ABSTRACT
The most common handwritten marks in the music are added barlines. Most of these appear to have been inserted by later owners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, like John Stafford Smith. Such users obviously found it as difficult as most of us do to sing unbarred music, and they sometimes supplied ‘rehearsal cues’ too, in the form of a cross or other mark. They also inserted, judiciously or otherwise, sharps or flats where they thought they might be needed. Conscientious performers sometimes made corrections to the musical and verbal text. But it is surprising how few corrections there are, and this may give rise to the thought that the books went straight onto library shelves and were not actually used for performance. But then, the musicians among us remember that we sometimes notice, and correct, errors as we sing or play, without putting matters right with a pen or pencil.
