Opera and Song Books Published in England, 1703-1726 : A Descriptive Bibliography

Bibliographical Society, London, first edition, 1997. Cloth, 8vo, 26 cm,. xlix, 521 pp, plates. From the introduction: "This bibliography offers descriptions of almost 2000 issues of secular vocal music published in England 1703-1726, including works by Giovanni Bononcini, Henry Purcell, John Weldon, Attilio Ariosti and Richard Leveridge. The only exclusions are 'reprints' or subsequent volumes of books first published before 1703, books comprising solely the work of Handel, and the issues of the Monthly Mask of Vocal Music. The book indexes 2296 song first lines. The books described here represent the first extended effort to issue entirely commercial printed versions of musical stage works and they are also the first song books to be printed by engraving on a systematic basis. The book is a sequel to Day and Murrie's English Song Books 1651-1702, published by the Bibliographical Society in 1940, and augments David Foxon's English Verse 1701-1750. In addition to clarifying the bibliographic history of the books through examination of 863 within-scope copies (91.3 % of those identified), the bibliography tests and extends the standard concepts of bibliographical description. Several new descriptive features are introduced. There are over 200 illustrations of title-pages, frontispieces and music engraving styles. By permitting access to material that is not currently widely available in print, the bibliography will be of assistance to musicians, music and theatre historians, and literary scholars, as well as to librarians and bibliographers. Contents: Introduction (Definitions; Method; Bibliographical Description; etc); Descriptions; Indexes to the Descriptions (1 First lines and translations; 2. Composers, librettists, adaptors; 3 Singers; 4 Literary or dramatic works, operas, occasions; 5 Short-titles, publishers, dates; 6 Printers, publishers, sellers, with short-titles and dates; 7 Engravers and engraving styles; 8 Passe-partout title-page uses; 9 Books published in versions with one or both sides of; each leaf printed; 10 Libraries). List of Tables: I Publications issued 1711-16 comprising secular; vocal music solely by Handel; II Books published 1703-26 that are listed in Day and Munie,; English Song-Books; III Summary of library collections and copies; IV Passe-partout title-pages used in song books; published 1703-26; V Summary of descriptions; VI Summary of collation of A Collection of the Choicest Songs & Dialogues.