£600
6 vols., bound in 3, 8vo, pp. vi, 101, [1], vi, 102-208, [1]; vi, 209-310, vi, 311-413, [1]; vi, 414-516, vi, 517-620. Title-page to vol. 2 bound after contents leaves. Contemporary half-calf, tan boards, spines divided by raised bands, tan morocco labels, other compartments tooled centrally in blind. A little toning and soiling. Rubbed and soiled, some joints starting, spines creased. Gilt-edged labels sometime removed from front boards, gilding traces visible.
A set of Johnson's 1803 reissue of 'an indispensable collection of the canon of much of what remains the most popular in Scottish song' (Pittock, "The W. Ormiston Roy Memorial Lecture: Who Wrote the Scots Musical Museum?" in Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 42, 2016). It was originally issued in parts between 1787 to 1803, and on the completion of the 6th and final part Johnson reprinted the earlier parts with new title-pages and altered some plates to give more credit to Robert Burns following the latter's death in 1796; when alive he had not wished to be credited with many of his contributions, which number somewhere in the hundreds (and are the subject of some academic wrangling) and include 'Ae Fond Kiss', 'Scots Wha; Hae' and 'My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose'.
