Currently in the works and due in the summer of 2010 is the first truly comprehensive biography on E.T. Paull, America's "Other" March King and most certainly the King of the Descriptive March

The cover for the E.T. Paull Book

This book will cover multiple aspects of his life with several subchapters on related topics ranging from lithography to the lives of composers or artists he engaged. This will be a full-sized coffee table reference book complete with over 120 full color plates of some of the most vivid of the covers produced by A. Hoen Company, Joseph Rosenthal, and the Starmer Brothers. Also included is a comprehensive discography, rollography and sheetography of his works, maps of important locations in his life, and dozens of musical examples demonstrating his descriptive marches. One in particular, The Roaring Volcano, is fully dissected and explained in detail. There is a guide for collectors that will help determine what to collect and how to value it.

Also in the works with this exciting project is a CD that will contain both PDF and MIDI renditions, some hand-played, of selected E.T. Paull Marches. Medium resolution digitally restored full color images of over 150 covers will be included on the CD as well.

Once the book is out there will be links to buying locations here, and this page will also serve as a repository for updates, including reviews, errata correction, and links to other important E.T. Paull Resources.

The E.T. Paull Book Table of Contents

Even before it is out, I need to thank three people in particular who have helped a great deal with fact finding or verifying information in the text, as well as providing valuable images and additional finds. Joe Feenstra is an avid E.T. Paull collector who has one of the largest repositories of his works on the country, and on the web as well. Bob Riopel has a large roll collection of Paull works, as well as numerous other rare pieces of Paull ephemera, and is hoping to open a full-fledged E.T. Paull Museum in New York City in the near future. The one who started the knowledge base on the composer/publisher is, of course, Wayland Bunnell, whose support has been uplifting and extremely useful. He was the first to do any serious study on the life of the composer.

This book goes far beyond the usual texts on Paull, even my own extensive web biography on him available in the Biographies Section. Through a number of articles and advertisments written during his lifetime, plus public records and the sheet music itself, a story has emerged of a man driven to succeed with his cherished marches during an era of ragtime and popular song in this country. He rarely compromised on quality for his product, and in spite of his old-fashioned output, Paull won the respect of his peers in the music publishing business, and was a valued part of that community. The book also follows up on what happened to his empire after his death.