10 s. XL JUNK 19, 1909.J NOTES AND QUERIES.
483
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF
THE WORKS OF CHARLES DIBDIN.
(See 9 S. viii 39, 77, 197, 279 ; ix. 421 ; x.
122, 243 ; xi. 2. 243, 443 ; xii. 183, 283,
423, 462; 10 S. i. 463, 502.)
IN resuming, after a considerable interval, my account of the published or performed works of Charles Dibdin (see also ante, p. 402) in order to give particulars of publications since the year of his death, I wish to say that, from this point onward, it will be less nearly complete. This is due not so much to a personal lack of interest in reprints, as to the practical impossibility of recording all the instances in which the songs of Dibdin (or rather a number of them) have been included in collections ; since in his lifetime, and for many years after his death, no songbook, genteel or vulgar, dispensed with them. As to this see entry under date 1825-8, ' The Universal Songster.' I shall limit myself, therefore, almost entirely to collections which contain his writings only. Items which I have not been able by personal scrutiny to authenticate are marked with an asterisk.
1814 (?). A selection of the most esteemed songs written and composed by Mr. Dibdin. To be continued. Vol. I. Price 5s. Published by C. Wheatstone & Co., 436, Strand.
Engraved title, " Jones Sc.," with portrait, after Devis, engraved by Smith. Large 8vo, pp. 50. Index on p. 50 enumerates 19 songs, but there are 20 in the volume. Watermark date 1814. Vol. II. has pp. iv, 44, and contains 17 songs. Watermark date 1815.
1815* (Museum date). The Mariner's Concert, being a new collection of.... sea songs written and sung by Dibden (sic), &c. 12mo, n.d.
1816* Six Songs written and composed by the celebrated Mr. Dibdin, published for the benefit of his widow and daughter. Folio.
About 1818 Diether and G. Walker
issued a large number of reprints of Dibdin's songs, chiefly from the original folio plates, which they probably acquired from Bland and Weller.
1823. The Sea Songs of Charles Dibdin : with a memoir of his life and writings by William
Kitchiner, M.D London : Printed for G. and
W. B. Whittaker, Ave Maria Lane ; and Clementi & Co., Cheapside. 1823.
Small 4to, pp. 32 (printed), then songs num- bered 1 to 99 engraved (not consecutively paged, and Xos. 67, 79, and 92 in the index omitted), then iv. (index). The place of two of the missing songs is supplied by others numbered 53* and 75*. The book was originally issued in four monthly parts, price 8s. each. The memoir by Kitchiner is ill-written and full of blunders ; the music and songs are ill-edited. A reprint was issued (x.n.) by W. Wybrow, 24, Rathbone Place, price II. 4s., bound, with engraved title, and without memoir, &c. This publisher also issued the songs as separate sixpenny sheets.
1824. A Selection of Dibdin's Songs, arranged
by John Davy, &c. London. Published by T.
Williams, No. 2, Strand.
4to, pp. vi, 150. It was originally issued in twelve numbers of 12 pp. each (except No. 2, which has 14 pp., and No. 12, 16 pp.) Index is described as of " Vol. I.," but no more parts were issued. Dedication, dated 5th March, 1824, to H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence. 4to, engraved portrait, B. Reading sc. (after Devis) : " Pub. Jan. 1st, 1824.... to face Dibdin's songs newly arranged by John Davy," &c. Contains 44 songs. This collection was reissued in parts, price 3,9. 6d. each, after 1830.
1825-8.* The Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth, forming the most complete, extensive, and valuable collection of ancient and modern songs in the English Language, with a copious and Classified Index. . . .with a humorous charac- teristic frontispiece and twenty-nine woodcuts designed by George and Robert Cruikshank, and engraved by J. R. Marshall London, Pub- lished by Jones & Co., Temple of the Muses (late Lackington's), Finsbury Square.
3 vols. 8vo, each pp. xvi, 448. Published 1825, 1826, and 1828. Particulars are from Sir John Stainer's catalogue, as I have only one of the later reissues.
I include this, one of the best known of many such piratical publications, as it is specially referred to by Charles Dibdin the younger (in 1827), as follows :
" My father, brother, and self, have written more songs than, not only any other three, but three score men put together some thousands of which, for public and private and various occasions, I have written nearer 5,000 than 4,000 ; and from our songs, pirated, the majority of the songbooks which have been published for years have principally been composed. I have, I recollect, a volume called ' The Universal Songster ' ; which one of these gentlemen who are employed by the Booksellers how con- scientiously I won't say to manufacture these piracies, presented me some time since ; I will look at it and count the number stolen from us. I have the result is as follows : Father 105, Brother 31, Self 59. Well, we have been the occasion of putting bread into the mouths of others, and that is no small satisfaction."
He goes on to show the uselessness of the law in dealing with such frauds. The extent to which Charles Dibdin the elder was taken liberties with in such publications is shown by the fact that 105 of his songs appeared in one volume of a collection in three volumes. I may add after examining that volume that my grandfather did not count very carefully, or else did so with less 'knowledge than I possess, for the actual number is larger.
1828. A Selection of Dibdin's Songs, dedicated with permission to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, Lord High Admiral, &c. [vignette. 'Naval Victories,' T. Jones, fecit] .... London. Pub. to face Williams' Pocket Edition of Dibdin.
8vo, printed from engraved plates. Portrait (after Devis) and 9 illustrations by T. Jones. Contains Memoir, 1 p., dated 2, Strand, March 25,
