Songs of the Pioneers

Pasley, A.O.
SOLD.  Songs of the Pioneers.
Mesa, Arizona: Privately published. No date of publication given.
Presumed to be 1st edition because there are no additional printings indicated.  No pagination.
Pictorial wrappers. The front cover and several pages have been creased across the lower corner
and evidence of the fold can be seen but the vestiges of it do not jump off the page because of the
job done straightening the fold and restoring the pages. Overall, the condition is Very Good. $40
SOLD: To a musician and book collector in Georgia.

The contents of this booklet are 5 poems and 9 songs with both words and musical score. All were written by Pasley as was the Foreword. In the Foreword, Pasley provides background for some of the compositions and denied obsession with “Townsendism”, followers of which are consumed with “an honest zeal to recapture the American tradition of opportunity and security for those who are ‘good’” (this quote can be found on page 5 of Section SM in the March 8, 1836 issue of the New York Times). An unusual piece of musical Americana.