[ The Musical Standard, Fleet Street. ] File copies of eleven issues, containing around 175 items of original correspondence and other matter relating to advertising, and marked up by advertising manager Harry Lavender.

For more information about the periodical, see the entry in Brake and Demoor's 'Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland' (2009), which stresses the its independence: 'the Musical Standard was rare among nineteenth-century music journals in that it was not produced by a music publisher or other music issuing body'. The present item consists of around 175 items laid down in file copies of eleven issues, four of them from 1888: 21 April, 26 May and 16 and 30 June; and seven from 1891: 3 January, and 7, 14, 21, 28 February, and 7 and 21 March. The eleven file copies total 204pp., 8vo. Disbound, and with the original red wraps adding a further 44pp. Also present is a three-page article on the organ of St Peter's, Manchester, from the supplement of 28 March 1891, accompanied by a cutting (from Durrant's Press Cuttings, London) on the same subject from the Manchester Examiner. The entire collection loosely inserted in a red cloth binding, stamped internally '1891, FILE. JAN. FEB. MAR.' Aged and worn, with each of the front and back covers separated from one another and heavily chipped. In each of the eleven file copies the advertisements, both external and on the covers, are marked up by Lavender with manuscript notes apparently cross-referencing each advertisement to a volume of accounts. Around 175 items have been laid down over the editorial matter of the file copies. Among the inserted items are: correspondence (some addressed to Lavender directly); text of copy for insertion (both new and amended), order forms, receipts. Pasted down in one issue is a printed form, filled in with a list of advertisements appearing in January 1890. The inserted items range from communications from the German composer C. A. Ehrenfechter and the translator of Dostoyevsky Lena Milman to ones from the Royal College of Music and the British Cycle Manufacturing Company. The collection provides an insight not only into the musical milieu in late Victorian Britain, but also into the journalistic practices of Fleet Street during the same period. Also among the inserted matter are four handbill advertisements for organ recitals: one by W. G. Wood (vocalist Louise Lancaster), at Exeter Hall, Strand; and three at the Bow & Bromley Institute, first the Fraser Quintette; second James Halle and R. H. Booth (vocalists Clara Leighton and Alexander Tucker); third, 'Mons. Eugene Gigout (Organist of St. Augustine, Paris)' (vocalists Mrs Braham and H. Plunket Greene). Also inserted is a proof from 'Truth' of a folio advertisement for Ellis Davies & Co's tea, consisting of an illustration captioned 'Tea Tasting' (reproduced in reduced form on the back cover of the last file copy). The inserted material includes signed communications by: Robert Newman (1858-1926), founder of the Proms, but writing in connection with an advertisement for his singing; Carl August Ehrenfechter (1837-1914), German composer and piano teacher; English composer Edwin Augustus Sydenham (1847-1891); Lena Milman, translator of Dostoyevsky and associate of George Moore. Much of the inserted material confirms the opinion of Brake and Demoor that 'the Musical Standard was addressed primarily to learned amateurs, and - crucially - church musicians. Indeed, if the ecclesiastical foundations of nineteenth-century music were in doubt, then one need look no further than an issue of the Musical Standard to have them reconfirmed.' Among the ecclesiastical autographs are those of: Rev. George William Daniell (1853-1931) of Dulwich College Chapel; Dr William H. Speer ('A Cambridge Mus. Bac. and Fellow of the College of Organists'); the mathematician Rev. Edward Kay Kendall (1833-1894), writing from Southsea on letterhead of the University of Trinity College, Toronto; Rev. George W. Rooke, on letterhead of St Canices Library, Kilkenny; Francis L'Estrange Fawcett, vicar of St Matthew's, Luton; Rev. Robert Hey, St Andrew's Vicarage, Derby. Also: W. H. Treffry, organist, French church, Bloomsbury St; Thomas Richard Gonzalvez Joze? of the Royal Irish Academy of Music; George Farrant, St John's College, Hurstpierpoint; Alice Jackson ('Soprano, Ballads, Oratorios, Cantatas &c'); Walter Spinney, organist of the parish church, Leamington Spa; Alfred J. Layton ('Bass-Baritone for Oratorios, Concerts etc. Vocal quartett arranged'); Edward Mason, 'Singing Instructor to the Burslem School Board'; John Taylor, 'Pianoforte Tuner and Repairer', Birmingham; William Bulkeley, music teacher, Edinburgh; Thomas Smith, proprietor, Smith's Mutual Advertising Agency; Theophilus Hemmings, music teacher, Stoke-on-Trent; Dr Rowland M. Winn; Thomas J. Hoggett of Whitby; Mary Tree, contralto; W. H. Parker of Barrow-in-Furness. ORGANISATIONS: Royal College of Music (several, signed by registrar George Watson); Trinity College London (several, signed by secretary Shelley); Exeter Cathedral; London College of Music; The Cremona Society (signed by secretary George Carnaby-Harrower); London Organ School, International College of Music, London. COMPANIES (on letterheads): British Cycle Manufacturing Co. (signed by the manager Thomas Fuller Toovey); G. Adams & Son, Organ Builders, Brixton; The Bell Organ & Piano Co. Limited, Holborn; Oliver & Henry, Music Publishers, London; Estey Organ Co. (Hodge & Essex), Oxford Street (typewritten); Weekes & Co, music publishers and printers; William Augener, 'Music Printing Officine', London; the Lomas Patent Adhesive Vellum Tape Co. Ltd, Yeovil; John Haddon & Co.'s Central Advertising Offices; Marriott & Williams, music publishers, Oxford Street; Sell's Advertising Agency; Oxenham's Auction Rooms, Oxford Street (with calling card).