If you're seeking a holiday gift for that special someone, how about this: a copy of the first edition of the Star-Spangled Banner sheet music?
As The Baltimore Sun's Mary McCauley writes, only 11 copies are known to exist -- Johns Hopkins and the Maryland Historical Society also have one. So this week's auction by Christie's offers a chance to buy a rare piece of Americana.
Here's an excerpt from the article: It's the typo that gives it away.
The two 13-by-9.5-inch pieces of paper that will go up for auction at Christie's on Friday spell out in big, bold, black letters, "The Star Spangled Banner." Underneath this heading is written, much smaller, these words of explanation: "A Pariotic Song."
Thomas Carr, a 19th century music publisher who operated a store at 36 Baltimore St., intended to print "A Patriotic Song." But he was rushing to capitalize on the popularity of the little ditty that Francis Scott Key penned while watching the bombing of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, and lacked the modern-day luxury of spell-check. So when the first edition of the four famous verses that later became the national anthem were published in 1814, they contained a telling misspelling.