The Heroes of Trafalgar, Lord Nelson a songsheet by R. Sutherland c1805-06

NELSON, Lord Horatio; SUTHERLAND, R. Great Nelson's Enroll'd in the Annals of Fame; or, The Heroes of Trafalgar. Ballad, Written & Composed by R. Sutherland.
 
London: Printed & Sold by Preston, at his Wholesale Warehouses, 97 Strand, [1805-1806].
 
Folio bifolium, 320 x 240 mm, pp. [4]. Engraved musical notation throughout. Light foxing, moderate in places and occasional handling marks, old folds, a few small holes at former stitching points, but a clean and well-preserved survival. Good. 
 
Scarce patriotic sheet music celebrating the British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and the elevation of Admiral Lord Nelson into the national pantheon. The title proclaims Nelson "enroll'd in the annals of fame" and is dedicated "to those irresistible Heroes the Officers & Seamen of the British Navy". The text commemorates Nelson's victories at the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar, while also praising Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood and the wider achievements of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
 
Issued by the Strand music publisher Preston and sold for one shilling, the work belongs to the flood of patriotic songs, ballads and theatrical productions that followed Trafalgar in October 1805. 
A scarce piece of Nelsoniana and Trafalgar ephemera.