£300
FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. [iv], lxxx, 332. Later biscuit calf by E. Riley & Son, boards bordered with a double gilt rule, spine divided by raised bands gilt, orange morocco label, other compartments tooled elaborately in gilt, top edge gilt. A touch of soiling, edge tear to one leaf not touching text. Boards a little scratched and marked. Armorial bookplate of John Croft Deverell to pastedown.
A collection of songs with printed music compiled by disputatious antiquary Joseph Ritson (1752-1803), who uses the preface to attack the scholarship and integrity of Thomas Percy, whose Reliques of Ancient English Poetry had appeared in 1765. ESTC records a protracted publication period for this book, with the sheets printed in 1787 but not issued until 1792 (with the title-page presumably printed in the interim). This copy retains its printed date of 1790, as against 'some copies' (ESTC) which had theirs altered to 1792. This first appearance is much scarcer than the expanded 1829 second edition in two volumes.
