19th Century Guitar Songs

Over a period of thirty five years, the author has accumulated a vast notebook of information about guitar songs published during the years 1770-1900, principally as a means of finding repertoire for performance.

The great majority of the information comes from the British Library's collections of printed music, though other sources have also been consulted somewhat randomly. Now approaching retirement, he felt sad to consign so much information to the dustbin, so he has rounded out a survey of all the printed guitar songs in the British Library and added copious details about composers, arrangers and music, drawing on information from writers of the period, later 20th century commentators and also some more recent 21st century research.

It is therefore an idiosyncratic survey, since like Topsy, it just growed, and was never intended as a piece of devoted academic research. It is hoped that the book will stimulate further research into an area of guitar music which was hugely popular at the time and whose editions easily outnumber similar books of guitar solos.