If you’ve visited this blog before, you’ll know I’m writing a history book about Scottish music publishers. (58,000 words and rising!) But I’ve reached a point where I’m writing about a book COMPILED by Scots, PUBLISHED in England, but also DISTRIBUTED from Edinburgh and Boston, Massachusetts.

I know a lot about the anthology (as I should – I’m writing about it!), but I’m curious about its life in the Scottish diaspora – in other words, anywhere else in the world where Scots emigrated.

The Boston agent of the book was Thomas J. Donlan. His address was Room 831, Colonial Building, 100 Boylston Street, Boston. He moved to New York some time between 1910-1915.

Song gems (Scots) : the Dunedin collection

Authors: James Wood, Learmont Drydsdale

Print Book, English, 

Publisher: Vincent Music Co, London, 1908

WorldCat bibliographical details

Now, I know from WorldCat and Jisc Library Hub Discover, that there aren’t many copies in libraries. My interest is more to see if there are many copies out ‘in the wild’ in people’s homes, and obviously it would be nice to discover that Mr Donlan imported and distributed lots of them. It was more of an ‘art music’ book than a book of simple folk melodies. The repertoire is non-standard. You’d probably have owned a piano, and been quite a good pianist – or had a good pianist to accompany your singing.

I’m not looking to buy copies – my own came from a dealer under 40 miles from Boston, and I don’t need another! I’m not a bookseller. I am literally just curious to find out if there are many survivors hiding in piano stools and under-stair cupboards. If you’ve got a copy, I’d love to hear from you!

Maybe you haven’t got this book, but you know more about Donlan the agent? If you are aware of archival data, please do let me know. My book is about Scottish publishing, but there’s room for a paragraph or two about the American distributor, if more information came to light. (I’ve already discovered that Colonial Building also housed the Colonial Theatre, and that there were a lot of music shops along the street – indeed, I know which organisation occupied room 831 after Donlan, and that’s another fascinating story, but really I can’t pursue that – it has nothing to do with Scottish music publishing!)

• Colonial Theatre Historical Tours – shame I’m on the wrong continent!

POSTSCRIPT, July 2024. This song-book is the subject of a chapter that I have contributed to an essay collection published by Lang, that is due out later this year.  It also gets mentioned in my own forthcoming monograph, again due out later this year. Do follow this blog if you want to keep updated!