Keffer Collection of Sheet Music, ca. 1790-1895 Content and design by John Bewley

Philadelphia Lithographers: Thomas S. Sinclair (ca. 1805-1881)

Thomas S. Sinclair was born around 1805 in the Orkney Islands. He studied lithography in Edinburgh, Scotland and other cities in Europe. By 1833 Sinclair was in Philadelphia where he drew a dancing scene for the firm of Kennedy & Lucas before the company went out of business that same year. Sinclair acquired the press of John Collins in 1838 and started his own firm at 79 South Third Street.

Thomas S. Sinclair was among the first Philadelphia lithographers to experiment with color lithography. He made his first tinted lithograph in 1843 and his skill advanced enough in the following years that he won a silver medal for color lithography at the Franklin Institute's exhibition in 1848. Sinclair moved his operation to a building owned by the Public Ledger at101 Chestnut Street (now 311) in 1849. From 1854 to 1859 Sinclair was joined in the firm of Thomas Sinclair & Co. by his brother, William B. Sinclair. Later Sinclair's son would work with his father and the firm's name was changed to Thomas Sinclair & Son. Thomas S. Sinclair died in Philadelphia in 1881.

There are approximately eighty items in the collection for which Thomas S. Sinclair's firms did the illustrations. Many of these items are listed elsewhere in this site under the names of the individual artists who provided the art work for Sinclair.

Illustrations by Thomas S. Sinclair in the Collection
Item No.	Title	Imprint	Plate No.	Illustration	Image
Box 28 no. 22	The Chick Waltz / by E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1867	9591.3	Color: Five chicks / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 28 no. 23	The Child's Prayer : air with brilliant variations / composed for the piano by E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1865	9199.7	Child in prayer kneeling on a bed / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 14 no. 10	Col. Ellsworth's Funeral March / composed and respectfully dedicated to Francis E. Brownell Esq. by Sep. Winner	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1861	Plate no.: 8265.4	Color: portrait of Col. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 14 no. 12	Col. Hyatt's Military Polka : respectfully dedicated to the cadets of the Penna. Military Academy, West Chester, Pa. / by Jno. R. Sweeney [i.e. Sweney]	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1864	9016.6	Color: Cadets in formation before an academy building / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 35 no. 9	Constantinople : quadrille / par Charles D'Albert	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, between 1852 and 1856	5264 6	Color: Constantinople harbor from a hillside / A. Frey, del. ; printed in tints by T. Sinclair
Box 25 no. 7	Dolly Varden / words by Frank W. Green ; music by Alfred Lee	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, between 1872 and 1875	131819.4	Color: Portrait of a young woman in a Dolly Varden dress / T. Sinclair & Son Lith.
Box 41 no. 11	Dolly Varden Grand March [or Dolly Varden Quadrille] / E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1872	13181.4	Color: Five women in period dress dancing a quadrille. Above them is a portrait of Dolly Varden / T. Sinclair & Son Lith.
Box 40 no. 7	Erin Go Bragh : quadrille on Moore's melodies / by Charles D'Albert	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker,1856	9550.13	Color: Irish dock at sunset / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 40 no. 9	The First Ride : caprice / composed & arranged for the piano forte by Addison P. Wyman	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1867	9726 6	Color: two girls giving a pony ride to a younger, third girl / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 41 no. 21	General Buell's Grand Quick Step / [composed by E. Mack]	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1862	8641.4	Portrait of General Don Carlos Buell / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 15 no. 20	General Grant's Grand March / composed by E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1862	None	Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant / [probably by T. Sinclair's Lith.]
Box 15 no. 44	General Grant's Grand March / composed by E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1864	8769.3	Portrait of Ulysses S. Grant / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 14 no. 26	General McClellan's Grand March : respectfully dedicated to Major General McClellan / composed by E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1861	8279.3	Color: Portrait of General George B. McClellan / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 14 no. 27	General McClellan's Grand March : respectfully dedicated to Major General McClellan / composed by E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1861	8279.4	Color: Portrait of General George B. McClellan with horse / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 40 no. 11	Gideon's Band : song & chorus : sung with immense applause in the musical extravaganza of Mazeppa at Mrs. John Drew's Arch St. Theatre, also by the Buckleys' Serenaders / music arranged by Chas. R. Dodworth	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1861	None	Color (oblong): costumed characters of Gideon's Band / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 29 no. 22	The Moon O'er the Hills is Beaming : a serenade / written and composed by William Lardner	Philadelphia : J. G. Osbourn, 1841	None	A moonlit lake / J. T. F. ; Wm. Lardner del. ; Sinclair's Lith.
Box 30 no. 48	Music Hath Charms, or Sarah Jane and the Drum / written and composed by G. Hunt	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, between 1872 and 1875	12147.4	A Woman hitting a man on his head with a drum mallet. The room is scattered with debris of musical instruments and music (all by "Chas. Coote") and the man's left leg is inside the drum / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 14 no. 43	Ninth New Jersey Regiment Grand March / composed by Roland May	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1862	8931.4	Color: state seal of New Jersey, set on a blue flag with two small, oval-framed scenes: one of Roanoke Harbor, Feb. 8, 1862 and the other of the Battle of New Bern, N. C., March 14, 1862 / Evans & Hassall ; T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 29 no. 28	Oh! Woo Me Not from My Cottage Home / words by Amanda M. Douglass ; music by J. C. Beckel Series: Beckel's American Ballads, no. 1	Philadelphia : J. C. Andrews, 1851	None	A naval officer saying farewell to a woman on shore / Sinclair's Lith.
Box 14 no. 50	Polka Mazurka Militaire : to his friend Fritz Tiedemann / R. Wittig	Philadelphia : W. R. Smith, 1863	None	Color: four small scenes depicting contents of the four works in the collection: Forward March, Polka Mazurka Militaire, Doctor's Call Polka, Young Recruits Gallop. There is an eagle at the top and musical instruments and a score set between the two lower scenes / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 28 no. 38	Wild Flowers : a la valse / E. Mack	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, 1871	12158.4	Little girl picking wildflowers in a field / T. Sinclair's Lith.
Box 36 no. 54	The Winter Night's Polka : op. 66 / by Gaston de Lille	Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, between 1856 and 1871	None	Nocturnal scene of a house in winter / H. Whatley ; Thomas Sinclair's Lith.