The Olive Leaf

Published by William Hauser and Benjamin Turner, 1878.

A seven-shape book, using the Aiken shapes, this was Dr. Hauser's second collection of tunes (his first being The Hesperian Harp: a Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Odes and Anthems, published in four shapes at Philadelphia by T. K. Collins, Jr. in 1848).  The Olive Leaf includes eight of Hauser's tunes from the older book, as well as forty-eight new Hauser compositions.

The Olive Leaf is set in a format occasionally used for round-note books in the Nineteenth Century, but almost unique in shape-note books. There are three staves with the top staff containing the part that Sacred Harp singers would consider the treble and the bottom staff containing the bass. The middle staff, however, contains two parts, the tune's melody on top and the alto part below it.