PERCY's RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY/BALLADS SONGS ENGLAND/RARE 1794/$300+

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PERCY's RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY/BALLADS SONGS ENGLAND/RARE 1794/$300+ RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY. CONSISTING OF OLD HEROIC BALLADS, SONGS, AND OTHER PIECES OF OUR EARLIER POETS. TOGETHER WIT SOME FEW OF LATER DATE. London: Printed by John Nichols for F. & C. Rivington, 1794. Fourth Edition. Three Volume set. Very Rare.A handsome and complete 18th century edition of this classic work, one of the greatest antiquarian studies of the 18th century, the first major compilation of old ballads and songs. The origin of this collection was an old folio manuscript Percy found "lying dirty on the floor . . . being used by the maids to light the fire." Having salvaged it, Percy was assisted by Shenstone, Garrick, Goldsmith, and others in gathering related material. The result, according to the DNB, made an epoch in the history of English literature" and "promoted with lasting effect the revival of interest in our older poetry." These books are solid and complete and in excellent condiiton. Published more than 210 years ago, this early printing of a rare and sought-after set of books is now very valuable, usually selling for $300 to $500. Such a nice original set is not likely to come up for sale again soon on ebay. According to wikipedia: "The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (sometimes known as Reliques of Ancient Poetry or simply Percy's Reliques ) is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Thomas Percy and published in 1765 . The purported basis of the work was the manuscript which became known as the Percy Folio . Percy found the folio in the house of his friend Humphrey Pitt. It was on the floor and Pitt's maid had been using the leaves to light fires. Once rescued, Percy would use forty-five of the ballads in the folio for his book despite claiming the bulk of it came from this folio. Other sources were the Pepys Library of broadside ballads collected by Samuel Pepys and Collection of Old Ballads published in 1723, possibly by Ambrose Philips . Bishop Percy was encouraged to publish the work by his friends Samuel Johnson and William Shenstone who also found and contributed ballads.Percy did not treat the folio nor the work in them with scrupulous care. He wrote his own notes on the folio pages, emended the rhymes and even pulled pages out of the document. He was criticised for these actions even at the time, most notably by Joseph Ritson a fellow antiquary . The folio he worked from seems to have been written by a single copyist and errors such as pan and wale for wan and pale needed correcting.The Reliques contained one hundred and eighty ballads in three volumes with three sections in each. It contains such important ballads as The Ballad of Chevy Chase , The Battle of Otterburn , Lillibullero , The Dragon of Wantley , The Nut-Brown Maid and Sir Patrick Spens along with ballads mentioned by or possibly inspiring Shakespeare and several ballads about Robin Hood . The claim that the book contained samples of ancient poetry was only partially correct. The last part of each volume was given over to more contemporary works—often less than a hundred years old—included to stress the continuing tradition of the balladeer. The collection draws on the Folio and on other manuscript and printed sources, but in at least three cases anonymous informants, "ladies" in each case, contributed oral poetry known to them. He made substantial amendments to the Folio text in collaboration with his friend the poet William Shenstone .The work was dedicated to Elizabeth Seymour Duchess of Northumberland who was married to Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland . Elizabeth was part of the Percy family and a descendant of Henry Percy , whom some of the early ballads are about. Bishop Thomas Percy also claimed to be connected to the family and although this may have been fanciful on his part, it did seem to help him secure his bishop's job..."According to wikipedia: "The Percy Folio is a folio book of English ballads used by Thomas Percy to compile his Reliques of Ancient Poetry . Alt... read more

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