Two Framed Illustrated Song Sheets: 'A New Song. Address'd to the Crew of the Prince Edward Private Ship of War' and 'On a Lady Stung by a Bee: Set by Mr. Vincent...' from 'Orpheus Britannicus; or the Gentleman and Lady's Musical Museum: consisting of One Hundred favourite Songs, compiled from the ... Vocal Performances at the Theatres, Vaux-Hall, Mary-bone Gardens, Sadlers-Wells, or any other polite places of public Entertainmt...'
London: B. Cole, 1760. First separate edition. Two framed copper-engraved leaves of music, containing notation, words, and illustrated headpieces colored in a contemporary hand. Both leaves matted and glazed in modern black wood frames, approximately 12 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches. Leaves only lightly mounted, in clean but aging mats; frames a little loose but holding together. Minor toning and dust soiling in paper, but overall quite clean, with colors vibrant. Very good plus. Benjamin Cole (1695-1766) was an English cartographer, musical instrument maker, book binder, and engraver based in Oxford. He published 'Orpheus Britannicus,' a collection of popular songs with musical notation and lively engravings after Louis Peter Boitard, in 1760 from pieces that originally appeared in monthly issues of the 'New Universal Magazine.' Plate XVIII, “A New Song. Address’d to the Crew of the Prince Edward Private Ship of War,” celebrates a British privateer currently active in the Seven Years' War and contains an illustration of three figures toasting a fourth, with the vessel bearing the British Red Ensign in the background (image approximately 2 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches). Plate XXIX, “On a Lady Stung by a Bee. Set by M. Vincent,” contains an illustration of a lady in a garden gesturing with one hand towards a bee resting on her opposite arm (image approximately 2 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches). Near Fine. Item #z07279F
Price: $160.00