A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Boosey and Co.

BOOSEY & CO., music publishers. This house was established about 60 years ago by Thomas Boosey. He commenced business as an importer of foreign music, and was one of the very few persons then engaged in that trade. Subsequently he became the English publisher for Hummel, Romberg, De Beriot, Rossini, Vaccaj, Mercadante, and other well-known composers. The house was afterwards identified with the Italian operas of Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, until 1854, when a decision of the House of Lords deprived it of all its foreign copyrights. This judgment caused the firm to lose 'La Sonnambula,' 'La Traviata,' 'Il Trovatore,' and 'Rigoletto,' four of the most valuable properties that have existed in the music trade.

This serious loss of copyrights caused the firm to change its character, and it has since devoted its attention to the publication of popular English music, and to the production of cheap and standard musical works.

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