Scottish songs and dances 'preserved in their native simplicity' and 'humbly dedicated': paratext in improbable places

Since music is an important part of print culture, and the contents of national song and fiddle collections are so strongly perceived as intangible cultural heritage, the paratext surrounding these songs and airs in 18th century collections is informative in many ways. This talk is a follow-on to a talk that I gave at the International Society of Eighteenth Century Studies conference in summer 2019. To counterbalance the main focus on song collections then, today's talk focuses more on fiddle tune collections, title pages, tune ascriptions and subscription lists.