"Tom Bowling"

sheet music

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS & SHEET MUSIC
Dibdin, Charles; Broome, T.
England, London
Circa 1865
paper
13-3/8 x 10 in.

Sheet music; "Tom Bowling"; on cover "TOM BOWLING,/ The Popular/ Nautical Song,/ with an Accompaniment/ FOR THE/ PIANO FORTE,/ WRITTEN & COMPOSED/ BY/ CHARLES DIBDIN."; published by T. Broome, London, circa 1865; cover type in various fonts and scrolls; eulogy to Charles Dibdin's older brother Thomas Dibdin (c. 1725-1780); first performed in London and published 1789; original title "Poor Tom"; referred to by Richard Henry Dana, and Herman Melville who quotes it in "White-Jacket"; death at sea theme; 2 pages. See also 2005.28.12. "The original name [Tom Bowling] is that of a naval character in [Tobias] Smollet's 'Roberick Random' . . ." (Kemp: Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea).

2003.21.15