Rhames, Benjamin

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Dates Active in Dublin: 

1753–1774

Business Type: 
Music publisher
Music seller
Address(es): 

Blind Quay, c. 1756–64
At the Sun, 16 Upper Blind Quay, c. 1764–74

Details: 

Son of Aaron Rhames, husband of Elizabeth Rhames and father of Francis Rhames.

Munter states that he 'began music printing around 1760'.

Benjamin was a churchwarden of St John's Church, Fishamble Street in 1765, where the baptism of one of his children between 1750 and 1760 (date unclear) is recorded.

His death on 16 September 1774 is reported in the Hibernian Journal where he is described as a 'Dealer in Musick and Haberdashery'.

Succeeded in business by his wife Elizabeth.

[Details differ according to sources: Humphries & Smith gives the dates as 1756 to 1775, Boydell (Calendar) gives the dates as 1750 to 1775 and Munter gives the dates as 1753 to 1775. The Hibernian Journal confirms that he died in 1774. Note: Lawrence gives B. Rhames erroneously as the publisher of The Devonshire Minuet c. 1781.]

Select Product/Work List: 

Published

  • La Casina, 1761 (Munter)
  • A Tripp to the Dargle, 'introducing the popular Irish air "Haste to the Wedding"', 1763 (Munter)
  • How Happy Are We, 1763 (Munter)
  • [Purcell], A Favourite Song in King Arthur and [Arne, T.A.], In Infancy our Hopes and Fears (In Artaxerxes), set for two guitars and The King of Pruccia's Minue, for the guitar, c. 1765 (Lawrence)
  • 'Overture, Songs, Duets, etc., in the Opera of The Royal Shepherd, by George Rush', 1765 (Munter)
  • [Arne, T.A.], Fair Aurora (In Artaxerxes) with adaptation for two guitars, c. 1769 (Lawrence)
  • [Dibdin], The Airs with all the Symphonies in The Padlock, for violin, flute and guitar, c. 1769 (Lawrence)
  • The Revenge of Athridates (Munter)
  • Bianci, Francesco, The Marquis of Kildare's March, set for two guitars or violins (Lawrence)
  • Bianci, Francesco, The Marchioness of Kildare's Minuet, set for two guitars (Lawrence)

    • Sold

  • 'Selection of Handel's oratorio songs [...] a fresh parcel of Roman fiddle strings', 1759 (Public Gazeteer)
    • See Also: 

    Rhames, Aaron
    Rhames, Elizabeth
    Rhames, Francis

    Source(s): 

    Public Gazetter, 14–17 July 1759, p. 267

    Hibernian Journal, 16–19 September 1774, p. 3

    Flood, W.H. Grattan, ‘Dublin Music Printing from 1750 to 1790’, The Bibliographical Society of Ireland: Short Papers, 2.5 (1923), 101–06 (p. 102)

    Dix, E.R. McC., ‘Some Dublin Music Printers and Music Sellers of the Eighteenth Century’, The Irish Book Lover, 18.1 (January/February 1930), 26–28 (p. 28)

    Carroll, F., ‘Dublin Music Sellers, Etc. 18th Century’, The Irish Book Lover, 31.6 (November 1951), 129–30 (p. 129)

    Humphries, Charles and William C. Smith, Music Publishing in the British Isles, from the Beginning until the Middle of the Nineteenth Century; a Dictionary of Engravers, Printers, Publishers, and Music Sellers (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 272

    Boydell, Brian, A Dublin Musical Calendar 1700–1760 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1988), p. 261

    Munter, Robert, A Dictionary of the Print Trade in Ireland: 1550–1775 (New York: Fordham University Press, 1988), p. 232

    Boydell, Barra, 'The Development of the Dublin Music Print Trade to 1800', Long Room (1996), pp.25-33 (p. 31)

    Lawrence, Thomas, ‘The History of the Guitar in Ireland 1760-1866’, 2 vols (unpublished doctoral thesis, University College Dublin, 1999), I, pp. 35, 38

    McHale, Maria, 'Music', in The Irish Book in English 1800–1891, ed. by James H. Murphy, The Oxford History of the Irish Book, IV (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 595–601 (p. 596)

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Rhames, Benjamin (1)’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Boydell, Brian, ‘Rhames, Benjamin (2)’, Dublin Music Trade Card Index <http://dublinmusictrade.ie/card-index>

    Last Update: 20-05-2021