Ballads on Affairs of State:
The Political Broadside Ballads of Seventeenth-Century England
Editor: Angela McShane
Consulting Editor: Tim Harris
978 1 85196 946 3: 246x170mm: £275.00/$495.00
978 1 85196 947 0: 246x170mm: £275.00/$495.00
Political broadsides are a fascinating window on to the tumultuous political and cultural landscape of the seventeenth century. By turns propagandist or satirical, these printed songs informed and reflected the views of the broader political nation. They took as their subject matter political heroes and villains, war and peace, and the divisions and harmonies of the Civil War, the Interregnum, the Restoration, the Popish Plot, the Exclusion Crisis and to the eve of the Glorious Revolution.
This two-part, six-volume facsimile edition contains over 700 complete pamphlets sourced from a wide variety of archives worldwide. With a preface by Tim Harris, McShane provides a general introduction, eight extensive section introductions grouped around events and themes, explanatory annotation to the ballads and a volume-long bibliography of all the known political broadsides of the period. This is the first truly accurate bibliography of its kind providing correct publication dates for many of the texts for the first time.
The edition will be essential for scholars of the political and social history of the seventeenth century.
- Drawn from public and private collections in the US and the UK
- New editiorial material includes a general introduction, volume introductions, headnotes, endnotes and a consolidated index in the final volume
- Each facsimile page is digitally cleaned and enhanced, improving on the quality and legibility of the original