Most penny song sheets, issued during the Civil War period, were illustrated by cheap printers, some in the form of writing paper. In many instances, however, picture and song fill the entire sheet.

Elsewhere in the collection there may be found penny sheets, English or American, where the music is presumed to be so well known that only the words need be printed for general use. A few are late 18th or early 19th century. Of these, several, primarily the English ones, are frankly scurrilous.