My Country ’Tis of Thee
"America," Autograph Manuscript, signed ("S.F. Smith. Written in 1832. June 3, 1887"), fair copy.
1887.
Price: $2,500.00
About the item
Pen and ink, four stanzas on 2 pp. lined paper. 8vo. My Country ’Tis of Thee. Framed and glazed, with photograph of the author. Provenance: Goodspeed's Book Shop Inc.
Item #310224
Samuel Francis Smith (1808-1895) was an editor, Baptist clergyman, and author. While a seminarian, “Smith was asked by his friend Lowell Mason, an early proponent of common school music education, either to translate the lyrics of some German songbooks into English or to supply new lyrics for the tunes. One such song, at the time unknown to Smith as the tune to the British anthem ‘God Save the King,’ was the basis of what became one of the most famous of American national hymns: ‘My Country, 'Tis of Thee.’ Originally five stanzas, the third was eventually removed to leave the four stanzas known today. Written in thirty minutes and stored away in a desk drawer for months before it was finally sent to Mason, the song was premiered on 4 July 1831 at a children's celebration in the Park Street Church of Boston. First published by Mason in The Choir (1832), it was published again four years later in The Boston Academy under its most widely known title, ‘America’ … often considered the second national anthem of the United States” (ANB).
