Stevenson, Sir John (music) / Moore, Thomas (text). A Selection of Irish Melodies. With Symphonies and Accompaniment by Sir John Stevenson, Mus. Doc. and Characteristic Words by Thomas Moore, Esq’r. [First Editions]. 5th & 6th Number bound into one Volume. London & Dublin, Printed and Sold at J. Power’s Music & Instrument Warehouse & at W. Power’s Music Warehouse, [1813 & 1815]. 34.5 x 24.5 cm. (2) [blank], tissue guarded engraved title page, (4) [dedication & index], 52 pages, engraved music scores / title page, advertisement, pages numbered 52 to 113. Full page engraving between pages 77 and 78. New half cloth over decorated paper covered boards. Contemporary red morroco label [‘Mrs. T. Moore’] from original binding on front board. Good condition only. New solid binding. Internally seriously age darkened and damp stained. See images for a clear idea of the condition. Gift inscription on first blank page (see comments below). Partially trimmed inscription on top of second title page (6th Number), possibly by the author?

Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his Irish Melodies. His setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish to English. Politically, Moore was recognised in England as a press, or “squib”, writer for the aristocratic Whigs; in Ireland he was accounted a Catholic patriot.

The Irish Melodies. In the early years of his career, Moore’s work was largely generic, and had he died at this point he would likely not have been considered an Irish poet. From 1806 to 1807, Moore dramatically changed his style of writing and focus. Following a request by the publishers James and William Power, he wrote lyrics to a series of Irish tunes in the manner of Haydn’s settings of British folksongs, with Sir John Andrew Stevenson as arranger of the music. The principal source for the tunes was Edward Bunting’s A General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music (1797) to which Moore had been introduced at Trinity by Edward Hudson. The Melodies was published in ten volumes, together with a supplement, over 26 years between 1808 and 1834. The musical arrangements of the last volumes, following Stevenson’s death in 1833, were by Henry Bishop.
The Melodies were an immediate success, “The Last Rose of Summer”, “The Minstrel Boy”, “Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms” and “Oft in the Stilly Night” becoming immensely popular. There were parodies in England, but translations into German, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, and French, and settings by Hector Berlioz guaranteed a large European audience. In the United States, “The Last Rose of Summer” alone sold more than a million copies.

Gift inscription:

’To Ed O’Malley Keyes M.F.H. from Guy Paget in memory of a great week with the Blazers 17/12/26.
This book was given to Geraldin McCausland, who married Thomas Tertius Paget, by her friend Thomas Moore The Author’

Provenance:

Thomas Tertius Paget (1807 – 1892) was an English banker and Liberal Party politician.
Paget was the eldest son of the banker and Whig politician Thomas Paget (1778-1862) and his wife Anne Pares. He was a partner in Leicester Bank and became a J. P. and a Deputy Lieutenant for Leicestershire and High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1869.
Paget was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1867. However, he was defeated at the 1868 general election, and was unsuccessful both at a further by-election in 1870 and at the 1874 general election. He finally regained the seat, after a twelve-year absence from the House of Commons, at the 1880 general election. He retired from Parliament at the 1886 general election.
Paget died at the age of 84, having married Katharine Geraldine MacCausland, daughter of Marcus MacCausland of Dreenagh, County Londonderry, in 1850.

Colonel O’Malley-Keyes was Master of the Galway Blazers (an Irish Foxhunting Club) from 1926 to 1928.

• Keywords: Art · Classical & Old Literature · Fine Bindings & Editions · Fine Bindings & Editions · History · History & Culture · Irish Literature · Literature · Music · Performing Arts · Poetry
• Language: English
• First edition
• Inventory Number: 104091AB

Our price: EUR 380,--