(51) [Signelil: 1913]
Signelil / A Tale from the Cornish / and Other Ballads / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.
Collation:—Square demy octavo, pp. 28; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Title-page (with notice regarding the American copyright upon the centre of the reverse) pp. 3–4; and Text of the Ballads pp. 5–28. There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the particular Ballad occupying it. At the foot of p. 28 is the following imprint: “London: / Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Hampstead, N.W. / Edition limited to Thirty Copies.” The signatures are A (a quarter-sheet of two leaves), B (a half-sheet of four leaves), and C (a full sheet of eight leaves), all inset within each other.
Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 8½ × 6⅞ inches.
Thirty Copies only were printed.
Contents.
| page | |
| Signelil. [The Lady her handmaid to questioning took] | 5 |
| A Tale from the Cornish. [In Lavan’s parish once of yore] Previously printed, with some trifling inaccuracies, in Knapp’s Life, Writings, and Correspondence of George Borrow, 1899, vol. ii, pp. 91–95. | 8 |
| Sir Verner And Dame
Ingeborg. [In Linholm’s house The swains they were drinking and making carouse] | 19 |
| The Heddeby Spectre. [At evening fall I chanced to ride] An earlier, and utterly different, version of this ballad was printed (under the tentative title The Heddybee-Spectre) in Romantic Ballads, 1826, pp. 37–39. Borrow afterwards described this earlier version as “a paraphrase.” | 22 |
| From Goudeli. [Yestere’en when the bat, and the owl, and his mate] | 25 |
| Peasant Songs of Spain: | |
| 1. [ When Jesu our Redeemer] | 27 |
| 2. [There stands a stone, a rounded stone] | 28 |
Note.—Each poem to which no reference is attached appeared for the first time in this volume.
There is a copy of Signelil, a Tale from the Cornish, and Other Ballads in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C. 44. d. 38.
(52) [Young Swaigder: 1913]
Young Swaigder / or / The Force of Runes / and Other Ballads / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.
Collation:—Square demy octavo, pp. 27; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Title-page, as above (with a notice regarding the American copyright upon the reverse) pp. 3–4; and Text of the Ballads pp. 5–27. There are head-lines throughout, each page being headed with the title of the particular Ballad occupying it. Upon the reverse of p. 27 is the following imprint: “London: / Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Hampstead, N.W. / Edition limited to Thirty Copies.” The signatures are A (a quarter-sheet of two leaves), B (a half-sheet of four leaves), and C (a full sheet of eight leaves), each inset within the other.
Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 8½ × 6⅞ inches.
Thirty Copies only were printed.
Contents.
1826
When from our ships we bounded,
I heard, with fear astounded,
The storm of Thorgerd’s waking;
With flinty masses blended,
Gigantic hail descended,
And thick and fiercely rattled
Against us there embattled.1835
For victory as we bounded,
I heard, with fear astounded,
The storm, of Thorgerd’s waking,
From Northern vapours breaking.
Sent by the fiend in anger,
With din and stunning clangour,
To crush our might intended,
Gigantic hail descended.1854
As in Horunga haven
We fed the crow and raven,
I heard the tempest breaking,
Of demon Thorgerd’s waking;
Sent by the fiend in anger,
With din and stunning clangor,
To crush our might intended,
Gigantic hail descended.
Note.—Each poem to which no reference is attached, appeared for the first time in this volume.
There is a copy of Young Swaigder or The Force of Runes and Other Ballads in the Library of the British Museum The Press-mark is C. 44. d. 38.