Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 109
Scan 109
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
17 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 87. See the scan on archive.org.
1Part II. Music Engraving and Printing
3A. Methods
51. Early Engraving and Printing
7The notes of the first music printed in the United States were cut on wood as we have seen,¹ and the printing was done directly from the wood on the paper.
9Music engraving in Europe dates as far back as 1700 and the music plates of that period were made of copper. So the plates engraved by Paul Revere for Josiah Flagg's book, Collections of Best Psalm Tunes, in 1764 were made of copper. He also engraved the music and words of The New-England Psalm-Singer: or, American Chorister published in 1770. He taught himself to engrave on copper. Another early engraver was Thomas Johnston who did this from 1746 until his death in 1767. He "engraved music on copper and printed the tunes then in most frequent use in the form and size of the psalm book to be bound up with it. In 1755, he engraved psalm tunes with rules to sing them for the Brattle Street Church revision of the Psalms of David… These were sold separately… and may be found with any Psalm Book of that period."² He was a versatile person as he was also a japanner, heraldic painter, decorator of clocks and furniture, and a pioneer organ builder.
11When music types of engraving tools were not available the printing was sometimes done by the use of special ink and paper and a process similar to the modern hectograph or mimeograph.
13The proofs from the copper plates, the pewter plates used later, and from the modern block tin, a soft composition of lead, tin and some zinc backed with iron, were pulled with either green or black ink. The latter requires more time and is more expensive as the engraving must be filled in with softened beeswax which holds the ink for printing. The proofs were printed on a copper plate hand press. This method of printing directly on the sheets
15¹ See p. 3.
16² Williams, Cornelia B. compiler. Ancestry of Lawrence Williams, Part II, pp. 178-9.
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