The Domestic Music Market and Musical Circulation in Two Late-Georgian Binders' Volumes from the North-East of England

ABSTRACT:This article introduces two late-Georgian binders' volumes of printed vocal and keyboard sheet music held at Newcastle upon Tyne's Literary and Philosophical Society. Both volumes display connections with the north-east of England, and, as we argue, were most likely compiled in the region in the last decades of the eighteenth century and the opening decades of the nineteenth. These volumes have not received scholarly attention, yet a close examination enables us to expand the scope of previous studies on musical circulation and the music trade, and to contribute new insights to the emerging national picture. They shed light on patterns of the acquisition, circulation, and consumption of music alongside mapping the nexus of print centres—in this case, London, Edinburgh, and Newcastle—on which consumers of domestic sheet music in the northeast of England might have drawn to access the latest musical materials. We begin by examining the physical, bibliographical, and musical features of the volumes to explore questions of dating, ownership, and their connections with the north-east of England, and go on to consider the routes through which the music they contain might have been obtained by music consumers in the region. Finally, we explore the contents of these volumes, setting them against the national picture of domestic music consumption, and consider their contents from the perspective of gendered modes of consumption, local politics and identity, and national polite music culture. In so doing, we elucidate how two domestic musicians in the north-east of England engaged with local and national musical culture in the composition of their personal music books and the fashioning of their social and musical identities.

and commercial trade networks that facilitated access to musical materials for a range of consumers. 5he act of assembling personal music books enabled compilers to display their taste, knowledge, and accomplishment.Music books could also attest to the compilers' class, gender, and familial, social, geographical, and musical connections through the repertory, musicians, music sellers, places, and performance contexts represented in the pages of the book.Such books were, for instance, indicative of gendered patterns of consumption.The printed sheet music that found its way into binders' volumes compiled at the turn of the nineteenth century was, as Brooks notes, principally consumed by and marketed to women. 6Surviving volumes containing ownership markings are, moreover, predominantly linked to female compilers.Candace Bailey's work on binders' volumes made by women in the Antebellum South has illustrated the ways in which they functioned both as objects of 'display within the parlor' and as outlets for individual expression and self-fashioning. 7They also illustrate popular repertories, practices, and networks of domestic musicians from a range of social backgrounds; the music books of Jane Austen and her extended family shed light on music-making and circulation amongst a more socially diverse community of musicians than those associated with the English country house, including merchants, university-educated professionals, schoolmistresses, and the minor gentry. 8Music books compiled for domestic use, as Brooks points out, likewise 'reflect larger currents of geography and musical availability'. 9The presence of localized themes, musicians, and music sellers within volumes can indicate the places in which such books were compiled, and regionally produced volumes illuminate relationships between local and national musical culture, the national and regional nexus of the music trade, and modes of musical acquisition and circulation for consumers outside London.
Such insights are significant since studies of the Georgian music print trade have tended to be dominated by London.This is unsurprising given London's position as the largest centre for music publishing in Britain during the period.The chapters in Michael Kassler's The Music Trade in Georgian England, despite its title, all focus on London-based activity, while David Rowland has argued that although London music publishers sought to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the 'unevenly dispersed British markets', Europe, and the colonies, 'their efforts were chiefly focussed on the music-buying public in the capital' since, he claims, it provided the largest market. 10Yet, the predominance of London in scholarship obscures the picture of a vibrant national market for domestic musical materials and the modes of circulation that supported it.A handful of studies have begun to contribute to a developing national picture of musical circulation and the British music trade during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.Drawing primarily on newspaper advertisements, scholars have, for instance, mapped the music trade in individual regional urban centres, such as Matthew Spring's work on Georgian Bath, or have offered detailed case studies of individual regional music shops, such as Roz Southey's study of John Hawthorn's shop in Newcastle upon Tyne. 11Simon D. I. Fleming and Martin Perkins's recent essay collection adds to this national perspective by exploring networks of musical production, circulation, and consumption in and beyond London through close examinations of subscriber lists in music publications. 12Regionally produced binders' volumes likewise have the potential to provide important insights into the national market for music, musical circulation, and cultures of domestic musicmaking beyond the capital, though they have not been studied systematically from this perspective.
In this article we introduce two late-Georgian binders' volumes of printed vocal and keyboard sheet music held at Newcastle upon Tyne's Literary and Philosophical Society. 13Both volumes display connections with the north-east of England, and, as we will argue, were most likely compiled in the region in the last decades of the eighteenth century and the opening decades of the nineteenth.These volumes have not received scholarly attention; a close examination enables us to expand the scope of previous studies on musical circulation and the music trade, and to contribute new insights to the emerging national picture.They shed light on patterns of musical acquisition, circulation, and consumption alongside mapping the nexus of print centres-in this case, London, Edinburgh, and Newcastle-on which consumers of domestic sheet music in the north-east of England might have drawn to access the latest musical materials.We begin by examining the physical, bibliographical, and musical features of the volumes to explore questions of dating, ownership, and their connections with the north-east of England, then go on to consider the routes through which the music they contain might have been obtained by music consumers in the region.To do so, we set these volumes in the context of the music trade in eighteenth-century Newcastle, the largest commercial centre in the region, and trace regional performances of the music they contain that may have both advertised the music to consumers and facilitated its acquisition.Finally, we explore the contents of these volumes, setting them against the national picture of domestic music consumption, and consider their contents from the perspective of gendered modes of consumption, local politics and identity, and national polite music culture.In so doing, we elucidate how two domestic musicians in the north-east of England engaged with local and national musical culture in the composition of their personal music books and the fashioning of their social and musical identities.NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY M2130 AND BOLBEC M3692: NORTH-EAST CONNECTIONS bibliographical details).M2130 is an upright folio (33.5 × 23.8 cm), which remains in its original half-calf binding with marbled paper over board.This was a typical style for such binders' volumes at the turn of the nineteenth century.The music of Elizabeth Sykes of Sledmere, Yorkshire, contained in the library of her marital home, Tatton Park, Cheshire, was, for instance, similarly bound 'in gold-tooled green half-calf, with covers in expensive green, red, and gold marbled paper over board'; 'Red morocco labels on the front covers', moreover, 'are gold-tooled "Miss E. Sykes" or "Miss Sykes"'. 15The Newcastle bookseller and stationer James Fleming, who in 1746 bound music for the Bowes family of Gibside, Country Durham, likewise used 'Marble papr'. 16Unlike Miss Sykes's bound music, however, there are no clues to the original compiler; there are no ownership markings on the binding or within the pages of the collection nor any other manuscript inscriptions (text, musical directions, additional music) that might signal ownership or use. 17The Society's acquisition records likewise hold no clues to its provenance; when it was registered in the Music Succession Book on 6 April 1921 no donor was named.
Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society Bolbec M3692 (hereafter M3692), acquired by the Society in 1950, is also an upright folio (31.5 × 25 cm) of bound sheet music, containing forty-four items of printed keyboard and vocal music (see Appendix II for contents and bibliographical details). 18It was rebound in the twentieth century; the online catalogue describes it as having been 'bound for "Miss Redhead", whose name appeared on the original binding'. 19The front page of the first item in this collection, James Hook's Six Sonatas … Op.LIV, is also signed 'Miss Redheads'.That the items were rebound in the same order as the original binding is indicated by manuscript inscriptions of keyboard arrangements of four traditional Scottish tunes across the page opening created by the blank back page of item 36 and the blank front page of item 37.The volume contains other manuscript inscriptions indicative of use: pencil and ink fingering and articulation markings; musical and textual corrections of printing errors; and, on the blank pages of items 26 and 38, staves, music, and text have been added. 20The use of blank pages within a bound volume-especially where music has been written across the page opening created by two separate items-suggests that this music was in use for some time, not only potentially as loose sheets but also after binding.
As was common for the period, none of the music bound in either volume is dated.Across both volumes, eight items were registered at Stationers' Hall, giving definitive publication dates for initial print runs.It is estimated, however, that only somewhere between one tenth and one half of all printed music was entered at Stationers' Hall during the period, and such entries alone are insufficient to date the volumes. 21Drawing 15 Brooks, 'Musical Monuments', 524. 16Durham County Record Office, D/St/E15/7/7 (97): 7 Oct. 1746. 17Two items are signed by the composers authorizing their publications: J. W. Holder's Mary!Or the Answer to Donald and Charles Dibdin's The Lamplighter. 18No donor is named in the Music Succession Book No. 2, and it is misdescribed as music by 'Saint-Saens, C'.The Society's online catalogue and the typed contents list added to the inside cover of M3692 give the contents as 45 items.together dates from the Stationers' Hall entries with date ranges at which music sellers were operating at the addresses given on their title pages, we have been able to identify the decades in which much of the music contained in each volume was first published (see Appendices).22 M2130 is the earlier volume; of eighteen publications that we can place in a decade, ten were first printed in the 1780s and eight in the 1790s.The music in M3692 was published over a longer period, and the bulk of the music is generally later; of twenty-two items that can be placed in a decade, one was published in the 1770s, two in the 1780s, eleven in the 1790s, and eight in the 1800s.This latter volume is also more varied in terms of place of publication and the music sellers represented; of the items bearing publication details, twenty-six were printed in London, eight in Edinburgh, and three in Newcastle.This compares with M2130, in which twenty-four of the twenty-six items include publication details, and, of these, one was almost certainly published in Newcastle and the other twenty-three were published in London.
While there are no clues to the compiler of M2130, the ownership inscription on the front page of the opening item of M3692, 'Miss Redheads', which was, according to the catalogue entry, also on the original binding, provides a tantalizing glimpse of the compiler.As there is no indication of her age, first name, or place of residence, Miss Redhead cannot be precisely identified, but a search of records for 'Redhead' provides some possibilities.Redhead was a moderately common surname in the north-east of England at the turn of the nineteenth century and was present in all strata of society; local registers show Redheads who were colliers, mariners, and miners, and others who were professional men or landowners.John Redhead of Durham, for instance, was a grocer; another John Redhead, who was clearly a landowner, lived in Rothbury, halfway to the Scottish border.A number of these Redheads may have had daughters interested in music and the financial means and social aspiration to provide them with a musical education.Only one of these families, however, is known to have had musical interests, and this was through the Newcastle subscription concerts.The subscription concerts had ceased almost entirely during the 1790s owing to the financial pressures of the French Revolutionary Wars and were only re-established around the turn of the century, when a group of gentlemen took up their organization.William Redhead, described as a cornmerchant, was one such gentlemen. 23He was the eldest (born 1779) of a family of eight from Long Benton, Newcastle, and was a broker; 24 advertisements refer to his offices and corn lofts in Broad Chare, just off the Quayside. 25Over the first two decades of the new century, William and his wife had at least nine children: six sons and three daughters. 26The eldest daughter, Margaret (b.1804), is likely to have been too young to be the Miss Redhead of the collection, as most of the music dates from the 1790s and the first decade of the nineteenth century, while her two younger sisters were not born until between 1818 and 1820.If the Miss Redhead who compiled M3692 was related to William's family, she was more likely to have been one of his two sisters: Jane (b.1782) and Mary (b.1784).At the turn of the century when much of the music in M3692 was being published, these sisters would have been in their mid-to late teens, the age at which young women would be learning and perfecting musical skills, acquiring music, and visiting concerts and the theatre, where they would hear the sort of music that ended up in the collection.
Although their acquisition by Newcastle's Literary and Philosophical Society does not confirm these volumes were of north-east origin, both contain links to the region that suggest the music was collected and compiled there.The three Newcastle imprints in M3692 were published by Thomas Wright's younger brother, William, at his shop on the High Bridge, Newcastle, from which he operated between 1795 and 1803; such works by a small regional music seller were most likely produced for the local market, and it is unlikely they had a wide distribution.There are also north-east connections amongst several of the items in M3692 published in London.The title of How Long Wilt Thou Forget Me Lord describes it 'As Sung at Durham Cathedral', and Now to Pant on Thetis' Breast is advertised as having been sung by 'Mr Meredith'; this was Edward Meredith, a singer who had for a short period been the toast of London before moving to become a singing-man at Durham Cathedral in the 1780s.Meredith also enjoyed unmatched popularity in concerts in the north-east. 27Two other London publications have local links.The composer of The German Spa, George Barron, had been the organist at St Andrew's Church, Newcastle, until his early death, at the age of 19, in 1787, and was probably largely unknown outside the region.Likewise, When Danger Encircles our Land, composed by the Durham Cathedral singing-man George Ashton and inscribed to the 'Duke of Northumberland and the Percy Tenantry', was a patriotic song about defending the region's coastline from French attack, and is unlikely to have circulated widely beyond the region.Another London publication, Matthew Camidge's A First & Second Sett of Easy Preludes for the Piano Forte, moreover, is connected with the wider northeastern region, since this publication was advertised on the title page as having been printed for the author in London and sold in York by the author at Castle Hill and the music seller 'M r .Knapton' at his shop on Blake Street.
Only one item in M2130 is directly connected with the region: Thomas Wright's Six Songs.This was dedicated to the avid amateur musician Miss Annabella Carr (1763-1822) of Dunston Hill Hall in Gateshead, County Durham, daughter of the businessman Ralph Carr and his wife Isabella. 28Wright was Newcastle's foremost musician in the 1790s, organizing local concerts and bands, and performing in and composing for the theatre and concerts, as well as being organist of St Andrew's Church for a short period. 29Six Songs does not name either its publisher or give the date of publication, was born, there is the possibility that the child was named for the composer.The name Wright was also used as the middle name of the sixth child, Stephen. 27 but the title page suggests it was printed in Newcastle: it has an ornate wreath with garlands, vegetation, and a view of the sea and rising sun, which has been 'signed' 'Hunter Sculp t N.Castle' (see Pl. 1); this would almost certainly be Abraham Hunter, once an apprentice of the Newcastle engraver Ralph Beilby, who had set up his own business in St Nicholas's Churchyard in 1786. 30The songs started life as incidental music in the theatre and include one-The Sons of the Forest-dedicated to a local society, the Gentlemen of the Forest Hunt.This society, based in Newcastle, frequently attended the theatre and supported benefits for local musicians. 31nlike any of the other items in either volume, Six Songs was published by subscription and the bound copy includes the subscriber list.The list comprises 210 people, most of whom are not identified in detail; there are, however, twenty-five men and women with titles or noted as 'Esq.',and several professional men including six attorneys, four surgeons, five military men, and five clergymen.A substantial number of musicians are represented, including almost all the singing men at Durham Cathedral and the organist there, as well as seven other organists.Most significantly, however, almost all the subscribers come from the north of England-the only subscribers from outside the area are six musicians from the Opera House in London.This could indicate that Wright may have played there at some point; however, one of the men was William Shield, a north-easterner himself, who may have become known to Wright in the north and used his influence at the Opera House to obtain subscriptions on Wright's behalf. 32therwise, the majority of subscribers come from Newcastle (thirty-three), Sunderland (twenty-eight), Durham (eighteen), and other towns in the north-east; those towns slightly farther afield are almost all towns visited annually by Stephen Kemble's peripatetic theatre company in which Wright was employed, including Stockton, Whitby, and Scarborough. 33The limited distribution of these subscribers strongly suggests that the collector of M2130 was based in the north-east.The subscribers' list also gives some clues to the publication date; it includes 'Mr Hawdon, organist, Newcastle' and 'Mr Hawdon, jun.Hull'.These were Matthias Hawdon and his son, Thomas; Matthias had been organist at St Nicholas's Church in Newcastle from 1776 while his son was employed at Holy Trinity, Hull.In the late 1780s, however, Matthias fell severely ill, and Thomas returned to Newcastle in November 1788 to assist him; Matthias died in March 1789.The likeliest date for publication, bearing in mind this biographical information alongside the dates of known performances of the songs, seems to be around 1786 or 1787.
Other distinctive features of the musical contents of both M2130 and M3692 suggest the north-east of England, and in particular Newcastle, as the likely place of compilation.It is noticeable, for instance, that the works of Handel appear in neither collection, Pl. 1. Title page of Thomas Wright's Six Songs in M2130.Image reproduced with permission of Newcastle upon Tyne Literary and Philosophical Society although they are found extensively in both elite homes and in the Austen family collection.Samantha Carrasco, for instance, notes that Handel is one of only two composers across the Austen family collection represented by over twenty compositions, while Handel's music also features in the extensive music collections at Harewood House, North Yorkshire, Elizabeth Sykes Egerton's collection at Tatton Park, and Lydia Acland's collection at Killerton House, Devon. 34Handel was widely performed in some parts of the north-east;35 the Durham subscription series, for instance, was built around partial or whole performances of his oratorios, and the works were performed elsewhere in towns such as Sunderland and Darlington. 36But appreciation of Handel's music had always been tepid in Newcastle; only one complete performance had taken place before the late 1770s, and only extracts after that until the Musical Festival model of extracts became popular in the latter years of the century.A festival of Handel oratorios in 1778 seems to have engendered enough interest to prompt another in 1781, but this seems to have been a financial disaster,37 and two extract festivals in the early 1790s also failed, although interest was said to be good. 38This limp reception of Handel may have been owing in part to the indifference to the composer of the town's principal music-promoter before 1770, Charles Avison,39 but was also affected by the nature of local feeling and politics in Newcastle, which tended to have a radical flavour, whereas the clerical establishment of Durham Cathedral, made up predominantly of cadet branches of the aristocracy, tended to be much more conservative in character. 40It is likewise notable that Continental song does not feature in either collection-the vocal music in M2130 and M3692 is predominantly contemporaneous and distinctly British (or at least anglicized).This stands in contrast to other surviving collections since Continental song-variously in French, Italian, and German-can be found in both the Austen family music books as well as country house collections such as those at Harewood House, Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, and Tatton Park.This absence is likewise reflected in public concerts in Newcastle at which songs in languages other than English were rarely performed unless in translation. 41

OBTAINING MUSIC IN GEORGIAN NEWCASTLE
There are a number of ways in which music consumers in the north-east might have obtained the kind of sheet music from the London, Edinburgh, and Newcastle presses found in M2130 and M3692.Before considering outlets for purchasing printed sheet music in the north-east, it is worth noting that not all music that ended up in binders' volumes was necessarily purchased by the compiler; music was frequently given as a gift or procured on behalf of the collector, inherited, or borrowed and copied amongst friends and family. 42So commonplace were such modes of circulation that evidence for them can be found in archival materials, surviving binders' volumes, and manuscript music books, and the practice is also reflected in literature of the period.In Austen's Sense and Sensibility, for instance, Marianne is reminded of Willoughby after his departure when her eyes fall upon 'an opera, procured for her by Willoughby, … and bearing on its outward leaf her own name in his handwriting'. 43Music originally purchased by friends or relatives was also frequently passed on through inheritance or by being given by an older relative or friend who thought it might appeal, and such music was often reused, copied, or bound by the recipient.The inclusion in the music books of Eleanor Jackson, second wife of Jane Austen's brother Henry, of songs dedicated to her mother, for instance, suggests that Eleanor had inherited her mother's music and then had it bound with her own. 44Some of the earliest pieces in M3692, such as The True British Sailor, which was printed and sold by Fentum's Music Warehouse when they were operating from 78, Corner of Salisbury Street, Strand, between 1770 and 1781, may reflect such modes of acquisition.
There was also a great deal of borrowing and copying of music between friends and relatives; such activity provided an important means of cultivating social and familial bonds. 45Music was both loaned to be copied by the recipient onto loose sheets or into bound books or was copied into books by friends or relatives in acts of sociability.Mary Egerton, the cousin of Elizabeth Sykes, for instance, copied two pieces into one of Elizabeth's music books, signing and dating them 1801. 46The exchange of music, at least in polite society, was so widespread that Austen's niece Fanny Knight used the ruse of sending her aunt a parcel of music in 1814 to enclose a letter seeking advice about a marriage proposal, a discussion she wished to keep private. 47The practice of borrowing and copying music is also documented in mid-eighteenth-century Newcastle.The teenage apprentice hostman Ralph Jackson frequently records copying music lent by family and friends.Having bought a stock of loose music paper at Robert Akenhead's bookshop in the town on 2 March 1753, for instance, he may have used it a fortnight later when he spent many days copying out the sonatas from 'a Musick Book, wth Six Sonatas in it' his sister, Rachel, had sent him by carrier from Richmond. 48he manuscript inscriptions in M3692 are indicative of this culture of copying.In addition to the keyboard pieces inserted across the adjoining blank pages of items 36 and 37, the blank back page of Away with Melancholy is filled with handwritten staves that remained blank except for the addition of a treble and bass clef on the top two staves, joined to make a great stave, a key signature of three flats-given in the order of b, a, e-and a time signature of 2/4.The title of the song the scribe intended to copy is given at the top of the page, 'Why thus beats a tender heart', and is confirmed by the key, time signature, and the inscription of the second verse of the song, as published by Bland, at the bottom of the page. 49The blank front page of Laura's Wedding Day contains two messily transcribed pieces on handwritten staves.The first, which is untitled and comprises the first two great staves on the page, ends abruptly with only the right-hand 43 Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, ed. with Introduction by Devoney Looser (New York, 2018), 318. 44 part on the second great stave transcribed.The inscription of text on the bottom lefthand corner of the page, combined with the music, identifies this as a popular song by Pleyel, Henry's Cottage Maid, of which numerous editions were published around the 1790s. 50The title of the second piece, '[Macg…?] of Ireland', is written over the blank left-hand line of the second great stave, and, while this piece has not been identified, the copying is, like the previous piece, untidy and inaccurate.Errors such as numerous missing quaver flags and dotted rhythms suggest the scribe may have been inexperienced, perhaps a young beginner, or may have been attempting to transcribe the music aurally or from memory.Since the inscribed songs are contemporaneous with the bulk of music in the volume, it is probable they were transcribed either before binding or close to the volume having been bound.A comparison between the hand that signed Hook's Six Sonatas 'Miss Redheads' and these inscriptions display differences that suggest they were not copied by Miss Redhead but perhaps by friends or relatives.
While the acquisition of music through gift giving, inheritance, or borrowing and copying was commonplace and may account for how some of the music in at least M3692 was obtained, most of the music in these volumes was probably purchased by or on behalf of the compilers.Only two pieces in M3692 provide direct evidence for where they were purchased; [J.C.] Bach's variations on God Save the King and Of a'the Airts the Win' can Blaw bear the stamp 'Sold by Whyte'.William Whyte had set up his shop 'at the sign of the Organ' in St Andrew's Street, Edinburgh, in January 1800; 51 before opening, he had visited London to stock the shop with the latest publications by Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, and Pleyel, and advertised that he sold new songs, duets, and glees. 52He also stocked music published by other Edinburgh music shops.Of a'the Airts, for instance, was printed by Muir, Wood and Co. of George Street, and the combination of the two shops suggests a date for this edition of around 1800 to 1803, between the date Whyte opened and the date Muir, Wood and Co. closed-although Whyte may have continued to sell old stock.Whyte's stamp on these two items most likely suggests a personal visit to the shop in Edinburgh by the compiler or an acquaintance, although Edinburgh imprints were also sold through Newcastle shops. 53It is likewise possible that Matthew Camidge's First & Second Sett of Easy Preludes could have been purchased on a visit to York or through a personal connection with Camidge-Newcastle was the largest urban centre between Edinburgh and York and they were well connected via the Great North Road.
It is also possible that some of the London publications may have been purchased by the compiler, or by their friends or family, direct from music sellers during visits to the capital.The London music sellers represented in these volumes all had shops in the capital's most fashionable commercial streets, areas that would draw visitors from outside the capital-the Strand, Oxford Street, Haymarket, New Bond Street, Pall Mall, the Royal Exchange, and Covent Garden.Jane Austen described one shopping trip during a visit to London in 1813 in which she bought music from Robert Birchall's music shop in New Bond Street; this was the music seller who published and sold A New German Waltz bound in M3692. 54For wealthy north-east families, metropolitan musical culture formed part of the nexus of their musical activities and had done so for some decades.Between 1743 and 1760, George and Mary Bowes, for instance, spent six months of the year in London, where George was an MP; Mary's activities included visits to the opera and pleasure gardens as well as to private musical parties, and she purchased a great deal of music in the capital. 55When Ralph Jackson visited a widow in Ryton, County Durham, in 1780, he heard her eldest daughter, 'not yet eight years old', play 'the most difficult pieces of Musik' on the harpsichord and pianoforte; she 'has been instructed by Mr Bach in London', Jackson observed, and by the Durham musician John Garth, who 'has attended her sometime, & does now'. 56he greater part of the music purchased by or for the compilers was, however, most likely sourced in local shops.It is certainly the case in Sykes Egerton's collection that, while some music was purchased in London during her time at school there, many of the London publications bear the stamp of local York booksellers. 57The commercial district of the largest urban centre in the north-east, Newcastle, was well developed and established long before the turn of the nineteenth century; writing about the town during a visit in 1698, Celia Finnes observed that Newcastle 'most resembles London of any place in England' while its 'shops are good and are of Distinct trades, not selling many things in one shop as is y e Custom in most Country towns and Cittys'. 58One distinct trade that flourished from an early stage was the book trade; Newcastle was one of only a handful of towns or cities outside London-most of them cathedral or university citiesthat by 1600 could boast a sustained and substantial trade in books, 59 and from at least the mid-seventeenth century, evidence suggests that music from the London presses could be readily obtained from the town's bookshops. 60s the book trade expanded during the eighteenth century, music continued to be stocked by Newcastle booksellers.A surviving bookbinder's ticket of the Newcastle bookseller and binder James Fleming from around 1740 shows that he sold 'Paper-books, Ruled or not Ruled … Musick-books of all sorts, [and] Fiddle-strings'. 61Another bookshop in the town that supplied music was that of Joseph Barber, in Amen Corner behind St Nicholas's church; Barber had been established there since at least the late 1730s, 62 and had for a short period operated a copperplate music printing press and a circulating library. 63He sold 'all new Musick, as Sonatas, Solos, Duets, Concertos, Minuets, Country dances, Books of Instruction for each Instrument, Variety of new Songs set to Musick'. 64He only specifically advertised sheet music stock once but advertisements for his general book stock include publications such as The Musical Companion, containing songs sung at London theatres and pleasure gardens, 65 and Dr Arne's The Monthly Melody or the Polite Amusement for Gentlemen and Ladies, a publication of vocal and instrumental music for violin, German flute, guitar, and harpsichord. 66Eighteenth-century Newcastle also boasted several musical instrument makers who sold music.A 1724 advertisement for the instrument maker William Prior included 'Musick, Books, Tunes and Songs', 67 and, near the end of the century, the Newcastle instrument maker and bookseller Edward Humble advertised 'an Assortment of Forte Pianos, Violins, German and Common Flutes, Fifes, and Music adapted to each' in his shop opposite the Theatre Royal. 68he other commercial outlet for obtaining sheet music was specialist music shops.The first known music shop in Newcastle was established in the mid-eighteenth century by John Hawthorn, a watchmaker and wait, who added a substantial music section to his shop at the head of the Side; 69 Ralph Jackson recorded buying music there in July 1756. 70awthorn's shop, however, closed in the early 1780s after his death.Joseph Barber's son, Robert, a professional musician, also briefly operated a music shop in the Wool Market in 1773-4 (although evidence suggests that he had merely taken over the music part of his father's stock); his advertisements included 'Instructions for young Beginners … Music Books bound in variety of Bindings, Pens for ruling Music', and added that he sought second-hand instruments and music. 71For most of the 1780s and early 1790s, the period in which much of the music in M2130 was being published, there seems to have been no dedicated music shop in the town.That situation changed, however, in the 1790s, when at least four specialist music shops were established-a sudden expansion driven by the inflationary pressures of the wars with France.Newcastle's Corporation abolished the office of wait in 1793 and reduced the salary of the organist of St Nicholas's church; at the same time, the town's subscription series collapsed.Musicians therefore turned to teaching and to supplementing their income by opening music shops to supply the domestic market.
The first of these new shops was set up by the Gateshead organist and music teacher Robert Sutherland, who around 1792 opened a Music Warehouse in his house beside Gateshead church; 72 by at least 1798, he had moved his shop into the centre of Newcastle. 73William Wright was the next to enter into music sales when, in 1795, he opened his shop on the High Bridge, to compensate for income formerly obtained from his post as wait and as a player in various local bands. 74His advertisements stressed that he had 'a large Assortment' of music, was in constant correspondence with dealers in London, and could guarantee 'every new Musical Publication procured in the space of a few Days'. 75It is not clear when his publishing activities started.Only five publications by him are known to survive: the three in the Redhead volume, which are undated; a book of local tunes compiled by the well-known local player of the Northumbrian pipes John Peacock, dated 1801; 76 and a book of Six Songs by Thomas Thompson, organist of St Nicholas's church, Newcastle, 77 which is very similar in format to the Six Songs of Thomas Wright and was printed for the author by Goulding and Co of London on behalf of William Wright, again in 1801.There was probably a great deal more.The Six Songs by Thompson lists on the subscribers' page twenty-two of Thompson's other songs that were available at Wright's shop, and which may have been published by him, and a book of tunes by the Newcastle dancing master Abraham Mackintosh was certainly sold by Wright and may also have been published by him. 78The three publications by Wright in M3692 must have been printed around the turn of the century as they cite his address on the High Bridge, from which he moved his business to Pilgrim Street in 1803.Only six months after Wright established his business, John Thompson, another former wait, opened a music shop in Newcastle.Thompson was long established in the town as a breeches maker with a shop in the centre of town; his music shop was opened adjoining the existing clothes shop. 79Alongside a wide range of instruments, instruction books, strings, reeds, harpsichord wires, and instrument cases, he advertised music paper, bound music books, and, for the harpsichord or pianoforte, the kind of repertory found in M2130 and M3692: 'Overtures, Concertos, Quintettos, Quartettos, Sonatas, Duets, Airs, Rondos, and Reed with Variations; Operas, Songs, Scotch Music, Songs [sic], Reels, and Strathspeys'. 80In 1800, Thompson sold all his stock to William Wright; 81 the closure of Thompson's business cannot have been owing to a lack of demand, however, as around the same time Thomas Wright opened a music warehouse, on the same street as his brother William's. 82hese shops probably avoided damaging competition by acting as agents for different London publishers; in the 1770s, Hawthorn had confined himself largely to selling music printed by the Thompson family, while Joseph Barber advertised music by Napier and Welcker. 83The only advertisement listing specific pieces of music available in these turn-of-the-century shops indicates that, in addition to his own publications, William Wright probably primarily sold music published by Goulding, Phipps, and D'Almaine, sometimes also known as Goulding and Co, although he advertised being able to order 'every new Musical Publication' from London.His connection with Goulding is further emphasized by his collaboration with Goulding and Co in the publication of Thomas Thompson's Six Songs.Five of the pieces in M3692 were published by Goulding around this period and therefore could have been purchased in Wright's shop.He closed his business in 1807, 84 although it is not clear whether this was due to business difficulties or for personal reasons. 85The auction of his stock included a broad range of musical instruments and 'a large Assortment of scarce, valuable, and fashionable MUSIC'. 86Thomas Wright's shop was rarely advertised and probably also closed in the first decade of the new century.After that, there appears to have been a hiatus until 1819 when J. and D. Slowan opened a music shop in the town. 87

PERFORMANCE AS A FACILITATOR OF MUSICAL ACQUISITION
Another outlet for advertising and obtaining music in the regions was through professional performances and touring musicians.Around fifty years after the music in M2130 and M3692 was collected, this mode of musical dissemination from London to the regions was still current, as Elizabeth Gaskell illustrates in North and South (first published 1855) in an encounter between the socially aspirational Fanny Thornton and Margaret Hales, who had recently moved from southern England to the fictional northern town of Milton.Asked by Margaret about local concerts, Fanny boasts they provide 'the newest music … one knows it is the fashion in London, or else the singers would not bring it down here'; the 'day after a concert', Fanny continues, she 'always' has a 'large order' to purchase the music she has heard. 88Hearing fashionable music from the London theatres, concerts, and pleasure gardens on regional tours was, as Fanny illustrates, a significant means of advertising new music to audiences in the regions.The idea of the 'new' and 'fashionable', and the allure of London, was a marketing ploy used repeatedly on sheet-music publications of the kind of popular repertory that fills M2130 and M3692. 89It is likely that attending professional musical performances in the north-east may have inspired, and in some cases facilitated, the purchase of some of the music in M2130 and M3692.
Performances of some of the music in the two volumes can be traced in Newcastle or the wider region, and in some cases there is evidence of the music being sold in the town at the same time.It was not uncommon for touring musicians to take a stock of their compositions with them to sell.The pieces in both collections by Charles Dibdin, and in M3692 by Michael Kelly, may have been purchased directly from the composers when they visited the area.Dibdin made a number of visits to the north-east, including performing a programme of readings and music in the Turk's Head in Newcastle in February 1788, 90 performances at the Theatre Royal in 1799 and possibly again in 1803, 91 and another visit to the Theatre Royal in July 1800 to put on an entertainment called Tom Wilkins. 92The long and detailed advertisement for this latter tour specifically notes that copies of 'the Songs in all Mr DIBDIN's Entertainments … and every other Article in Mr DIBDIN's Catalogue' could be obtained at the printer of the Newcastle Chronicle, who was also the only named ticket seller. 93Kelly also visited Newcastle to sing in the Musical Festival in 1791, 94 and may have returned in theatre performances on several more occasions (although the multiplicity of actors with the name Kelly makes it difficult to be sure that it was always definitely the composer) and almost certainly brought music with him. 95Other performers visiting the area periodically brought music with them to sell.Mr Brown, first violin with the local theatre company in the late 1780s and early 1790s, for instance, set up temporary 'shops' in the towns where the company played on tour including Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, Scarborough, Whitby, Shields, and Sunderland. 96n total, five of the twenty-six items, or roughly a fifth, in M2130 are known to have had local public performances in the north-east region (see Table 1).It should be noted, however, that interval music was not always listed on theatre playbills and that only a limited number of programmes survive for Newcastle concerts, meaning that many more of the items in these volumes may have had performances locally than is clear from the extant evidence.The most frequently locally performed of all the works in M2130 were the songs from Thomas Wright's Six Songs that open the volume.These began life as incidental music in the theatre: as noted previously, The Sons of the Forest, a hunting song, was written for theatre performances bespoke by the Newcastle Gentlemen of the Forest Hunt; it was performed on 29 March 1786, 97 and again on 7 April. 98Fanny of the Dale, from the same publication, had been performed a month earlier on 22 February. 99As chief promoter of concerts in Newcastle in the 1790s, Wright was also responsible for the performance of a number of the other works in the two volumes.It is not surprising, for instance, to see Samuel Webbe's The Mansion of Peace sung in a benefit for the Newcastle Volunteer Band in April 1800, 100 as it was a popular theme for obvious reasons, but, in addition, Time has not Thin'd my Flowing Hair was performed at the ninth subscription concert in February 1800, and again in a subscription concert of 1801, 101 as well as at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle as early as 1794, 102 and Oh Richard in a subscription concert late in 1802. 103In addition, Dibdin songs were frequently used as interval music in the theatre. 104able 1.Performances of music in the volumes in the north-east.All information is taken from concert programmes [Newcastle City Library, L780.73] or theatre playbills [Newcastle City Library, L793] unless otherwise stated; these cover theatre performances and concerts in Newcastle only.Information on performances elsewhere in the north-east are taken from local newspapers, which covered the entire region.It is impossible to be comprehensive, however; the programmes for many concerts and theatre performances were never advertised, and many playbills and concert programmes have not survived; this list must inevitably, therefore, be incomplete Volume 1: M2130 Performances of eight of the forty-four items in M3692, or just under a quarter, can be traced in the region (see Table 1).Frantisek Kotzwara's Battle of Prague is not a surprising inclusion in the keyboard section of M3692 since it was hugely popular throughout the country, being particularly suited to the mood of the times.It was performed in concerts in Newcastle throughout the 1790s in a version for full band, 105 at the theatre in 1796 and again in 1803, 106 and in another concert in the latter year. 107It was also performed in Sunderland and Tynemouth in April 1797, 108 and the finale only was played at a subscription concert in January 1801. 109Another popular favourite from M3692 was Rodolphe Kreutzer's 'Overture to Lodoiska'.Kreutzer's overture had appeared in Stephen Storace's English afterpiece dialogue opera in three acts, Lodoiska, first performed at Drury Lane in 1794; it was partly based on two operas of the same name, both premiered in Paris in 1791, with music by Luigi Cherubini and Kreutzer respectively. 110his piece was highly popular and widely circulated and was played in the north-east in concerts and theatre performances on at least seven occasions between 1797 and 1803.It seems to have had a close affinity with military music, being performed at concerts with a military flavour in Sunderland and Tynemouth in 1797, 111 and at the concert in celebration of peace in 1802, 112 as well as in subscription concerts and benefits. 113It was also played as incidental music in Newcastle's Theatre Royal in January 1803 and may have been used there on a number of other occasions. 114A version of The Fife Hunt was performed at the theatre in 1796, 115 and Wright presented a string quartet version of Pleyel's German Hymn-in M3692 in a keyboard version with vocal harmonizations-at his benefit concert in May 1792. 116It was also performed at a subscription concert in November 1801, 117 and references in other programmes to a 'Quartetto' by Pleyel may suggest that it was performed in other concerts as well.In addition, a ninth piece from the volume, Begone Dull Care, may have had performances in the north-east.The sheet music states that this was performed at Harrison and Knyvett's concerts in London; in October 1796, one of the singing-men at Durham Cathedral, James Radcliffe, put on a concert in Durham in which he sang songs from Harrison and Knyvett's concerts, although this piece is not specifically mentioned in the advertisements. 118f the vocal pieces in M3692, a popular offering was Away with Melancholy, a song attributed to Mozart, which was performed in at least four concerts in Newcastle in 1800: at two different benefits for Wright, several times in the subscription series, and at a benefit for the subscription series singers the Misses Clifford in December of the same year. 119Madame Catalani also sang the song at a concert in 1810; as a singer of international stature who toured the regions, Angelica Catalani doubtless played a role as a significant shaper of musical taste through her concert repertory choices. 120Another popular piece in M3692, Kelly's The Wife's Farewell, or, No my Love No, was performed on at least four occasions in 1802, when the short-lived Peace of Amiens was signed: in a subscription concert on 20 April 1802 (a 'Concert for the Celebration of Peace') and in several benefits about the same period. 121The entire musical entertainment from which the song was taken-Of Age To-morrow-was staged at Newcastle's Theatre Royal in January of the same year. 122Two other songs from M3692 were performed in a concert for the then leader of the subscription concert band in 1809: Roys Wife of Aldivaloch and The Storm. 123In addition to these traceable performances, God Save the King-though not necessarily in Bach's arrangement-was played at virtually every concert during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the anthem noted as being performed in Durham Cathedral might have been heard there by the compiler of the volume.

MUSICAL CONTENTS: CULTURES OF COMPILATION AND CONSUMPTION
The motivations for collecting and binding individual music publications into personalized volumes were varied.As Brooks has shown, some surviving volumes are too bulky or tightly bound for practical use.In this context, the binding of sheet music signalled a 'move into a different realm of significance', from 'current repertory … to binding as a library volume'. 124Other volumes, however, contain inscriptions added after binding, sometimes by subsequent generations of owners-including music, text, contents lists, and new continuous pagination-that suggest continued use. 125The insertion of music across the page opening made by the blank pages of adjoining sheet music items in M3692, for instance, indicates that M3692 continued in use after binding.Whether motivated for preservation or continued use, however, the compilers of M2130 and the very acts of compilation and collection they represent'. 127This 'crafting of musical materials' has also been recognized by Brooks in the British context, in which binders' volumes 'provided their makers with opportunities to operate individual choices about musical repertoires and styles, and to comment upon them through placement, juxtaposition and annotation'. 128An examination of the contents of M2130 and M3692 provides a glimpse into the repertory, styles, and themes favoured by the compilers, the organizing strategies they adopted, and their participation in national and local musical culture.These volumes also reflect gendered patterns of musical consumption and the wider social and political themes with which the compilers engaged through acts of performing, collecting, and compiling music.
The compiler of M2130 opens the volume with two publications containing multiple songs-Wright's Six Songs is followed by Hook's The Triumph of Beauty, a multi-song entertainment featuring hunting and drinking songs that had been performed at Vauxhall Gardens during the 1786 season.The inclusion of multi-work keyboard and vocal publications in binders' volumes was common across the surviving music books in country houses and in the collection of Jane Austen and her extended family.The sheet-music songs that follow the multi-work publications in M2130 coalesce around several popular themes.Songs concerned with love, often set in a pastoral milieu or with classical references, account for well over half the songs, drawing on a range of common tropes and narrative formulae.Several songs present simple declarations of love.Sweet Robinette is, for instance, a pastoral song in which the speaker declares his love of and adoration for Robinette, while in Dear Object of each Fond Desire the speaker declares to their 'dearest' that the embers of 'Affection's fire … shall retain a heat,/Till life's last pulse shall cease to beat'.The Mansion of Peace, a sentimental song, a version of which was also copied by Austen into CHWJA/19/2, draws on the 'artificial and formulaic eighteenth-century poetic diction that the Romantic movement rejected', which, according to Gillian Dooley, Austen 'mocked so gleefully' in her teenage writings. 129Other songs express the sentiments of unrequited or spurned love.In the second song from Wright's Six Songs, for instance, the lover addresses an 'Ungrateful, cruel, lovely Maid' before seeking to forget her on 'the dreary shore, / where Gambia's rapid billows roar'.Similarly, in Mary! or.The Answer to Donald, the lover complains that Mary lavishes her affections 'on some other Swain', while in An Adieu to the Rocks of Lannow the speaker flees from 'the storms of insulted desire'.The themes of absence, parting, or the death of lovers are also prominent.In The Parting, from Wright's Six Songs, Strephon leaves his lover 'Compell'd by Fortune' and in Arden's Banks, on the death of her lover, Nelly 'kiss'd his clay cold Lips and died'.
The volume also includes songs on other popular themes.In addition to the 'Hunting Song' in The Triumph of Beauty and The Sons of the Forest, for instance, John Moulds's When Phoebus Wakes the Rosy Hours is described as 'A favorite Hunting song' and Dibdin's The Race Horse, one of his most popular songs and more commonly disseminated as The High-Mettled Racer, describes a hunt in its second verse.Other themes are represented by at least two songs each.There are drinking songs, such as A Silly Stripling Leave off Sighing, in which a young man is advised to hide his grief 'from false Women' and tell his 'sorrows to the Bottle'.Military and seafaring songs are also represented; Dibdin's The Chelsea Pensioner praises the soldier who when 'dangers come he braves them all' while The Neglected Tar patriotically sings 'the British seaman's praise'.Such songs tapped into patriotic feeling, and military pride, to elicit sympathy and to advocate welfare reforms to support military veterans.Also included are songs about London life and commerce.These include A Medley or The Cries of London and The Life of a Frolicksome Fellow, from Fontainbleau, first performed at Covent Garden Theatre in 1784 and repeatedly performed into the 1790s, which regales the outrageous behaviour of a London fop who goes 'Swearing tearing ranting jaunting flashing smashing smacking cracking rumbling tumbling laughing quaffing smoaking joaking wag'ring [and] stagg'ring'.M2130 contains several other humorous songs including Dibdin's The Lamplighter, in which the singer assumes the role of a lamplighter who witnesses sexual indiscretions during his night round.
M3692 is split between keyboard and vocal music, and the overarching structure of the volume is organized by repertory, and in the keyboard section also by genre: the first nineteen items are keyboard pieces followed by twenty-five vocal items.The keyboard section contains typical domestic repertory: sonatas; overtures; pedagogical exercises; variations on popular tunes, airs, marches, reels, strathspeys, and country dances.Like M2130, it opens with a multi-piece publication, Hook's Six Sonatas, and is followed by a further sonata, Kotzwara's The Battle of Prague.These items are then followed consecutively by two overtures and the only pedagogical publication of the two volumes, Camidge's A First & Second Sett of Easy Preludes.The remainder of the keyboard section comprises a range of variations, airs, and dances, including William Wright's Newcastle publications, all three of which are grouped together.Numerous pieces in this section contain variations on popular tunes, including God Save the King, Purcell's Ground, and a New German Waltz.Also amongst the variations are three Scottish pieces: Molini's arrangement of The Fife Hunt and Isaac Cooper's A Favourite Strathspey Reel, Knitt the Pocky and Miss Herries Forbes's Farewell to Banff, which was perhaps a favourite since the song version is also included in the vocal section.
Items 11 to 13 appear to form a thematic grouping reflecting the political climate with The Austrian Retreat, Gen[era]l Suwarrows March, and The Fall of Paris grouped consecutively.The Austrian Retreat was advertised as having been performed by the band of His Highness the Duke of Gloucester at St James's and Windsor.Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, was connected not only with contemporaneous military action but specifically with the north-east since on 30 May 1796 he 'arrived in Newcastle, to assume the command of the troops in the northern district';130 the Musical Festival in the town in July of that year was under his patronage. 131Gen[era]l Suwarrows March commemorates the celebrated Russian General Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (1727/30-1800), who commanded the Austro-Russian army that drove the French from Italy in 1799.The sheet music version in M3692 was an Edinburgh imprint, which, according to the title page, was 'From the Original Russian Manuscript & 4 Russian Airs as Performed at the Concert in George Street Assembly Room by the Russian Band'.The Fall of Paris, which circulated more widely under the title of The Downfall of Paris, was a variant of the French Revolutionary song Ah, ça ira; it was, according to Colonel Wellbore Ellis, played by the 14th Bedfordshire regiment at the Battle of Famars in Flanders in 1793 so that the French might be beaten 'to their own damned tune', and was then adopted by the regiment as their official quickstep. 132The naming of dance tunes after battles, and associated people and places, was widespread during the period, 133 and, as Mark Philp has noted, such entertainments 'created a backdrop painted with a particular narrative that was rehearsed emotionally and bodily by members of the social elite and a wide range of the middling sort in the metropolis and other urban settings.' 134This sequence in M3692 appears to construct an optimistic narrative for the allied coalition from retreat to advance to hoped-for victory, and is indicative of the compiler's close engagement with the unfolding military action.
The vocal section opens with two sacred sheet-music items placed together, and the remainder of the collection contains secular songs.Several themes are again discernible.The highest proportion of songs, like M2130, express sentiments of love, split across two broader groups: pastoral songs, several of which have classical allusions; and Scotch songs, many of which are pastoral in nature.Sentimental pastoral songs include The Blue-Eyed Cottage Maid and Now to Pant on Thetis' Breast where 'Sunny vale and shady grove, / Eccho to the voice of love'.Amongst the Scots songs are narratives about courtship and marriage such as The Lammy, which narrates the courtship and marriage of a young woman, and Up and War Them a Willie in which a young man is encouraged to 'Get Jenny's hand in holy band/Or e're she win awa'.Other Scots songs in M3692 deal with parting or unrequited love.Miss Forbes's Farewell to Banff extols the rural beauty of Banff as Miss Forbes departs, leaving behind her 'young Swain', and in Roys Wife of Aldivaloch the speaker recounts disappointed love, having been cheated by Roy's wife.Many of the Scots songs are situated towards the end of the volume.Two settings of verses by Robert Burns-Wilt Thou be my Dearie and Of a'the Airts the Win' Can Blaw-are placed together immediately after Up and War Them a Willie, and they are followed, after the interruption of The Storm, by another popular Scots song, The Boatie Rows.This section also contains several patriotic pieces including songs on the theme of seafaring.In The Blue Bell of Scotland, the speaker awaits the return of her Highland laddie who 'has gone to fight the French for King GEORGE upon the Throne'.When Danger Encircles our Land extols the Duke of Northumberland and his tenantry who will patriotically defend the region's coastline, and The True British Sailor recounts the life of a sailor who, through grief and war, will always choose 'a Sailors life' to 'guard from Insult Britons Shore'.The final song in the volume, in which Mary is visited in her dream by the ghost of her lover, Sandy, who 'far at sea' has died, continues the nautical theme.The remainder of the vocal items are made up of two songs on the theme of banishing care, a sentimental song of The Blind Orphan Boys Tale, a common song trope designed to elicit charitable compassion, 135 and several songs from theatrical entertainments.
While there is clear crossover between the most popular subjects for domestic music in the two volumes-especially the preponderance of songs concerned with love and sentimentality-there are also some notable differences.Across the keyboard and vocal section of M3692, there is a far higher proportion of Scots tunes and songs, for instance, 132 Robert, J. Damm, 'Rudimental Classics: "The Downfall of Paris"', Percussive Notes, 49/1 (2011), 32-3 at 32. 133  while no hunting or drinking songs are included as they are in M2130; such variations in musical and thematic emphasis between the volumes probably reflects both the individual tastes and preferences of the compilers as well as changing fashions over the decades the music was acquired.Given the later date of M3692, for instance, there are many more topical patriotic pieces compared to M2130, reflecting the national mood and commenting on military action.Taken together, however, the subject matter of the music across M2130 and M3692 is largely representative of what Pamela McGairl characterizes as 'typical … 18 th -century garden music: songs of sentiment and love, pseudo-Scottish songs, sea songs, patriotic songs, humorous songs, hunting and drinking songs'. 136Such music was particularly associated with the fashionable entertainment venues of London including the pleasure gardens and theatres.It was common for sheet music during the period to give the entertainments, venues, or celebrity singers with which the music was associated on the title page as an advertising strategy-linking it with fashionable metropolitan culture-and a good number of publications in M2130 and M3692 display such connections.In M2130, only four of the songs name the specific entertainments with which they were associated, but many name the theatres or pleasure gardens where they had been performed: the Not only was the broad subject matter of the music contained in M2130 and M3692 reflective of fashionable music emanating primarily from London's entertainment venues and printing presses, but numerous pieces contained in the two collections are found in contemporaneous binders' volumes and manuscript collections compiled by women from a range of locales and from a variety of social backgrounds.One of the most popular was The Battle of Prague, editions of which are included in the collections of Elizabeth Austen, née Bridges (wife of Jane Austen's brother Edward Austen Knight) (CHWJA/19/6); Jane Austen (CHWJA/19/4); Elizabeth Sykes Egerton (Tatton Park, Shelf no.9 The overlap between materials in M2130 and M3692 and collections compiled by aristocratic amateurs and Austen and her extended family in different locales-in terms of general themes, repertory, and specific piecesdemonstrates how sheet music produced for the domestic market, and imbued with the concepts of 'fashion', 'taste', and 'politeness', could be harnessed in the construction of both a polite 'national society' and genteel identity. 140he music contained in M2130 and M3692 is also indicative of wider patterns of gendered musical consumption; the predominance of songs concerned with love and sentimentality in M2130 and M3692-over half the contents of vocal music in both collections-reflects idealized cultural expectations for young women and is mirrored by the preponderance of these themes in other surviving collections assembled by women.This is hardly surprising given that domestic musical performance was viewed as a means for young women not only to assert their social status and accomplishment but to enact idealized femininity and secure a good marriage. 141That women's domestic singing was viewed by some commentators-usually male-as an activity primarily designed to please men and elicit love is underlined in Thomas Marriott's Female Conduct: Being an Essay on The Art of Pleasing (1759), in which he tells his reader that: Tho' not your Face, you may your Voice improve With singing, Sirens could inchant to love, Tho' Monsters, they could human passion move Breath tuneful gently fans Love's kindling Fires, And thro' the raptur'd Ear, the Heath inspires; Song gives sweet Comfort, to the wedded State, Song still indears you, to your list'ning Mate. 142nduct literature frequently outlined what kinds of music were deemed appropriate for young women's domestic music-making.In his The Musical Mentor (1808), which was directed at boarding-school girls, for instance, Charles Dibdin recommended songs to his young readers that exemplified feminine ideals: 'A Portrait of Innocence', 'Constancy', and 'Vanity Reproved'. 143Religious, edifying, and moral subject matter was, moreover, recommended as most appropriate for women's domestic song.In his Sermons to Young Women (1766), James Fordyce commended that young women choose songs with words that 'are elevated and virtuous'. 144Fordyce indeed complained about the popularity amongst young women of songs from the theatres and pleasure gardens that were, he claimed, 'idle amusement, devoid of dignity': What lover of this enchanting art [music] but must lament, that the most insipid song which can disgrace it is no sooner heard in places of public entertainment, than every young lady who has learnt the common notes, is immediately taught to repeat it in a manner still more insipid; while the most sublime and interesting compositions, where simplicity and greatness unite, are seldom or never thought of in her case; as if the female mind were incapable of relishing any thing grave, pathetic, or exhalted!145That Fordyce's Sermons were viewed as outdated by the turn of the nineteenth century is illustrated in Pride and Prejudice when the pompous and foolish clergyman Mr Collins reads from Fordyce to the Bennet sisters on the first evening of his meeting them 'with very monotonous solemnity'. 146Yet the emphasis on singing sacred or edifying music in the home remained a staple of advice.In An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex (1797), for instance, Thomas Gisborne recommended sacred music, which could 'revive the attention and excite the ardour of piety', as the most appropriate domestic music. 147s Fordyce's anxieties indicate, however, the music women collected and performed in the home in reality did not always conform to the ideals set out in conduct literature.The bawdy subject matter of songs such as The Lamplighter and The Life of a Frolicksome Fellow in M2130, and associations of several of the other songs in that volume with male conviviality and homosocial societies, run contrary to the advice aimed at young women.The Anacreontic Society-with which three of the songs in M2130 were associatedhad a reputation 'for drunken revelry and bawdy songs' and, as Lidia Aurora Chang has noted, their meetings were reputed to descend into 'debauchery'. 148Indeed, in counterbalance to the typically feminine sentimental songs that account for just over half the contents in M2130, the humour, light ribaldry, and themes of commerce, horse racing, hunting, and drinking that make up much of the other half of the volume indicate a more typically masculine taste.The appearance of such songs in women's music collections was not, however, uncommon.Austen, like the compiler of M2130, owned a version of Dibdin's salacious Lamplighter alongside numerous hunting and military songs predominantly voiced by a first-person male speaker.The Sons of the Forest-connected with an all-male hunt and masculine sociability-was likewise contained in both a publication dedicated to a young woman and in M2130.Such subject matter, and songs written from the male perspective, as Nicola Pritchard-Pink has observed, enabled young women, through song, to explore topics and subject positions not otherwise accessible to them.'By performing as different characters, young women could take part in a discursive form of role-play, experimenting with different identities', she writes, enabling them to 'utilize singing to express individuality as well as engage with sexual, national, imperial, social, or political tropes.' 149 The inclusion of several patriotic and militaristic keyboard pieces and songs in M3692, some of which made direct reference to the wars with France, are likewise indicative of Miss Redhead's close engagements with current affairs, military action, and national politics.In the case of When Danger Encircles our Land, the national mood is viewed through a local lens, and British patriotism is mingled with local pride in celebration of 'Brave PERCY' and 'Northumbria's Sons'.Several songs in M3692, like M2130, are written from the perspective of a first-person male speaker, providing the singer with opportunities to enact various male characters including the tender, spurned, or cheated male lover or, in the case of The True British Sailor and The Storm-both popularized on the London stage by the famed tenor Charles Incledonthe role of the brave and patriotic seaman who 'far from home my course I steerd, / Nor toil nor danger ever fear'd'. 150nother theatrical song within M3692, Kelly's The Wife's Farewell, or, No my Love No from Thomas Dibdin's Of Age To-Morrow, hailed from a fashionable London entertainment but its circulation in Newcastle around the same time as it would have been acquired by the compiler of M3692 illuminates the ways in which national musical culture could be adapted to localized contexts and provide multilayered readings for local performances.While the theatrical credentials were promoted on the London sheet music version contained in M3692, the printed song text was different from the theatrical version.In the play, the maidservant, Maria, sings about remaining loyal to an unfaithful lover; however, the sheet music title is prefaced 'The Wife's Farewell' and the song is re-voiced as a faithful wife imploring her parting husband not to bestow his heart 'on a rival'. 151The song was, according to Kelly, widely popular: [Of Age To-Morrow] was very productive to the treasury, at little or no expense.In it there was a ballad, written by Mr. M. G. Lewis, and composed by myself, which was sung by Miss Decamp, entitled, 'No, my love, no.' I believe I may say, it was the most popular song of the day; it was not alone to be found upon every piano-forte, but also to be heard in every street, for it was a great favourite with the ballad-singers. 152sten's niece, Caroline, remembered that during her childhood 'My Aunt Miss Jane Austen had nearly left off singing … but some songs of hers I do remember'; one of those 'was entitled Oh! no my Love no! or The Wife's [Farewell] I believe from the Farce of Age to-morrow[.]I had a printed copy of this once, myself ages ago.' 153 Austen's sister-in-law, Eleanor Jackson, also bound a copy of this song, along with its companion piece, The Husband's Return, in Jenkyns 05.154 Not only is the song's widespread popularity and circulation to the north-east represented by its inclusion in M3692 and multiple performances in Newcastle, but, as Oskar Cox Jensen has shown, copies of the lyrics appeared in several Newcastle publications.Additionally, he notes, a parody of the song was made by the Newcastle grocer and lyricist John Shield, and printed in a number of Newcastle chapbooks.155 In this latter version, Shield, an opponent of the war, inverts the roles, with the husband becoming the speaker expressing his desire to stay with his wife in preference to military service; a further parody, a loyalist rebuttal set to the same tune, was also circulated by the Newcastle press.156 The inclusion of this song in M3692, alongside several patriotic and militaristic pieces referencing the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, demonstrates Miss Redhead's active participation in fashionable national musical culture, the national patriotic mood, and her engagement with current affairs.Knowledge of the local politicization of this song through anti-war parodies and loyalist rebuttals, widely circulated though the Newcastle presses, could also have shaped and informed Miss Redhead's engagements with this song through acts of performance and compilation.

CONCLUSION
In many respects, M2130 and M3692 reflect binders' volumes of the period compiled by women that have been previously examined, containing music by some of the most popular composers of music consumed by the Georgian domestic market including Mozart, Haydn, Samuel Arnold, J. C. Bach, Charles Dibdin, James Hook, Michael Kelly, John Moulds, Ignaz Pleyel, Henry Purcell, and William Shield.The high proportion of Scots tunes and songs in M3692 reflects a nationwide fashion that, as Brooks points out, 'distinctively marked the period's musical culture'; such music featured not only extensively in the Austen family collections and those of gentry and aristocratic households, but also in Austen's novels. 157They also reflect gendered patterns of consumption observed in other surviving collections.The high proportion of sentimental love songs in M2130 and M3692 suggest that the compilers drew on conventional, idealized, and feminized repertory in their performing and compiling habits.Yet, as noted in other collections, the inclusion of a broad range of topics and subject positions, not conventionally viewed as appropriate for young women, and often voiced from the male perspective, suggests that acts of domestic performance, collection, and compilation enabled women to explore roles, identities, and topics beyond the narrow parameters expected of them.In other respects-the absence of Handel and of Continental song, for instance-these volumes show regional differences compared to other surviving volumes prompted not only by personal taste but also social and political trends locally.
Both collections exemplify the fashionable tastes and trends that emanated from London's theatres, concerts, pleasure gardens, and music presses.It is clear that such trends and tastes spread across the country to regions like the north-east of England through a well-developed network of nationwide print dissemination.Such circulation was facilitated by widespread access to book-and music-shops, both locally and further afield, and through performance, touring musicians, and familial and social connections.These networks of circulation enabled fashionable sheet music to find its way into binders' volumes, as well as to be copied into manuscript music books made by members of aristocratic families and professional and middling households such as those of Austen's extended family.The social backgrounds of the north-east compilers remain unknown, but given the clear Newcastle connections, and the town's demographic, it is likely they came from gentry, professional, or wealthy mercantile families such as that of the dedicatee of Wright's Six Songs.These volumes provide insights into late Georgian domestic music-making in a geographical context yet to be fully explored by showing that the sort of material that was widespread in large metropolitan areas such as London was widely disseminated into and consumed in the regions.
The collections also reflect a response to sources of music other than London, in containing both local productions and music from Edinburgh.While only one item in M2130 was composed, and almost certainly published, in Newcastle, it was dedicated to a local patron, connected with the Newcastle theatre and the town's Gentlemen of the Forest Hunt, and its subscription list firmly places it as a cultural product from north-east England serving a regional audience.In addition to the inclusion of three William Wright imprints in M3692, the collection contains pieces composed by local musicians, pieces associated with Durham Cathedral, a topical local patriotic song, and a popular London song parodied, politicized, and widely circulated via Newcastle's printing presses.The inclusion of several Edinburgh imprints besides those from London and Newcastle, moreover, situates the Scottish capital within the volume as an alternative fashionable centre to London.Through the process of collection, compiling, ordering, and binding, the compilers of M2130 and M3692 drew together music that not only displayed their individual tastes but also fashioned their social and musical identities by engaging with fashionable London musical culture, reflecting polite national musical taste, and placing it alongside music produced in, and reflecting, Scotland and the north-east of England.

ABSTRACT
This article introduces two late-Georgian binders' volumes of printed vocal and keyboard sheet music held at Newcastle upon Tyne's Literary and Philosophical Society.Both volumes display connections with the north-east of England, and, as we argue, were most likely compiled in the region in the last decades of the eighteenth century and the opening decades of the nineteenth.These volumes have not received scholarly attention, yet a close examination enables us to expand the scope of previous studies on musical circulation and the music trade, and to contribute new insights to the emerging national picture.They shed light on patterns of the acquisition, circulation, and consumption of music alongside mapping the nexus of print centres-in this case, London, Edinburgh, and Newcastle-on which consumers of domestic sheet music in the northeast of England might have drawn to access the latest musical materials.We begin by examining the physical, bibliographical, and musical features of the volumes to explore questions of dating, ownership, and their connections with the north-east of England, and go on to consider the routes through which the music they contain might have been obtained by music consumers in the region.Finally, we explore the contents of these volumes, setting them against the national picture of domestic music consumption, and consider their contents from the perspective of gendered modes of consumption, local politics and identity, and national polite music culture.In so doing, we elucidate how two domestic musicians in the north-east of England engaged with local and national musical culture in the composition of their personal music books and the fashioning of their social and musical identities.
This is because Praise the Lord, ye Heavn's adore him and How Long Wilt Thou Forget Me Lord, printed by John Dale, are given in the catalogue as separate items.How Long Wilt Thou Forget Me Lord is, however, printed on the back page of Praise the Lord.
20Two items are also signed by the author: The Jolly Ringers is signed by Charles Dibdin and The Wife's Farewell, or, No my Love No, is signed by Michael Kelly. 21Nancy A. Mace, 'The Market for Music in the Late Eighteenth Century and the Entry Books of the Stationers' Company', The Library, 7th Ser., 10 (2009), 157-87 at 158-9.
50See, for instance, Henry's / COTTAGE MAID, / a favorite Song / as now singing at the / PRINCIPAL CONCERTS / with the greatest applause / composed by PLEYEL (London: Preston & Son, n.d.); Preston & Son were operating from the advertised address of 96 Strand and Exeter Change between 1789 and 1798.Other music sellers to publish this include: T. Williamson; Smart's Music Warehouse; G. Goulding; and Lewis, Houston and Hyde.Shop at the Head of the Side, near the Post Office', in Coleman and Hogg (eds.),A Handbook for Studies in 18th-Century English Music, 24 (2020), 1-43 at 20 and 26-43.
51Caledonian Mercury [CM ], 2 Jan. 1800.52Ibid.53AsRoz Southey has shown, music by Scottish publishers frequently made its way to Newcastle.See Southey, 'John Hawthorn's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (one); the Royalty Theatre in London (one); Theatre Royal, Liverpool (one); Vauxhall Gardens (five); the Spa Gardens at Bermondsey (two); and Ranelagh Gardens (one).Other songs in the volume are associated with gentleman's clubs and societies.Wright's The Sons of the Forest, was, as we have seen, associated with Newcastle's Gentlemen of the Forest Hunt, and three songs were associated with the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen's music club founded in London in 1766.Much of the music in M3692 was advertised as being associated with both London and Edinburgh, situating Edinburgh as an alternative fashionable musical centre to London.Seven entertainments are named, and venues advertised on title pages include the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (two), Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (two), Vauxhall Gardens (one), Harrisons and Knyvetts' London concerts (one), and Edinburgh's George Street Assembly Rooms (one) and St Cecilia's Hall (one).