Joseph Ferrie

Joseph Ferrie, Music Publisher, 4, Bath Street.—

    The business of a music publisher, established by the well-known Morison Kyle at 108, Queen Street, in 1846, has, since 1880, been carried on by Mr. Joseph Ferrie at 4, Bath Street. During its career the firm has devoted itself very largely to the publication of Scottish melody, and has acquired the enviable distinction of being “the only really Scotch music-seller north of the Border”. The premises in Bath Street are used as offices only, and to serve in some measure as a storehouse from which to select the musical gems which it has given to a music-loving public.

    Among the most famous publications of the house are  “Kyle’s Scottish Lyric Gems”, which contain the words, music, and pianoforte accompaniment of no less than two hundred and twenty-five Scotch songs, embodying all that is bright, touching, and beautiful in Scottish song-music wedded to the melodious verses of Burns, Tannahill Hogg, and other Scottish poets who wrote for all time. It is one of the best and most comprehensive collections of Scottish song-music extant. Another notable production is “Gleadhill's Scottish Melodies”, arranged for the harmonium or American organ ; Books I. and II., each containing sixty melodies, post free, two shillings each, or the two books bound in cloth, limp, one hundred and twenty melodies, price five shillings nett. The North British Daily Mail says it “ does credit to both composer and publisher — the scheme of harmony is simple and unobtrusive, leaving the melody its rightful predominance ; while the Glasgow Herald avers that “the work is worthy of all praise”. These, of course, are but few of the more exclusively national of the musical children of the house.

    Of popular dance music quite a long list appears with Mr. Ferrie’s name on the title-page. Paper, type, size, and clearness of print alike, all that could be desired by an executant, and calculated to give him good repute in every household or orchestra to which his productions may make their way. The prima donnas, Madame Patti and Madame Marie Boze, are amongst his many patrons. Much of the music he publishes is the work of the well-known T. S. Gleadhill.

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