1877 George C. Dobson "New System for Banjo"

[Heather Masterton]

1877 George Dobson "New System for Banjo" .... http://ning.it/cmZX2v
This is what led me to this forum - couple of 1870-ish books I am selling for a friend, on eBay: this one is already up.. (Frank Converse Analytical Banjo method next)

So clue me in on the Dobson Boys, won't you? I thought I had some reasonably good research till I found this site...
I love hearing the tunes, thank you for all the great videos..
Best,
Heather

This is my eBay location, Barn Swallow Antiques: http://stores.ebay.com/Barn-Swallow-Antiques

[Trapdoor2]

Well...George was the teacher but the rest of the 'boys' were either professional banjoists or banjo builders or both. I believe H.C. Dobson held several patents related to banjos (and IIRC, one of the other brothers did too). George's 1877 book is a pretty good one, I hope a collector finds your auction. You might consider altering the listings so that they also show up in the "sheet music and song books" section of ebay. Not to rain on your parade, but the 1877 is available as a reprint here: http://www.captainfiddle.com/dobsonsbanjo.html A collector will want the original, of course.

The Converse Analytical is arguably the best book of the period. Best tunes, best teaching materials, etc. It has given us probably the deepest insight into the playing styles of the period. Mr. Converse lived and played (and published) from the very beginnings of pre-Civil War banjodom right thru the golden age of "high art" banjo playing. It is one of those books that bears deep, repeated reading...and something new pops out every time.

Again, a collector will want the original...I hope one tugs at your line! Downloadable scans of my copy are available online at Tim Twiss's great "Banjoclubhouse" site: http://www.milfordmusic.com/Banjo%20Audio.htm If you click on the book covers, you will be able to listen (and watch videos) to many of the tunes from these books...played by real people.

[Heather Masterton]

Thank you for your input! I saw your Converse copy on Mr. Twiss' site, and listened with delight to the recordings. Extremely cool - it got me to sign up for the forum.
My copy is unfortunately blemished, or I would offer scans to the group.
That said, if anybody is missing a page or wants a color scan, I'm happy to oblige. I still have it in my hands til next weekend - and perhaps beyond...!
:-)

[Trapdoor2]

With music this old, blemishes are par for the course. I'm both a collector and player...that the music & text is readable is far more important to me. The binding on my copy is completely gone...which was both a disappointment and a boon. I would have loved to have a "perfect" copy but OTOH, since the binding was toast, it was much easier to get clean scans of the individual pages!