The groundbreaking biography, available for the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth in July 2012.A patriot and a political radical, Woody Guthrie captured the spirit of his times in his enduring songs. Ed Cray, the first biographer to be granted access to the Woody Guthrie Archive, has created a haunting portrait.

The songbooks of the 1830-40s were printed in tiny numbers, and small format so they could be hidden in a pocket, passed round or thrown away.Collectors have sought ‘these priceless chapbooks’, but only recently a collection of 49 songbooks has come to light. This collection represents almost all of the known songbooks from the period.

The songbooks of the 1830-40s were printed in tiny numbers, and small format so they could be hidden in a pocket, passed round or thrown away.Collectors have sought ‘these priceless chapbooks’, but only recently a collection of 49 songbooks has come to light. This collection represents almost all of the known songbooks from the period.

The songbooks of the 1830-40s were printed in tiny numbers, and small format so they could be hidden in a pocket, passed round or thrown away.Collectors have sought ‘these priceless chapbooks’, but only recently a collection of 49 songbooks has come to light. This collection represents almost all of the known songbooks from the period.

The songbooks of the 1830-40s were printed in tiny numbers, and small format so they could be hidden in a pocket, passed round or thrown away.Collectors have sought ‘these priceless chapbooks’, but only recently a collection of 49 songbooks has come to light. This collection represents almost all of the known songbooks from the period.

In 1832 the Scottish ballad collector Peter Buchan of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, presented an anthology of risqué‚ and convivial songs and ballads to a Highland laird. When Professor Francis James Child of Harvard was preparing his magisterial edition of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, he made inquiries about it, but it was not made available in time to be considered for his work. On his death it was presented to the Child Memorial Library at Harvard. Because of its unsee...

In 1832 the Scottish ballad collector Peter Buchan of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, presented an anthology of risqué‚ and convivial songs and ballads to a Highland laird. When Professor Francis James Child of Harvard was preparing his magisterial edition of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, he made inquiries about it, but it was not made available in time to be considered for his work. On his death it was presented to the Child Memorial Library at Harvard. Because of its unsee...

The merit of Captain Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue has been long and universally acknowledged. But its circulation was confined almost exclusively to the lower orders of society: he was not aware, at the time of its compilation, that our young men of fashion would at no very distant period be as distinguished for the vulgarity of their jargon as the inhabitants of Newgate; and he therefore conceived it superfluous to incorporate with his work the few examples of fashionable slang...

At present any new book on the East will naturally be looked upon as got up in view of the existing excitement on the subject of the “Turkish Atrocities.” Hence a few lines of preface may be necessary. This book was originally written more than a year ago, and was in the publishers’ hands before the Bulgarian massacres were made public; but I have since had time to add a Chapter and several Notes still farther illustrating Turkish character, as well as Mahomedan domestic, religious, and po...

*1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue* by Francis Grose is an entertaining and insightful exploration of the colloquial language and slang of early 19th-century England. This unique work serves as both a dictionary and a cultural commentary, capturing the vibrant and often humorous vernacular that characterized the everyday speech of the time. Grose meticulously compiles a plethora of terms and phrases, many of which reflect the social customs, occupations, and idiosyncras...

A maidenhead. TOM BROWN being at an assembly, was asked how he liked a young "lady that was dancing? and whose complexion was discernably her own manu- facture ? Really, sir, answered he, I am no connois- seur in painting. A young lady, who had been married about six months, asked Tom Brown if he would stand for her first child ? Madam, answered he, by the shortness of, your apron, I am very sure your first child has already been stood for. One of the Canons of St. Paul's being in compa- n...

This collection of Poetry was compiled by my late father, George Matthews, who in his teenage years enlisted in the Army in World War One. He was sent to France and seriously wounded. He did not talk much about the War, veterans are not inclined to talk about their experiences and all the horrors they endured, but he did tell me he remembered the shell hitting the trench in which he was. He remembers running for cover but when he was found he was thought to be dead. He was not however, and...