BLIND TOM.


Songs, Sketch of the Life ... of Blind Tom the Marvelous Musical Prodigy, the Negro Boy Pianist.... Baltimore: The Sun Book and Job Printing Establishment, c.1876. 30 pp. 8vo (230 x 145 mm). Original printed wrappers. Pages toned, corners bumped, some chipping and loss to edges and spine."Blind Tom" Wiggins (1847-1908) was born into slavery in Georgia. He showed an early aptitude for the piano, and was able to replicate songs, and even speeches, verbatim after only one listen. (Contemporary scholars suspect that today, Tom would likely be diagnosed as on the autism spectrum.) As a young man, he began touring the country, becoming one of the best known and highest paid performing pianists in America.