My Fair Home. BISHOP (Sir Henry Rowley).

PRESENTED TO ROBERT RIVIERE OF BATH

Composed for and Sung by Mrs. H. R. Bishop, and affectionatley dedicated to his friend & Relative Robert Riviere (of Bath). The Poetry by Geo. Inman.

Autograph musical manuscript.

Oblong 4to. [246 x 305 x 6 mm]. [5]pp. Bound c.1885 by Riviere & Son (signed with an ink pallet) in half brown goatskin, marbled paper sides, the spine lettered in gilt between two raised bands, plain endleaves, untrimmed edges. (A little rubbed, with small hole in upper joint).
[c.1835].

A few minor stains and some marginal tears neatly repaired presumably at the time of the binding. The binding must date from after 1881 when Riviere took his grandson into the business and began signing as "Riviere & Son".

Henry Rowley Bishop (1787-1855) was a prolific composer of some 120 dramatic works, including 80 operas, light operas, cantatas and ballets, and is best remembered for "Home! Sweet Home!" and "Lo! Hear the Gentle Lark". He was Professor of Music at the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford and was Knighted in 1842, being the first composer ever to received the honour. He married the prima donna Sarah Lyon, who died in June 1831, and a month later he took as his second wife his pupil, the soprano Ann Riviere (1810-1884). She was the daughter of Daniel Valentine Riviere (1786-1854), the drawing master, and had five brothers and five sisters, including William and Henry, both artists, and Robert (1808-1882), the bookbinder. Robert set up shop in Bath in 1829 and moved to London in 1840, to become one of the greatest names in the book world.

The Bishops had three children but their Fair Home came crashing down in 1839 when Ann (known professionally as Anna) ran off with the harpist and composer Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. They travelled extensively, performing her popular pieces, and were said to be the inspiration for Trilby and Svengali in Du Maurier's Trilby. Sir Henry refused a divorce and died in poverty in London, where he was commemorated on the side of the Albert Memorial. Bochsa died in Sydney in 1856, and two years later Ann married Martin Schulz, a diamond merchant. She continued to tour the world, surviving a ship wreck on Wake Island, and died in New York.

A sheet of paper has been tipped inside the front cover, with a typed description, along with a clipped catalogue entry, and a lengthy ink inscription detailing the relationship of the various Rivieres, but making no mention of the scandal. It is signed by A. B. Burney, with a note "I wish this vol. to remain in the family of the descendants of Briton Riviere R.A." [Robert Riviere's nephew]. It has the booklabel of Charles Benson (1946-2017), Keeper of Early Printed Books at Trinity College, Dublin from 1988 to 2011.

Stock no. ebc8171