Personally-Bound Song Collections: Combining Popular Trends with Nostalgia

While collecting music is slowly falling out of fashion for many in the twenty-first century, there are still avid collectors who are continuing the tradition. One could argue, the collecting tradition took route at the end of the eighteenth-century, when the commercialisation of art spurred the popular pursuit of print collecting (see Nenandic, 1997). When it came to music, the collections took the form of printed sheets with music notation, which required the ability to read and play music if the collector hoped to bring the notes to life. Still, in much the same way as a vinyl, CD or digital music collection, printed sheet music collection evidence popular trends, fashions, and perhaps even nostalgia for old music.