Customer Reviews

Sheet Music Reference And Price Guide (Sheet Music Reference & Price Guide)

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This 320 page volume contains over 13,000 listings of sheet music! There are over 300 full color pictures of sheet music covers and prices updated for the year 2,000. In addition to the alphabetical listing of songs and current prices, there are chapters on Cover Artists, Performers & Composers, Misc. categories ranging from advertising, black face, military, to patriotic, sports and WW I and II. There isn't a lot of back ground information, but a ton of listings, dates and prices. A valuable reference source for sheet music collectors.

I was pleasantly surprised at how attractive the book was. It is in the same format as a good book of modern music, slick cover, etc. I feel the information was incredibly thorough as far as listing the names and wanted features in old music. It specializes in piano sheet music, first editions and pretty covers, for the most part. As a rank beginner in this field, I had hoped for more tips as to where and how to sell one's "find" if they were lucky enough to have one. I would have enjoyed knowing more basics about collecting music. Are there shows? How has the value of music increased over time? I didn't realize the book would only cover individual sheet music...no collections of songs, no teaching materials, etc. I would have also wished for a way to tell who had done the front designs (none of mine gave obvious artists credits), and how to determine more easily if one had a first edition or not. I have a container of old music that stacks three feet deep and four feet long and two feet wide, yet not one piece qualified. Nevertheless, I think I will keep the book in my car for future garage sale forages. You never know! I had some pieces that I felt might potentially have a market that were not in the list, but overall the list was exhaustive. I am very impressed by the work that went into this book. One other thing I liked is that the values have been updated in l997 so its newer than the description really sites. I am glad this book exists. Linda Schiller-Hanna

I just purchased this book from Amazon.com. and thought it was an excellant guide, however I am new collector of WW II sheet music and was disappointed that there were not more Titles available for this period of time out of 140 sheets I could not find reference to 47 of them, The book still is a great asset to all us collectors'.

I'd like to thank all the people who bought my mother, Marie's, book. She died July 25, 1998. Many of you continue to call about the book and she would be very grateful for your continuing praise.She was about to update the book for the 3rd edition but that was not to be. Thank You

By far and away, if you need a price guide to sheet music values, this is a "must have" book. Warning, it doesn't have every single piece ever printed, but it must have 95% of them. With the changing economy over the years, you can't take the prices as realistic, but it will give you an idea of relative value. There is no current substitute for this book; it's the best reference book available - I would suggest to buy it without hesitation.

I was researching almost 100 pieces of late 1800's to 1930's sheet music from my mother's house, and found almost all of them in the book. In addition to listing the titles alphabetically, with prices, there are cross references to performers, composers, cover artists and genres. An excellent resource for the collector.

If you have some old sheet music that you wish to sell, then this is the guide for you! I highly recommend this book!

I was disappointed, but maybe that is my fault. Many music sheets were listed, with values. But there was virtually no editorial matter about the hobby in general -- nothing on price trends, determinents of value, reproductions, collecting, storing, arranging, buying and selling, etc. Very little 19th century or high-priced stuff. Mostly a book of lists, which would be useful for many collectors.

The information contained in the book is good but the book started coming apart at the spine after just about a week of use. I got the paperback copy (don't recall if there was a hard copy). I ended up tearing all the pages loose and putting them in a three ring binder, which I find makes the information easier to access anyway.

This is an excellent reference book but the prices should be viewed with a grain of salt. It does not take into account prices on EBay where most of these pieces can be found for much less. The most I have ever paid for an E.T Paull cover for example is $20 (I have about 40 of the 240 available). Over There by George M. Cohan can actually be had (the unsigned Norman Rockwell Cover) for less than $10. There may be individual auctions where covers fetch a higher price but not very often.

This book is a must-have for collectors. When one combines it with the Smithsonian Collections of first edition covers it will help you find out which version of the sheet music you have. My area of interest in Graduate School was American Music 1864-1910. I think sheet music was the T-Shirt of the late 19th and early 20th century. The covers delivered the message, most of the music is not very good and Tin Pan Alley turned out songs like crazy. Much of the music affected the society and the cover art more than the individual songs will long survive. My generation is the last one whose teachers were actually in vaudeville. When we die there will be no more direct link so it is good people are collecting this music, it keeps it alive.

So in conclusion this reference is an excellent hand-book. Just don't take the prices too literally.