[FRASER, Captain Simon (ed.)]. The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and The Isles Communicated in an Original Pleasing & Familiar Style Having the Lively Airs Introduced as Medleys to Form a Sequence to Each Slower Movement. With an Admired Plain Harmony, for the Piano-Forte Harp Organ or Violoncello Intended Rather to Preserve Simplicity Than Load With Embellishment. Edited by Captn. S'n Fraser. Edinburgh: Printed and Sold for the Editor, and to be had, in London, of Mr. John Gow, 30, Great Marlborough Street, Golden Square; in Edinburgh, of Mr. Gow, 2., Hanover Street..., 1816.
FIRST EDITION; hardcover, folio (37.5 x 26 x 2 cm), pp. [4], 120. Two hundred and thirty-two airs for piano, the songs "chiefly acquired ... from 1715 to 1745", titles of songs in Gaelic and English. Bound in cloth-backed printed paper-covered boards with a decorative border. Engraved title-page depicting harpist and violinist playing together with a lady in white dancing to their music; to one side is the sea, to the other a cow being milked in the Highlands, drawn by J. Brooks; engraved by R. Scott, Edinburgh. The music engraved and printed by Walker & Anderson; the letter-press by Duncan Stevenson and Co. Preliminary matter includes a dedication to the Highland Society of Scotland, index, "Letter and prospectus, relative to the airs and melodies", "List of Highland melodies, already incorporated with Scottish Song" and Advertisement. With a rear appendix of notes on the melodies. Condition: GOOD. Neatly rebacked with new endpapers. Some rubbing to the extremities with slight pealing to the covers at the corners. Interior with mild toning, a few initial and terminal leaves with marginal staining. Page 11 with an old annotation possibly in the editors hand. Scarce.
Notes: First edition of a scarce compilation of Highland music, "being chiefly acquired during the Interesting Period from 1715 to 1745", edited by Captain Fraser, a fiddler and composer. A difficult book to find complete.
