicated life of Blind Tom. The piece memorializes the First Battle of Bull Run (known by Confederates as the First Battle of Manassas), the first major battle of the Civil War and a decisive victory for the South. It was met with critical acclaim by white audiences and newspapers, and possibly used to raise money for the Confederate cause. Black voices are silent, with African American newspapers having distanced themselves from Tom, believing that white slaveowners used Tom to perpetuate stereotypes and line their own pockets. The piece itself, described as a tone poem, demonstrates Tom’s remarkable capability of capturing the atmosphere of a scene, recreating the sounds of the battlefield. Notably, it is one of the first examples of tone clusters, used to represent cannon fire. The piece was played continuously at nearly every concert until his death in 1908.
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