UK Snow White "Easy to Play" Piano & Organ Songbook

Snow White Easy-To-Play Piano or Organ Selection. Features eight songs, 20 pages (including cover). Published by Chappell & Co., Ltd. in London. Copyright Bourne Inc. Disney illustrations by permission Walt Disney-Mickey Mouse, Ltd. Authorized for sale only in Great Britain. Circa 1940s.

Front and back covers.

Title page.

Sample pages.

Image scans courtesy of the Greg Philip Collection.

1938 UK Snow White Piano Selection Songbooks

Snow White Piano Selection songbook. Compilation of songs; total of 11 pages. Published by Chappell & Co., Ltd. Copyright Irving Berlin Inc. Illustrations by permission Walt Disney-Mickey Mouse Ltd. Printed in England 1938. Price 2/6 net.

Image courtesy of the Greg Philip Collection.

Sample page: Some Day My Prince Will Come.

I'm Wishing.

Back cover.

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Individual songbooks were also produced for all of the numbers. Each priced 1/- net.

1938 Blanche-Neige Songbook by Salabert (14th collection - Mes Succès)

1938 Snow White piano music book published by Salabert of Paris. Quatorzième recueil Mes succès (14th collection - My Successes series). Cover includes a date stamp from 1941.

Images courtesy of the Greg Philip Collection.

1938 French Songbooks (multiple songs)

In 1938, sheet music was popular. These Snow White songbooks were published in Paris by Salabert. The music was copyrighted by Irving Berlin Inc. and the illustrations by Walt Disney Mickey Mouse SA. The front and back covers sport a single-tone color.

The Salabert 86th Collection series. Music for violin. Features 10 songs, one per page; a total of 12 pages (including covers).

Images courtesy of the Greg Philip Collection.

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The Salabert Fantaisie Sélection series music for piano. A multi-page composition. Total of 16 pages (including covers).

Illustrations and text copyright Disney/Irving Berlin 1938. Posted here for historical documentation purposes only.

See single song French songbooks in the next Archive entry. Plus check out an earlier post with a Salabert songbook featuring full-color illustrations.

1938 Italian Songbook & Sheet Music

Le Canzoni di Biancaneve, "The Songs of Snow White" is a songbook from 1938. This Italian edition was issued by Suvini Zerboni. It's a simplified version of the illustrated Snow White Children's Album that was published in England and also in Italy.

Front cover.

Sample page.

Back cover with list of songs.

The Snow White songs were also sold individually as sheet music. The Dwarfs' Yodel Song (La Triolese Dei Nani)...

Images and info courtesy of the Nunziante Valoroso Collection.

1938 Australian Songbooks

Snow White sheet music was first sold in America in the form of songbooks by Irving Berlin, Inc. The same series (but with a green-tinted cover) was also released in Australia and New Zealand by Allans Music Publishers, circa 1938.

The "Song Selection" book contained 16 pages (including the non-glossy covers) and eight songs. Just sheet music inside, no drawings or pictures. Measures 9" x 12".

"Authorized for sale in Australia and New Zealand, but not elsewhere." Original retail price 2/- (AUS), 2/6 (NZ).

A slightly later printing shows the base price went up to 2/6.

At the bottom of every page is some combination of annotation. Note the publication no. is B.3742.

A still later printing lists the price at 5/- or 50¢.

Each of the Snow White songs was also published individually in 4-page versions.

Special thanks to the John M. Collection of Australia for generously providing additional information and a few of these image scans.

1945 Tune-Dex Cards

In the music world, all popular songs have a lead sheet--a document that contains the basic lyrics, melody, chords, and legal information. Starting in the early 1940s, Tune-Dex cards were introduced which were similar to lead sheets but printed on 3x5 index cards.  According to Georgia State University Library...

George Goodwin, a radio station program director, first published the cards in 1942 and continued publication until 1963. The creation of the cards grew out of Goodwin’s need to have a reference source when selecting music for radio programs. The cards were also marketed to musicians as a tool to aid in remembering songs for performance. As a result, the cards later morphed into the widely used “fake books” of today, which are basically bound volumes of lead sheets.

Recently, three Snow White Tune-Dex cards from 1945 popped up on ebay. Not only do they include all the basic information for each song but also the performance fees for that year.

Some Day My Prince Will Come...

With A Smile and A Song...

I'm Wishing...

Images via billsbox.

1961 Italian Song Book

Beginning with Cinderella in 1950, Edizioni Curci became the publisher of Disney songbooks in Italy, and they remained so until 1975. This Snow White songbook dates from 1961, but it continued to be reprinted up until 1992. Today all the Disney songs are published in Italy by Cafè Concerto Editions.

Image and information courtesy of the Nunziante Valoroso Collection.

Starting in 1962, the Curci label--Carosello Records--also distributed the Italian Disneyland series of record albums.