BALLAD

[‘If it suits me to sing it’. Mary Davies, Welsh mezzo-soprano, first President of the Welsh Folk Song Society.] Autograph Signature to conclusion of Autograph Letter Signed.

Author: 
Mary Davies (1855-1930), English-born Welsh mezzo-soprano, co-founder and first President of the Welsh Folk Song Society, principal vocalist at the London Ballad Concerts and 1906 National Eisteddfod
Publication details: 
6 October 1882; no place.
£50.00

On 11 x 14.5 piece of paper, cut for an autograph collector from the conclusion of a letter. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with light patches of discoloration and a couple of pin holes; laid down on piece of cream paper from album. One fold line. Reads: ‘[...] I will be very pleased to look through it and if it suits me to sing it. / With kind regards to all / Believe me to remain / Yours faithfully / Mary Davies’.

[Bedwellty Colliery Explosion, 1865: street ballad in Welsh, with list of names of deceased.] Printed item titled: 'Hanes alarus am 26 o golliers a gollasant eu bywydau yn pwll glo Bedwellty, gerllaw Tredegar, Dydd Gwener, Mehefin 16, 1865.'

Author: 
[Bedwellty Colliery Explosion, 1865; Welsh street ballad; coal mining]
Publication details: 
Printed by 'William Thomas, Argraffydd, Caerfyrddin.' No date [late Vicvtorian].
£65.00

The title is 'Hanes alarus am 26 o golliers a gollasant eu bywydau yn pwll glo Bedwellty, gerllaw Tredegar, Dydd Gwener, Mehefin 16, 1865.' This may be translated as 'The woeful tale of 26 colliers who lost their lives in the Bedwellty coal mine, near Tredegar, Friday, 16 June 1865. 4pp 16mo (15.5 x 9 cm). Paginated [1]-4. Bifolium. Printer's slug at foot of last page. Disbound. A frail survival: aged and worn.

[ Arthur Calder Marshall, author. ] Typed Letter Signed to Harry L. Spilstead, regarding his edition of the ballads of George R. Sims.

Author: 
Arthur Calder Marshall (1908-1992), English novelist, essayist, critic, memoirist and biographer [ Harry Leonard Spilstead; George R. Sims (1847-1922), author and bon vivant ]
Publication details: 
3 The Grove, Lower Teddington Road, Hampton Wick, Kingston-upon-Thames. 15 January 1968.
£50.00

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. The main topic of the letter is Marshall's work preparing his book 'Prepare to shed them now. The Ballads of George R. Sims' (London: Hutchinson, 1968). A long and characteristic letter. After references to their meeting at the British Museum and to 'that excellent bookseller, Mr Wallace of The Guild Hall Bookshop' ('he showed me a selection of the Dagonet Ballads – nothing like as good as the copy you saw'), he turns to a 'Sims letter' which Spilstead sent him: 'I cant at the moment date it.

A Catalogue of an Unique Collection of Ancient English Broadside Ballads printed entirely in the Black Letter.

Author: 
'Black-letter Ballads' [ John Russell Smith, London bookseller; Charles Whittingham, Chiswick Press ]
Publication details: 
On Sale by John Russell Smith, No. 36, Soho Square, London. 1856. [ Chiswick Press: - C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. ]
£100.00

vii + 141 + [1]pp., 8vo. Final leaf with Chiswick Press device of dolphin and anchor and lion. In sturdy nineteenth-century black leather half-binding, with marbled boards and 'Russell's Catalogue 1856' in gilt on spine. Ownership stamp of 'Alfred H Maurais' on fly-leaf. A characteristically-elegant Chiswick Press item, with 408 items listed, the titles in black letter. Three-page anonymous preface, dated 'May, 1856.' Tight copy, but aged and lightly damp-stained, in worn binding.

[Street ballad; Christmas] The Black Decree, &c

Author: 
Anon.
Publication details: 
'Printed by J. Evans and Sons, Long-lane, London", c.1795 [see BBTI]
£100.00

One page, 4to, c.35 x 24cm, folded (with marks), creased slightly at edges and on folds, some foxing and pinholes, blank reverse grubby, with two small woodcuts at top. A sheet containing a number of Christmas songs: The Black Decree (Herod); O see man's Saviour in Bethlehem born; While Shepherds watch'd their Flocks by Night; On Christmas Night all Christians sing. No other copy traced.

[Eighteenth-century ballad.] Manuscript of untitled poem beginning 'Ere ye. read ys. ye. may suppose. | That some new listed Lover. | By means of Poetry has chose. | His Passion to discover.'

Author: 
[Eighteenth-century English manuscript ballad; Georgian popular poetry]
Publication details: 
Early eightheenth century. [Another (later?) version published in the Gentleman's Magazine, London, May 1744.]
£180.00

2pp., on both sides of a strip of 35.5 x 11.5 cm laid paper with fleur-de-lys watermark. In a secretary hand employing the thorn and long s. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An untitled forty-line poem, divided into five numbered eight-line stanzas. The narrator is an older married woman, advising a younger woman not to marry, with observations on the frailties of the male sex. The first stanza reads: 'Ere ye. read ys. ye. may suppose. | That some new listed Lover. | By means of Poetry has chose. | His Passion to discover.

Printed satirical handbill, written in apocalyptic style in prose and verse, on an engraving of 'The Peoples Frend & Hed-Vo-Cate' (i.e. The People's Friend and Advocate), one of the 'intended Inhabitants' of Pandaemonium.

Author: 
[SatirIcal Georgian handbill, satirising 'The Peoples Frend & Hed-Vo-Cate' [i.e. 'The People's Friend and Advocate']]
Georgian satire
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [British; 1820s?]
£280.00
Georgian satire

1p., 12mo. On 24.5 x 18.5 cm. piece of thin wove paper. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper with damage to extremities. A scarce and intriguing survival, about which nothing has hitherto been discovered. Printed in heavy black type characteristic of the early nineteenth century.

[Printed nineteenth-century handbill.] Copy of a curious Love Letter | From a young Gentleman in this Neighbourhood, to his Sweetheart, Miss W - , of this Town, which was found near this place yesterday morning.

Author: 
'T. B - l.' [nineteenth century handbill]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [1830s?]
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Text enclosed within a decorative border. In fair condition, on heavily aged and worn wove paper, with a couple of small holes. Printed on cheap paper, with rough untrimmed edges. Beneath the title is a poem in two columns, itself titled 'Directions for Reading it.': 'Hast thou no pity on my woes? | Dost thou at me turn up thy nose? | I'll make my declaration first, | So read straight forward and be curst. | But if thy heart to me incline, | O!

Printed broadside ballad titled 'Old Coal's Joke.' [A satire on King George IV's marriage to Queen Caroline, parodying the nursery rhyme of 'Old King Cole'.]

Author: 
[King George IV of the United Kingdom (1762-1830) [previously Prince Regent] and his wife Queen Caroline [Caroline of Brunswick] (1768-1821); Hodgson & Co., printers; broadside ballad]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [London: Hodgson & Co., 1821?]
£150.00

On one side of a strip of wove paper, 46.5 x 9.5 cm. Cut down. In fair condition, on aged and lightly ruckled paper. 96 lines arranged in 12 numbered eight-line stanzas.

[Handbill; verse] Colored Cavalier

Author: 
[H. de Marsan, publisher & bookseller; E.A. Sparks, illustrator]
Colored Cavalier
Publication details: 
H. de Marsan, Songs, Ballads, toy books. 60 Chatham St, NY. "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by H. DE MARSAN [...] Clerk's Office [...] for the Southern Dustrict of New York".
£320.00
Colored Cavalier

Handbill, one page, crudely coloured border with images of a black troubadour with banjo[?] , a native American, and a trapper [?], 26 x 17cm, three stanzas each eight lines plus chorus, edges chipped, laid down on a larger page. Commences, "Oh! listen a while., a story I will tell; | It will please you to death, I know berry well [...]" Decorative border signed "E A Sparks" ("Printed within colored pictorial border (De Marsan trapper border J, in Wolf, E. Amer. song sheets)." One copy of this imprint listed by WorldCat, two of another imprint (later).

Autograph Letter Signed from Evangeline Florence to an unnamed male impressario.

Author: 
Evangeline Florence (1873-1928), American-born British soprano, remembered for her work at the Crystal Palace, London Ballad Concerts, and Royal Choral Society
Autograph Letter Signed from Evangeline Florence
Publication details: 
21 August 1898; on letterhead of 59 Wynnstay Gardens, Kensington, altered in autograph to 'Rottingdean'.
£56.00
Autograph Letter Signed from Evangeline Florence

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She will 'keep January free' for him, and they can 'arrange the details of programme later'. She agrees that 'a wholly-Brahms programme might be rather heavy'. See Florence's obituary, The Times, 7 November 1928.

Chapbook entitled 'The History of the Earl of Derwentwater Containing His Life, Trial, Sentence, & Execution, Also A Copy of Pathetic Verses ['Lines on the Fate of Lord Derwentwater'].'

Author: 
William Reay Walker, Newcastle printer [James Ratcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater; Charles Lolley; chapbooks]
Publication details: 
No date [c.1862]. 'Newcastle-on-Tyne: Wm. R. Walker, Printer, Arcade.'
£120.00

12mo (roughly 16.5 x 9.5 cm): 24 pp. Good, on aged paper, with slightly dogeared corners. No stitching or stapling binding the leaves together. An attractive production, more sophisticated than is usual with a chapbook. Crisply printed in small type. Title enclosed within a decorative border and containing vignette of the royal coat of arms. Headed, in a small neat contemporary hand, 'Purchased at Whitby. | 30 Aug 1862'. The poem 'Lines on the Fate of Lord Derwentwater' (pp.18-19, 24 lines in six stanzas) begins 'How mournful feeble Nature's tone, | When Dilston Hall appears;'.

Cnuasachd bheag amhrán. Le haghaidh aos óg na Gaedhilge d'foghluim ins na sgoileannaibh. An t'Athair Pádraig Breathnach do chruinnigh. [Cuid a tri.]

Author: 
Pádraig Breathnach [Father Patrick Walsh (c.1885-1927), Irish cleric, republican and folklorist]
Publication details: 
Dublin: Muinntir Bhrúin & Nualláin do chlódh-bhuail. [circa 1920?]
£120.00

16mo (15 x 12 cm), 32 pp. Stapled pamphlet, in original green printed wraps. Text complete and clear, on aged and dogeared paper. Wraps worn and stained. Part three only of an annotated collection of ballads. Six-page English glossary at rear. Scarce: the National Library of Ireland only appears to have Part Five, and the only record on COPAC is of Parts One and Three at Trinity College, Dublin.

Illustrated handbill poem, a street ballad entitled 'A New Song, entitled, Dear Peggy.'

Author: 
[Victorian London street ballad; broadsheet; handbill; death]
Publication details: 
Date and publisher not stated. [London; circa 1840?]
£38.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 230 x 90 mm. On pitted, aged paper. Text complete. Approximate 30 x 50 mm piece torn away from top right-hand corner, causing loss to small illustration at head, which appears to be a crude woodcut of a woman lying in a coffin. The poem consists of thirty-six lines arranged in five stanzas. The first stanza reads 'Dear Peggy, read this letter, | its the last one I'll send, | Our long correspondence, | is now at an end.

Illustrated poem, a street ballad entitled 'The Wheel of Fortune'.

Author: 
[Victorian street ballad; broadsheet; handbill; death; nineteenth-century folk song]
Publication details: 
Date [circa 1840?] and publisher not stated.
£56.00

On one side of a piece of thin wove paper, roughly 260 x 95 mm. Aged and creased, with internal 25 mm closed tear affecting four words of text (all of which can be completed from the context) repaired on blank reverse with archival tape. Otherwise text and illustration clear and entire. Small (30 x 40 mm) woodcut at head, showing two early nineteenth-century country coves outside a cottage. The poem consists of ten four-line stanzas.

Illustrated Victorian handbill poem, a street ballad entitled 'The Golden Glove.'

Author: 
[Victorian street ballad; handbill poem; street ballad; broadsheet; nineteenth-century folk song]
Publication details: 
Publisher and date not stated. [Circa 1840?]
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper roughly 280 x 95 mm. Aged, creased and spotted, with chipping to extremities, but with text and illustration clear and entire. Curious small (roughly 40 x 65 mm) crude illustration at head, showing dove with olive branch and acorn. Forty-line poem arranged in five stanzas. Interestingly-garbled nineteenth-century folk song with ancient antecedents.

Handbill cockney street ballad entitled 'IT'S MONEY WELL LAID OUT. Sung by ALEC HURLEY.'

Author: 
Alec Hurley [Alexander Hurley (1871-1913), music hall artiste, coster singer, and Marie Lloyd's second husband [George Le Brunn; Harry Castling; London street ballad; cockney; East End slang]
Publication details: 
Date, place and printer not stated. [circa 1898]
£120.00

On one side of a piece of light-brown laid paper, dimensions roughly 240 x 125 mm. Text clear and entire, on lightly creased paper with chipping, short closed tears and loss to extremities. Crudely printed. A thirty-two line poem, arranged in four four-line stanzas, each with a different chorus. An excessively scarce piece of music hall ephemera. No other copy of this particular item, possibly produced for distribution to Hurley's music hall audience, is present on COPAC or anywhere on the web.

Handbill poem, entitled 'The Regency, A New Song in Honour of His Majesty and the Prince of Wales. Tune - "Hearts of Oak." '

Author: 
G. M'Ardell, printer, Newcastle-street, Strand [the madness of King George III; King George IV; the Prince Regent]
Publication details: 
[Undated, but between 1810 and 1820.] London: Printed by G. M'Ardell, Newcastle-street, Strand.
£120.00

Printed on one side of a piece of rough wove paper, approximately 24 x 10.5 cm. Text clear and entire on aged, creased paper. A production in favour of the Prince Regent, with no trace of sarcasm apparent. Consists of six four-line stanzas, each followed by the chorus 'Hearts of Oak, &c.' First stanza reads 'Come cheer up my lads, we'll no longer repine, | United, we'll triumph - OUR CAUSE is divine!

Handbill poem, with illustration, entitled 'Doodle, Doodle, Doo. A New Love Song in the Court Stile.'

Author: 
John Pitts, ballad printer of Seven Dials [Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; Mary Anne Clarke (1776-1852)]
Publication details: 
Printed and Sold by J. Pitts, No. 14. Great Saint Andrew Street Seven Dials,'
£100.00

Printed on one side of a piece of rough laid paper, approximately 24.5 x 8.5 cm. Crude circular woodcut of pedlar at head, diameter 3.5 cm. Good, on aged paper with a little creasing at head and foot. Consists of four four-line stanzas with refrain 'Doodle, doodle, doo.' First stanza, heavy with double-entendre, reads 'HEAV'N bless my dearest little dear, | The wind is not quite fair, | From Portland Road I write this here - | Oh! bless your little hair. | Doodle, doodle, doo.' Clearly refers to a high society Regency scandal, possibly that concerning the Duke of York and Mary Anne Clarke.

Handbill poem, with illustration, entitled 'A Parody on Mr. Clarke.'

Author: 
John Pitts, ballad seller of Seven Dials [Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; Mary Anne Clarke (1776-1852)]
Publication details: 
[circa 1809] 'printed and sold by J. Pitts, No. 14, Gre<at> St. Andrew-street, Seven-Dials.
£100.00

Printed on one side of a piece of rough wove paper, 25 x 9 cm. At the head is a crude woodcut of lady playing keyboard, dimensions 2 x 3 cm. On aged, creased paper with wear to extremities. Text clear and entire, but not properly centred, with the result that the last two letters of the word 'Gre' in the address cropped. The poem consists of six stanzas of six lines each. First stanza 'YOU have heard of Mrs.

Autograph Letter Signed to Egerton Grey.

Author: 
Teresa del Riego
Publication details: 
12 January 1937; on letterhead '18, HOLLYCROFT AVENUE, N.W.3. | TEL: HAMPSTEAD 0055.'
£75.00

British composer (1876-1968) of light classical music and singer. 16mo. 2 pages. In good condition, with one neat vertical crease and one dog-eared corner. She thanks him for the 'charming lyrics'. 'I don't think I had better embark on any more at present, as I find it increasingly difficult to get things published, & my Store of MSS. is very large!' The two letters of his that she has are signed 'Grey' and she will be interested to see his 'real signature'. She wonders whether he has a spare copy of 'A recall'.

Syndicate content