Most of these pieces have cover lithographs depicting the costume of the day from the 1830s to the 1880s. Although much of the music is serious and instrumental, there is considerable humorous vocal music. Some of the costumes are exaggerated in style. For example the Grecian Bend as worn by women in the 1860s is a somewhat singular design, and this is parodied in a song about a man clad in a similarly exaggerated costume entitled "The Roman Fall". A number of covers portray the costume introduced in the 1850s by Mrs. Amelia Bloomer and the Dolly Varden style of dress of the 1870s. An amusing cover which shows bathing costumes of the 1880s is entitled "Water Sprites".