CHAPBOOKS            
A-J   •   K-Z

Lovers in Disguise, Lost Children, Ghosts, Shrews, & More
Illustrated in COLOR     

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•  First facsimile edition of this gathering of folksongs and ballads, redone in quirkily illustrated versions by Joseph Crawhall II (1821–96), an antiquarian, writer, and artist — who has supplied his own woodcuts. According to the preliminary note, “Crawhall's Chap Book Chaplets were originally issued uncoloured as eight separate chap-books and as a bound volume containing the eight parts. A small number of volumes were made up with the illustrations hand-coloured: there is considerable variation between copies. The present edition, printed by lithography follows a hand-coloured original.” That original was published in 1883 by Field & Tuer et al.

This bright and cheerful facsimile reproduces “The Barkeshire Lady's Garland,” “The Babes in the Wood,” “I Know What I Know,” “Jemmy & Nancy of Yarmouth,” “The Taming of a Shrew,” “Blew-Cap for Me,” “John & Joan,” and “George Barnewel,”all with their remarkable, rambunctious, good-humored illustrations.

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Publisher's quarter very light grey linen and printed paper–covered sides; small faint spot of staining at lower edge of front cover, otherwise clean and unworn. Pages age-toned (not unattractively or indeed inappropriately!). A thoroughly delightful production in a very nice copy.  (41201)

Half-a-Dozen Songs & a NICE CUT

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•  Includes“The Land o' the Leal,” “Despairing Mary,” “The Thorn,” “Sleeping Maggie,” “Fair Helen,” and “Hal the Woodman” along with the title piece. The woodcut title-page vignette shows a bird saying “Amen,” with “[No.] 22" printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2D10766.   Removed from a nonce volume. Pages slightly age-toned, with edges untrimmed and lower outer corner of title-page torn away, else clean.  (17478)

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Bothwell Brigg . . .

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•  The parish and town of Bothwell, Lanark County, is about seven miles southeast of Glasgow. At Bothwell Bridge over the River Clyde, the Royalists under Monmouth and Claverhouse defeated the Covenanters on June 22, 1679.

Scarce. “[No.] 73" printed at foot of title. The title woodcut vignette on this chapbook shows two men fighting with swords.

•  Unbound; removed from a nonce volume, with slim survival of the spine of whatever once was bound next to it, just showing along its spine. Very good.  (41329)

Go to the Highlands, My Jewel, with Me . . .

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•  Uncommon chapbook: Two Scots ballads, with a title-page woodcut vignette of a young woman in a scarf and bonnet, leaning against a gate. “[No.] 1” is printed at the foot of the title.

•  This ed. not in NSTC.   Removed from a nonce volume. Inner margins irregular. Age-toning, light browning.  (37139)

Bonnie baby Livingstone; To which is added The Twa martyrs' widows. Glasgow [Scotland]: Printed for the Booksellers, [ca. 1840]. 12mo, 8 pages.
$75.00

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a young woman holding a rose while a young man with his arm around her shoulder holds her other hand. “[No.] 78" is printed at the foot of the title.

WorldCat locates only eight copies worldwide.

•    Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). Very good.  (17407)

Hoop, La?

•  Six Scots ballads. The woodcut title-page vignette shows a young child rolling a hoop.

•  NSTC 2A8729.   Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned, else clean.  (38500)

Some Songs in DIALECT — Some Not

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•  Song lyrics, with a woodcut title vignette of a figure seated in a chair with two small children. Macnie was active between 1820 and 1830.

•  NSTC 2B57765. Removed from a nonce volume. The front edges of the title and verso are darkened, else very good. (16759)

An Old Story — A German Tale for a Scots Audience

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•  Uncommon chapbook:   “A celebrated ballad, translated from the German,” being an English rendition of “Der Pfarrers Tochter von Taubenhain.” A nobleman pursues a virginal country maid, and the liaison ends very, very badly for the latter. The title-page bears a woodcut vignette of a woman picking mushrooms, with [no.] “70" at the foot of the title.

•  Not in NSTC.   Removed from a nonce volume. Pages faintly age-toned, with small edge nicks.  (37155)

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Live Every Day as if the World Were Ending — SCARCE ISSUE

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•  Apocalyptic warning, written by a Scottish missionary (1766–1840) known for his Travels in South Africa. This printing, apparently the first, is scarce; WorldCat locates three U.S. institutional holdings of a later “Evans and Son” imprint, but none of this “John Evans, No. 42" printing. The large title-page wood-engraving illustrates the dividing of the wicked from the righteous..

Provenance: From the chapbook collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Removed from a nonce volume; page edges gently browned. The workmanlike printing is somewhat uneven, and the title-page vignette shows a few small ink spots from the press.Uncommon and interesting.   (41160)

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Who's Happier?

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•  Dialogue in verse. Imprint derived from colophon.

Not listed in WorldCat.

•  Uncut. Folded as issued; never sewn. Soiling around margins. Good ++ copy. (8527)

“I've Been Singing His L E G”

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•  Uncommon chapbook of popular songs, featuring a curious title-page woodcut illustrating the conclusion of the first piece, “The Cork Leg”: a gamboling skeleton roams the countryside onone bony leg and one cork prosthesis. The contents include “A Kiss and Nothing More,” “Ellen Aureen,” “The Exile of Erin,” “Meet Me in the Willow Glen,” “Rich and Poor,” “The Star of Glengarry,” and “The Trial of Willy Reily,” among others.

This inexpensively printed pamphlet has two pages of text reversed, with a large portion of “The Exciseman Outwitted” incongruously replacing the second verse of “The Daughter of Israel”: “I weep, land of Judah, for thee. [/] Your hogs to a fine market you've brought . . .”

This ephemeral songster is seldom seen outside of the U.K. WorldCat findsno U.S. institutional holdings of any imprint.

•  NSTC 2C37950.   Removed from a nonce volume; title-page all but separated. First leaf with outer margin creased. Pages slightly age-toned. An interesting and uncommonly encountered item, incidentally presentinga fine example of “things that can go wrong in the printshop.”  (37242)

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Victorian-Era PROVINCIAL PRINTING of a
“Diverting” KidLit CHAPBOOK

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•  In this penny chapbook, each page has a small wood engraving appropriate to the text of the four-line poem below it. The reader meets Joan and her mischievous, talented, and at times anthropomorphic cat and dog.

The first and last pages (i.e., 1 and 16, both blank) are pasted to the inside of the wrappers.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

WorldCat locates only three libraries reporting ownership (Pierpont Morgan, Yale, Princeton) but we know of two others (Oxford, Toronto Public).

•  Publisher's rust-colored wrappers; the original single stitch now perished and leaves loose. Very good.  (38910)

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Daughter Jean is theInteresting One

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•  The Duke of Gordon's three daughters leave Castle Gordon for Aberdeen. Lady Jean runs off with Captain Ogilvie, who is stripped of his rank as a punishment. After bearing him three children, Lady Jean grows weary of living in poverty and returns to her father's castle; however, all ends well: Ogilvie discovers that all his brother's children have died; he is now “heir of Northumberland”; and Lady Jean becomes Countess of Northumberland.

Title woodcut vignette of a man in doublet and hose with a plumed helmet and a sword; “[No.] 18” printed at foot of title. Very scarce chapbook edition.

•  Unbound; removed. Very good.  (37146)

INTEMPERANCE Killed the Tailor

•  Woodcut title vignette of a group of ladies and gentlemen surrounding a corpse in an open coffin. Inscribed on the title page: “John Andrews, Paisley.”   An elegy in Scottish dialect for a fine tailor and a hard drinker: “For Jamie weel coud use the thumle, / An' was wi' needle aye fu' nimle, / An' ne'er about the price wad grumle / O' ony job, / But aft wad drink until he'd tumle / Clean aff the broad.”

The last page offers a “Per Contra” claiming, “Jamie Gemmill yet is leevin” — with a note on where you can find him to buy him a drink!

Provenance: Neat inscription John Andrews, Paisley,” on front wrapper.

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed); sewn with sewing loosening. Very good.  (38503)

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“Behold, Here's a Ditty, the Truth & No Jest”

•  Mid-19th-century chapbook printing of a very popular folk-tale ballad about a young gentleman who, having gambled away his fortune and subsequently gone to work asa merchant's agent in Turkey, shows remarkable kindness to the corpse of an unburied Christian and to a young servant sentenced to be executed, and who is later rewarded for his generosity. First published around 1723, the piece appears here with lyrics only and no publication information beyond “No. 2" in the upper outer corner of the first page.

•  NSTC 2F579.   Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned; one lower outer corner chipped away. An ephemeral printing of a beloved legend. (37241)

A Trio of Tales

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•  The tale of the brothers Valentine and Orson, based on a French prose romance written between 1475 and 1489, is accompanied in this chapbook by a brief story called “The Soldier's Wife” and a vivid account of combat between a horse and a lion. The woodcut title-page vignette shows a man in “classical” dress, sword at his hip; “[No.] 128” is printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2V248.   Removed from a nonce volume. Top of title-page closely cropped to woodcut frame. Clean copy.  (37152)

EXCELLENCE is Good . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man reclining on a rock and holding a bowl of fruit or possibly a bird's nest with eggs in it. “[No.] 25" printed at foot of title.

•  Good. Original self wrappers (disbound; removed).  (17417)

Five “favorites” . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of young woman in a bonnet leaning against a gate. “[No.] 43" printed at foot of title.

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). Very good.  (17419)

Five OTHER “favorites” . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man sharpening a scythe, which is balanced on his shoulder. “[No.] 15" printed at the foot of title.

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). There is a small area of light staining to 2 pages, else very good.  (17420)

“Jim Crow's trip to Greenwich . . .”
  (With a Side Order of Man'splaining)

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•  In the second song here, Jim Crow takes a trip to Greenwich on a steamboat with “folks of e'bery nation,” some of whom are nervous about the safety of the boat, and overhearsa foolish fellow explaining the mechanical workings of the craft to a lady passenger. “The Exile of Erin” is Thomas Campbell's.

Title woodcut vignette is of a young man in a straw hat, sharpening a scythe which is balanced on his shoulder; “[No.] 53” is printed at the foot of the chapbook's title-page.

•  Unbound; removed. In the song “My Mither”, an owner has crossed out two words & one phrase in pencil and written pencil amendments in the margin. Very good.  (37145)

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“There's nae luck about the house”

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a seated man in kilt & bonnet, playing the bagpipes. “[No.] 56” printed at the foot of the title-page of this chapbook.

•  Unbound; removed. Very good.  (37156)

Scots Dialect Verse

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•  Woodcut title vignette of a woman sitting with a basket on her lap. Includes the comic verse tale “The Dominie Deposed” with the sequel [20-1/2pages], followed by “Maggy Johnston's Elegy” [3 pages].

“[No.] 141" is printed at the foot of the title.

•  The page edges are darkened. Very good. original self wrappers [unbound; removed].  (17568)

Jack's the Lad . . .

•  Title woodcut vignette of a young woman by the sea carrying a basket and holding a fishing net over her shoulder. “[No.] 62” printed at the foot of the title.

•  Not in NSTC.   Good++ in its original self wrappers (unbound; removed).  (17431)

AGreat Series of Song Titles . . .

•  The title-page promises“The Cork Leg and Steam Arm. / The Great Sea Snake. / The Sailor's Consolation. / The Wonderful Nose” — a woodcut vignette shows a young man dancing with one arm raised and “[No.] 28” printed at the foot.

Not in NSTC.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean.  (16763)

FOUR WOMEN . . .

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•  Woodcut title vignette of a man in a bonnet, kilt & sporran seated on a stool, playing bagpipes.

•  Original self wrappers [unbound; removed].The pages are darkened & the top two inches of the leaves are detached. The last leaf is closely cropped along the top edge. Good.  (17436)

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Scaring the Bejesus Out of Little German-American Boys & Girls

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•  First German-American edition and first German-language edition anywhere of The Dangers of the Streets and other Tales. The cataloguers at the American Antiquarian Society indicate that the large wood engraving on the title-page is by Alexander Anderson. This is in fraktur type.

•  Rosenbach, Children, 418; Welch 431; Shaw & Shoemaker 20192; German Language Printing in the U.S. 1770; Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators, 1406. Not in Pomeroy, Alexander Anderson.   Very nice copy in original light boards covered with salmon-colored paper. Light age-toning and light scattered foxing.  (36290)

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CAT-Master Dick becomes London's Lord Mayor:  Illustrated Scottish Version

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•  Scarce Glasgow toybook version of the classic story, witha total of eight woodcut illustrations: a vignette of the cat on the front wrapper and one of a wagon on the back, plus six scenes within the text. A search of WorldCat finds only one U.S. institution reporting holding this Paterson printing (Princeton).

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Publisher's printed paper wrappers, slightly faded, spine rubbed; front wrapper and first few leaves with horizontal crease. Pages with light offsetting, otherwise clean.  (41178)

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TWA' BALLADS

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•  Two Scots ballads (one happy and one sad), with a title woodcut vignette of a well-dressed lady holding a flower in her lap. “[No.] 74" is printed at the foot of the title.

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). Very good.  (17437)

Near-Miniature Botany forAmerican Children

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•  Illustrated botanical toybook for children, opening with a so-called “insect plant” alleged to be part wasp and part vegetable(!).  The other plants described are apple of Sodom (a type of milkweed), dragon's blood tree, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, camphor, melon, pitcher plant, flax, and colombo [sic] — witheach of the eleven plants featuring its own wood-engraved vignette. The insect plant illustration is to be found on the back wrapper, while the title-page bears an additional vignette of an urn and foliage arrangement.

This is one of several variants printed by Grout, not all of which appear to have covered exactly the same plants. The set here differs from at least one other known issue of About Plants (described in WorldCat as comprising frankincense, camphor, cinnamon, cane, flax, fig tree, plantain, mandrake, lign aloe, and palm tree), although the present example does, as in the WorldCat description, have an alphabet following the title-page.

Provenance: From the children's book collection of American collector Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  American Imprints 40-16. Not in Gumuchian, not in Opie, not in Osborne Collection.   Sewn as issued, sewing loosening; front wrapper lacking, back wrapper with short tear from spine, corners rubbed. Pages age-toned and faintly foxed with a smudge or two only; free of markings or other signs of childish usage.  (41159)

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“My daddie looks sulky, my minnie looks sour,
      They frown upon Jamie because he is poor”

•  A woodcut vignette on the title-page shows a young man with one arm raised, above “[No.] 37" printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2B38504.   Removed from a nonce volume. A few traces of very faint spots of foxing, else clean and fresh. (16824)

Highland Blood & Beauties — NOT a Good Day for the Scots

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•  The title song in this chapbook concerns a battle in which the English surprised and defeated the Scots under Livingston on “the haughs of Crumdel” (haughs are low-lying meadows by the side of a river); the English victory was short-lived as Montrose, against all advice, insisted on riding to Crumdel, where he surprised the English, slaughtered large numbers of them and routed the rest. In addition to the title-piece, this songster includes “The Charming Widow,” “I've Dreamt That Thou Art Fading,” “Love, and Our Ocean Home,” and “You'll Find No Change in Me.”

The woodcut title-page vignette shows a man in bonnet, kilt and sporran, standing by a tombstone and leaning on his rifle, with “[No.] 17" printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2C45400.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very slightly age-toned, otherwise fresh and clean.  (37141)

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Treachery! Deception!  BUT in the End — “Conjugal Delights!”

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•  “In which is exemplified the bad effects of disproportionate ages in marriage, the consequence of indulging in illegitimate passion and revenge, and the beneficial result of timely repentance”: a melodramatic tale set in Valladolid, adapted from Paul Scarron's novel L'Adultère Innocente — that story itself being based on Al fin se paga todo, published in 1632 by María de Zayas, with plays by Southerne and Sheridan also having been (loosely) inspired by the same plot.

This English chapbook version is scarce: WorldCat reports only one U.S. institutional location (University of Delaware) and just two additional U.K. holdings, with the title not recorded at all by NSTC. The hand-colored engraved frontispiece here depicts our rosy-cheeked, Rubenesque heroine telling her story to her mustachioed rescuer over breakfast.

•  Recent marbled paper wrappers in attractive red, brown, tan, and cream fantail pattern. Frontispiece recto with small inked ownership inscription in upper inner corner. Pages clean and crisp. An uncommon incarnation of an internationally popular trashy romance, here in an attractive copy.  (40974)

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This appears in the GENERAL
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“Once Upon a Time”

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•  This chapbook telling of the classic fairy tale is illustrated with wood engravings on the frontispiece and title-page, and with eight in-text pictures as well. It was issued as #4 in Watt's “Penny Books New & Improved” series.

NUC and WorldCat locate only two libraries worldwide reporting ownership (National Library of Scotland, Princeton).

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Publisher's green wrappers, slight discoloration and a little paper loss at spine. Clean.  (38786)

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NEVER in Childish Hands — Cuts Very Well Impressed

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•  Virtually pristine copy of this penny toybook — a popular cautionary tale of two overly indulged brothers, one of whom prospers by way of his natural love of learning, and one of whom enjoys bad company and eventually goes to rack and ruin (not here, as some variants of this story have it, being eaten by wild beasts after a shipwreck, but rather more prosaically being sent to Newgate). The story is illustrated with eight woodcuts, two of which show the boys playingbadminton and marbles.

One signature at the back is unopened.

•  NSTC 2H10236.   Publisher's light yellow printed paper wrappers, removed from a nonce volume. Clean, crisp, unread copy.  (31946)

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A SENSATIONAL TALE by “The Ettrick Shepherd”

•  A pedlar leaves a strange “long pack” at the house of a rich colonel on the banks of North Tyne in Northumberland; one of the servants, terrified to see the pack move, fires on it and finds he has killed a man armed with a cutlass and four pistols, who has been ingeniously folded up into the pack. Fearing a plan to rob the house, the servants summon reinforcements and a fierce gun battle ensues when the dead man's accomplices — a gang of robbers who apparently included some men of good family — attack the house, but are beaten off by the inhabitants.

Attributed to James Hogg [1770 –1835] by the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, this tale was first published in 1817; known as the “Ettrick Shepherd”, Hogg was born in Ettrick Forest and indeed began his life as a shepherd. His literary talents were discovered by Scott, and he was a friend of Byron, Wordsworth and Southey.

A woodcut border frames the title page, which features a woodcut vignette of a seated man in kilt, plaid and bonnet, playing the bagpipes; there is also a woodcut tail-piece “[No.] 24” is printed at the foot of the title.

•  Very good. Original self wrappers (unbound; removed).  (38499)

“Earning for Himself a Character for Courage, Integrity, & Truth”

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•  A widowed mother and her two children move to the home of her late husband's brother in the English countryside, where Lucy and Edward learn important life lessons through building a boat. From the second series of the “Stories for Summer Days & Winter Nights” library.

This work includes afrontispiece and five in-text wood engravings signed by Edward Whymper (1840–1911), an Arctic explorer and mountaineer best known for being the first to successfully ascend the Matterhorn.

•  Publisher's green printed wrappers, soiling and splitting along spine; one leaf separated, a light pencil mark or two, a handful of bent corners.  (36537)

Including“A Fight for the Breeches”

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•  “To which are added, Who's Master, Or, A Fight for the Breeches. / York Youre Wanted. / And Emigrants Farewell.” Two comic and two serious songs, with a title-page woodcut engraving of a swan.

•  NSTC 2H34825.   Removed from a nonce volume. Slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (16963)

  The Humours of Glasgow fair, and The Comical song of Auld John Paul.  Glasgow [Scotland] : Printed for the Booksellers, [18--] . 12mo. 8 pp.
$85.00

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man sharpening a scythe. “[No.] 42" printed at the foot of the title.

•  Very good. Original self wrappers (unbound; removed).  (17560)

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EIGHT . . .

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•  Woodcut title vignette of a ship at sea.

•  Original self wrappers [unbound; removed]. There is a large area of light dampstaining to the first leaf. The top edge of the title is closely cropped, affecting three words of the title of the first song. The top edge of the last leaf is also closely cropped, cutting off part of the page number “7". Good.  (17446)

“Sir John's Company Consisted Only of
Loose & Abandoned Young Gentlemen”

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•  Tale of a poor but virtuous foundling who studies hard at Oxford and makes good, in sharp contrast to the proud son of the noble family that took him in. The popular tale is here illustrated with several in-text woodcuts; roman and “Italian” alphabets are given their page andsix verses “On Lying” appear at the end. The frontispiece is pasted to the inside of the front wrapper and the last page of text to the inside of the rear one, as issued, with the back cover advertisement reading, “Penny books printed and sold by J. Kendrew, Colliergate, York.”

Kendrew was a major publisher of chapbooks and toy books like this one andthis Kendrew printing is uncommon. A search of WorldCat finds only six U.S. institutions reporting hard-copy holdings.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Opie A 1352; Osborne Collection, p. 254; Davis, Kendrew of York, 21 (p. 91).   Sewn in original printed blue paper wrappers; wrapper edges slightly sunned, spine showing traces of having been stitched into a nonce volume. Pages age-toned but otherwise clean and untattered; the engravings are notably well-impressed.Unusually good condition for such an item, children being children.  (41479)

“Puss in Boots” in KENDREW Chapbook Form

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•  Uncommon juvenile toybook from a publisher known for them. This Kendrew “penny book” opens with an alphabet and a retelling of Perrault's classic fairy tale, followed by one story adapted from Evenings at Home by John Aikin and Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and one by Richard Johnson. The three areillustrated with a wood-engraved frontispiece and ten in-text vignettes including a particularly fine one of the Puss. The first quatrain of “The danger of delay” is given as text under the frontispiece, and the back wrapper offers a list of other Kendrew penny books.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Davis, Kendrew of York, 50.   Sewn in publisher's printed light blue wrappers, removed from a nonce volume and lightly soiled; paper lost over spine, tiny inkstain at edge of front cover, not nearing text or border. First and last pages affixed to wrappers as issued. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean and fresh: a very nice copy.  (41177)

“Hail us the Jovial Sons of Jove”

•  The list of songs is“Hark, the Hollow Woods Resounding. Highland Minstrel Boy. Tell Me Where the Maid Is Found. Forget Me Not. Ah! Men, What Silly Things You Are. Farewell, My Donkey Neddy. Life Is Darken'd O'er with Woe. Let's Drink, My Friends. Dash Along to the Mellow-Toned Horn.”

A woodcut title-page vignette shows a sailing ship at sea, with “[No.] 57" printed at the foot of the title.

Not in NSTC.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Fresh and clean save for small spot of light staining to upper inner corner of last page. (16841)

TO Part II . . .

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