£150
FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. [ii], viii, xxxii, 369, [1]. Later half red morocco by Webb & Hunt, Liverpool, marbled boards, spine bordered with a gilt rule and lettered direct in gilt, top edge gilt. Title-page spotted. A touch rubbed. Bookplate of William Armstrong to pastedown.
Despite purporting to be a collection of traditional ballads and songs collected from the peasantry by editor Cromek, it is mostly the original work of the poet Allan Cunningham (1784-1842). 'The book, which contains interesting accounts in prose of the Scottish border peasantry, obviously by Cunningham, was favourably received, and the mystification as to the origin of the ballads was always transparent to some, especially Scott and Hogg' (ODNB).
