Francis O'Neill's Music of Ireland 1903 FIRST EDITION

The 1903 Publication of O'Neill's Music of Ireland is considered a pivotal moment in the history of Irish Traditional Music. The colorful Captain Francis O'Neill, General Superintendent of Police in Chicago, had collected Traditional Irish Melodies throughout his life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_O'Neill). With the help of countless Irish Musician/Policemen, he managed at age 54 to have this collection of "Eighteen Hundred and Fifty Melodies, Airs, Jigs, Reels, Hornpipes, Long Dances, Marches, etc., Many of which are now published for the First Time. Collected from All Available Sources, and Edited by Capt. Francis O'Neill. Arranged by James O'Neill" [as stated on the Title Page] published by Lyon & Healyof Chicago in 1903.

It has since become a kind of "Bible" of the Irish Traditional Music Movement. (See this story on actual period wax cylinder recordings of tunes from "The O'Neill": http://www.loc.gov/folklife/news/pdf/afcnews-fall-2007.pdf)

While widely available since the folk revival of the 1960's in photocopy editions, corrected editions, and even online, there is virtually NO information about the value of a complete, actual FIRST EDITION of book. My research found a RED hardcover copy in the Irish-American Rare Books Collection at Notre Dame; otherwise, there is one for sale at an Antiquarian Book Store in Japan for 95,000 JPY - $1,043.58 USD (Link: www2.ocn.ne.jp/~izumiya/ale01.html). I do not know how many were originally printed in 1903.

General condition is Very Good+ to Excellent. The cover is dark green, cloth-covered hardboard, incised with gilt on the front, back and spine, as well as black Celtic border patterns in black. It has 366 numbered pages, which are edge-colored red. As the photos show, there are some wear spots on the corners of both covers and the top and bottom of the spine; the actual surfaces have very little to no wear. Inside pages are high-quality coated paper stock, very good condition, aside from typical age darkening around the edges. There is a photograph of Capt. Francis O'Neill; the elaborate Title Page; an introduction; a photograph of James O'Neill, an illustration of "An old-time Irish Piper", and a wonderful group photo of the IRISH MUCIC CLUB, CHICAGO. Each Musical Category begins with titles in elaborate calligraphy that looks inspired by the Book of Kells.