Facsimile copies of rare works on the Irish and Highland harp
by Seamus Taylor

In response to frequent requests from students and friends, I have digitized and reprinted some facsimile copies of rare works on the Irish and Highland harp.

I am now ready to offer spiral-bound photocopies of Armstrong's seminal work (and several other rare and hard to find antique books on the harp). I am charging only my own printing cost plus a small mark-up to amortize my costs  (which were considerable) in doing the original copying and the later clean-up and re-shoots. Buyers will also be responsible for mailing costs.

They suffer somewhat from being made from photocopies of the originals, done in the late 70s, when the xerographic process was not yet perfected. As a result, there are a few imperfections - some cut-off snippets, blurred notes or text, etc. - due to the fact that I had only my photocopies to work from. However, I have cleaned them up and they are legible, and as accurate as I can make them at present.

At present, I have these volumes:

R, B. Armstrong -"The Irish and The Highland Harps" David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1904, 266 pages $25 USD (NB: Price is for BOTH sections, issued as one book)

This seminal work on the harp remains the finest reference book for harp scholars and those interested in making harps, and in Celtic design for harps. It was originally recommended to me by Jay Witcher, one of the premiere Celtic harp makers, and by harpers Grainne Yeats, Ann Heymann, and Sharon Devlin Folsom. However, I was only able to procure a photocopy even then (late 1970s). (When I later obtained a Praeger reprint, it was unfortunately "borrowed" permanently!)

This remains the best technical study of the surviving instruments and is liberally illustrated with detailed photographs and plans.

The Highland Harp section contains a history, descriptions and measurements of The Queen Mary and Lamont harps, as well as illustrations, engravings, and eight pages of traditional clarsach tunes.

The Irish Harp section documents the history of the harp in Ireland and contains detailed descriptions of old harps, notably the Trinity College Harp. There are sixteen pages of music for the Irish harp taken mainly from the Bunting Collection. (See below.)

Edward Bunting, "The Ancient Music of Ireland" W. Power and Co, Dublin, 1795 (Vol. I) and Williamson, London, 1796 (Vol, II) - 150 pages $20 USD

Edward Bunting, "The Ancient Music of Ireland" Hodges, Dublin, 1840 - 220 pages $25 USD

These facsimile volumes comprise the collections made by Edward Bunting, who was hired by the organizers of the famed Belfast Harp Festival of 1792 to record the playing of the last of the itinerant Irish harpers, already a dying breed.

Bunting assiduously collected and annotated the work of the participants, and later went on a collecting trip throughout Ireland, the first of several. An accomplished musician, he was able to annotate the music as he heard it. Unfortunately, he later re-arranged it for the piano, which had replaced the harp as the instrument in vogue among the gentry and middle classes. These arrangements were later published in several collections. Unfortunately, his original mss. have yet to be published, so far as I am aware.

However, his selections and commentaries are interesting in and of themselves. Grainne Yeats recorded a number of the tunes from the Festival in a double album about 25 years ago. Ann Heymann and others are now working on reconstructing the lost techniques and methods of the ancient harpers.

Dr. George Petrie's massive work is also available:

Dr. George Petrie, "The Complete Collection of Irish Music" (ed. C. V. Stanford) Boosey & Co., London and NY, 1903 427 pages - $40 USD

This constitutes the results of Petrie's life-long interest in collecting Irish folk music, and has 1582 tunes, plus much interesting commentary.

I also have converted the rare Gunn work:

John Gunn, F.A.S.E., "An Historical Enquiry respecting the Performance on the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland (etc.)" Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1807 - 120 pages $15 USD

Though not as useful as the Armstrong work, it has interesting folklore and history, though no tunes.

All are available individually, or the entire collection at $125 USD.

Although some of the information has been superseded by modern research, and some was based on incorrect scholarship and assumptions, there is yet much of worth and interest in these classic volumes for scholar, antiquarian, or player of the Celtic harp.

For more information, or to order any of these works, please contact Seamus Taylor.