Large Collection of W. C. Handy Blues Sheet Music including multiple editions of “St. Louis Blues,” together with “Beale Street Blues,” “Yellow Dog Blues,” “Harlem Blues,” “Loveless Love,” and Others, Most Printed by Pace & Handy or Handy Brothers

New York: Pace & Handy; Handy Brothers Music Co.; W. C. Handy; Richmond-Robbins; Robbins Music Corp.; and others, 1958. Approximately 29 pieces of sheet music together with a 32-page Blues folio. Folio format. Generally very good overall with typical handling wear, toning, and occasional edge wear.. A substantial accumulation of blues sheets centered on the work of W. C. Handy (1873–1958), the composer widely known as the “Father of the Blues.” Spanning more than four decades of publication and assembled over many decades by a Chicago-area collector, the group documents both the popularity of Handy’s compositions and the central role his publishing enterprises played in bringing blues music into the American popular music mainstream. Pace & Handy, the pioneering Black-owned music publishing firm founded in 1912 by Handy and businessman Harry H. Pace, published many of the early issues. The company was among the first African American–owned music publishers to achieve national commercial success, issuing blues compositions at a time when Black musicians rarely controlled the publication or profits of their work. Pace & Handy helped establish the blues as a recognized commercial genre and laid the groundwork for later Black-owned enterprises in music and recording.

The group includes several of Handy’s most famous compositions, among them “Beale Street Blues,” “Yellow Dog Blues,” and “The Memphis Blues.” At the center of the collection are numerous editions and arrangements of “St. Louis Blues,” Handy’s most celebrated composition and one of the most widely recorded songs in American music history. First published in 1914, it appeared over the following decades in numerous new arrangements and promotional editions reflecting performances by major bandleaders and orchestras such as Paul Whiteman, Earl Hines, Tex Beneke, and Erskine Hawkins, as well as theatrical and film adaptations including the revue Blackbirds of 1928 and the later 1958 motion picture St. Louis Blues.

Overall a quite extensive accumulation. Full list as follows:

“Aunt Hagar’s Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Richmond-Robbins Inc., 1922. 6 pp. Very good.

“Basement Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1924. 6 pp. Excellent.

“Beale Street Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Pace & Handy, 1918. 6 pp. Very good minus.

Blues Folio. W.C. Handy. New York City: Robbins Music Corporation, [1942]. 32 pp. Very good plus.

“Harlem Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1922. 10 pp. Near Fine.

“Long Gone.” Chris Smith and W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1910. 6 pp. Excellent to Near Fine.

“Loveless Love.” [Successfully Sung by Seger Ellis.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1921. 8 pp. Very good.

“Loveless Love.” [Feat. by Charlie Spivak and His Orchestra.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1921. 6 pp. Very good minus.

“Loveless Love. A Blues Ballad.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Pace & Handy, 1921. 6 pp. Excellent.

“Ole Miss.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1915. 6 pp. Near Fine.

“Saint Louis Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 6 pp. Near Fine.

“Saint Louis Blues. Chicago World’s Fair Edition.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., [1930]. 12 pp. Very good minus.

“Saint Louis Blues.” [Feat. Katharine Handy Lewis.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 6 pp. Fine.

“Saint Louis Blues.” [Feat. by Paul Whiteman.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 6 pp. Very good plus.

“Saint Louis Blues.” [Introduced With Great Success by Guy Lombardo.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 6 pp. Very good minus.

“St. Louis Blues.” [Arranged As Solos for Saxophone.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Alfred & Company Music Publishers, 1914. 8 pp. Excellent.

“St. Louis Blues.” [As Played by Earl Hines and his Orchestra.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 8 pp. Excellent.

“St. Louis Blues.” [From Blackbirds of 1928 (1928).] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., [1928]. 6 pp. Very good minus.

“St. Louis Blues.” [From St. Louis Blues (1958).]. W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., [1958]. 6 pp. Excellent.

“St. Louis Blues.” [Played by Tex Beneke.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 6 pp. Very good plus.

“Sundown Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: W.C. Handy, 1923. 6 pp. Very good plus.

“The Ghost of the St. Louis Blues.” Billy Curtis and J. Russel Robinson. New York City: W.C. Handy, 1919. 6 pp. Excellent.

“The Hooking Cow Blues.” Douglas Williams and W.C. Handy. New York City: Pace & Handy, 1917. 4 pp. Very good plus.

“The Memphis Blues (Or Mr. Crump.).” [As Played by Jack Teagarden.] J. Russel Robinson and W.C. Handy. New York City: W.C. Handy, [1940]. 6 pp. Very good.

“The Saint Louis Blues.” [Feat. by Erskine Hawkins.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 4 pp. Very good.

“The Saint Louis Blues.” [Revised Edition.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1942. 6 pp. Very good.

“The Yellow Dog Blues.” W.C. Handy. New York City: Pace & Handy, 1919. 4 pp. Very good plus.

“Wall Street Blues.” Margaret Gregory and W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1929. 8 pp. Very good plus.

“Yellow Dog Blues.” [As Featured by Gilda Gray.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1928. 6 pp. Very good plus.

“Yellow Dog Blues.” [Feat. by Eddie Condon and His Orchestra.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Handy Brothers Music Co. Inc., 1914. 6 pp. Very good.

“Yellow Dog Blues.” [Made Famous by the Joseph C. Smith Orchestra.] W.C. Handy. New York City: Pace & Handy, 1919. 6 pp. Very good plus.