Description:

Smith Samuel

2pp AMS of "America" lyrics, handsomely displayed in cream two-window mat, inscribed overall and signed by Baptist minister and poet Samuel F. Smith (1808-1895) as "S.F. Smith" in lower right corner of second page. In near fine condition, with overall toning and scattered light water stains. The two sheets of Crane's watermarked cream stationery paper are professionally attached to mat verso, with the actual size of mat measuring 14" x 11".

 

Smith hand-inscribed the lyrics of "America", or "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", on June 19, 1890. This is the standard four-stanza version of the song, with its hypnotic AABCCCB rhyme scheme. (Just one year earlier, in April 1889, Smith had added a fifth stanza to celebrate the Washington Centennial; significantly, this last stanza was not included here.)

 

Samuel Francis Smith originally penned the lyrics to "America" in 1832, while he was a theological student in Andover, Massachusetts. Smith set his lyrics to Thomas Arne's arrangement of the British national anthem "God Save the Queen". The poet was so inspired that he supposedly conceived of the lyrics in just thirty minutes.

 

A beautiful handwritten manuscript of Smith's "America", penned around the time of America's centennial!


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