Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Orpheus Britannicus. A Collection of all the Choicest Songs for One, Two, and Three Voices. London: J. Heptinstall for Henry Playford, 1698
Folio (308 x 190mm). Title printed in red and black. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Purcell by White after Closterman (marginal repairs to frontispiece and final leaf, repaired tears just into text in a1-2 and 2b1, a few signatures and page numbers just trimmed, light soiling or staining). 18^th-century speckled calf, green morocco spine label lettered in gilt (front board nearly detached and partial splitting to lower joint, spine ends just chipped, some staining, rubbing to extremities). Provenance: ‘J Salbo[?] 1698. Ex dono viduae’ (contemporary inscription on title recording gift from Frances Purcell and, possibly in the same hand, ‘Musarum Sacerdos’ inscribed on frontispiece) – Sotheby’s, London, 26 & 27 May 1983, lot 65.

First edition, presentation copy from Purcell’s widow, under whose direction the work was prepared. Purcell ranks as the most important English composer between William Byrd and Handel, and this extensive posthumous collection is the first attempt to gather together all of his songs. RISM P 5979.