The Pepys ballad collection is the largest surviving collection of English ballads printed in London in the seventeenth century, and is an outstanding source of English popular culture of the period. Pepys himself grouped the ballads into subjects, but a proper catalogue has long been needed by scholars, and this complex and difficult task has at last been completed. As a result, the full riches of the collection, already available in facsimile*, are now properly accessible. The second part of the catalogue consists of the indexes. Titles and sub-titles are indexed together, as these are often interchangeable. First lines and refrains provide text indexes; tunes and music are a guide to the musical element; and imprints, licensing information and authors enable the printing history to be reconstructed.
The Pepys Ballads: Facsimile Vols. I-V 085991 256 6, £450.00/$190.00