[Gay, John.]

Folio, single sheet, printed on both sides, first edition, woodcut music, preserved in card chemise, previously removed from album with strips of light grey paper near margins of verso, adhesion just approaching square brackets around page number ("2), light traces of old mounting on recto in left margin 

Foxon, see p.298

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The hitherto undiscovered original printing of one of the most famous of all English ballads.  This poem was long thought to have appeared first in Gay's Poems on Several Occasions, the two-volume collection published in 1720 by Jacob Tonson and Bernard Lintot; it was subsequently included in a great many poetical miscellanies, throughout the eighteenth century and beyond. There were as well a number of engraved broadside printings, all undated, but variously assigned to the period 1720-1732 (e.g. by Wise, or in the Rothschild Catalogue); these were provided with musical settings by Leveridge, Sandoni, or Haydon, or some combination of the three.  Foxon, however, seems to have been the first to notice advertisements for two separate printings of 1719, the earliest of which appeared in the Post Boy on January 10, as published by Bernard Lintot at two pence; there is also a notice of March 25 in the Daily Courant, for a "3d edition," with no price, but described as "set to musick by Mr. Leveridge."  As no copies dated 1719 had as yet come to light, Foxon made a plausible assumption about the first of the advertisements (and by inference, about the other one as well): "This presumably refers to one of the engraved editions with music which are not included here." As it turns out, Foxon was only partly correct. There is indeed a musical setting here by the vocalist, song-writer, and composer Richard Leveridge, and the price of the ballad, provided at the bottom of the first page, is in fact two pence.  The music, however, as printed with the first stanza, is not engraved but woodcut, and all of the eight stanzas are printed in letterpress; Lintot's imprint, and the date, appear at the bottom of the second page.  The text essentially corresponds to that of the collection of Gay's poems published the following year, though there are a fair number of differences in spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.  The only anomaly is what must have been an inadvertent omission of the word "to" in the title.