Robinson Crusoe
- Woodcut headpiece. Ballad text in two columns. 10-1/2 x 5-1/2
- Newburyport: Printed [by W. & J. Gilman] and sold at No. 5, Middle-street, 1810
Newburyport: Printed [by W. & J. Gilman] and sold at No. 5, Middle-street, 1810. Woodcut headpiece. Ballad text in two columns. 10-1/2 x 5-1/2. Edges rough, some staining. Old backing on verso. Good. Woodcut headpiece. Ballad text in two columns. 10-1/2 x 5-1/2. Unrecorded printing of this broadside of Robinson Crusoe in ballad form, narrating the adventures of the shipwrecked mariner in ten stanzas with repeated burden “Oh poor Robinson Crusoe” and refrain “Tink a ting tang”. The parrot, Crusoe’s thrift, and his man Friday all figure in this song. First published in 1719, Defore’s work soon caught the popular imagination. Sheridan wrote a harlequinade for the London stage in 1781, and this song dates from the late 1790s. According to Iona and Peter Opie, “Jack Cussans, vagabond and singer”, wote the song and performed at the Royal Circus and Sadler’s Wells “with universal applause” (citing sheet music dated to 1797). The song appeared in The American Mock-bird (1801) and other songsters. In the Isaiah Thomas Ballads at AAS, there is a song sheet dated [Boston 1810-14]. There is one imprint from W. & J. Gilman with this street number dated 1807 (others, 1808-10, record only Middle street). They were at 4 Middle street in 1805-6, and moved to Federal street after a fire in Newburyport in 1811. Unrecorded