Bunting, Edward. The Ancient Music of Ireland. An edition comprising the three collections by Edward Bunting originally published in 1796, 1809 and 1840.

Dublin: Waltons’ Piano and Musical Instrument Galleries (Publications Dept.) Ltd., North Frederick Street, 1969. .pp. approx. 100+. Musical notation throughout. Publisher’s green cloth, title in red to spine, in the original illustrated dust jacket. A good copy in the original dust jacket, the jacket showing wear and small tears to edges with tape repairs and slight creasing. Cloth clean and solid. Internally very good and bright.

A collected edition of the three seminal compilations of Irish traditional music assembled by Edward Bunting (1773–1843), the pioneering Belfast musician and antiquarian whose work preserved many of the oldest surviving Irish harp melodies. Bunting first began collecting traditional airs at the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792, where he transcribed the music of the last generation of itinerant Irish harpers. His subsequent publications in 1796, 1809 and 1840 remain foundational sources for the study and performance of early Irish music.

This volume brings together those three landmark collections, presenting a wide body of traditional airs, songs and harp tunes arranged for piano, accompanied by historical notes and Bunting’s celebrated dissertation on the Irish harp and harpers. The work played a crucial role in safeguarding the repertoire of Gaelic Ireland at a time when the native harp tradition was rapidly disappearing.

Bunting’s collections have influenced generations of musicians, scholars and collectors, and remain central to the revival and study of Irish traditional music.

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