Catalogue Entry

Oakes & Swan were sheet music engravers and publishers, with a shop located on Tremont Row in Boston, Massachusetts. This was only a brief partnership (c.1840) of William H. Oakes and Samuel Swan. Oakes, however, went on to publish sheet music under his own name from 1840 to 1851.

– Catharina Slautterback

One of the first uses of lithography, after its invention in France in the late eighteenth century and its development in America, was for sheet music covers. The music itself was printed from engraved copper plates, which was necessary for the clarity and evenness demanded by the public for the music. However, lithography provided a quick and inexpensive way to provide enticing pictorial title pages, or covers, for sheet music. Pendleton's shop produced the first lithographic sheet music cover printed in the United States in 1826. Much of Lane's work at Pendleton's involved sheet music covers, and examples here by other artists show some of the conventions around the designs.

This information has been summarized from Boston Lithography 1825–1880 by Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback.

Benjamin W. Thayer (1814–75) was a lithographer operating in Boston from 1840–47 and 1851–53. According to an advertisement in the Boston Transcript, Thayer took over 204 Washington Street in 1840, the shop previously run by William S. Pendleton and Moore. Until 1845, he ran B. W. Thayer & Co. in conjunction with his brother-in-law, John H. Bufford, and John E. Moody. In 1846, Thayer left his partnership with Bufford, and opened a fancy goods store at 208 Washington Street, although he still listed himself as a lithographer. After not appearing in the Boston Directory from 1848–49, Thayer is recorded as having reentered his partnership with Bufford at 204 Washington Street and worked there until 1853, when he sold the shop to S. W. Chandler & Co. Thayer & Co. printed sheet music covers, theatrical posters, views of buildings and town views. After his lithography career, Thayer became a wealthy real estate broker and shareholder of multiple newspapers.

This information has been summarized from Boston Lithography 1825–1880 by Sally Pierce and Catharina Slautterback.