Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings

Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings... is an historic book of Tyneside popular and traditional songs that consisted, in its final published form, of a compilation of approximately 400 song lyrics and notes, with added songwriter and subject biographies and geographical details, together spanning over 600 pages (published, 1891). It was reprinted in 1972 by Frank Graham, Newcastle upon Tyne, with an introduction by music scholar David Harker.

Publication of Tyneside Songs
The series of works are, as their titles suggest, collections of songs, topical and of popular interest at the dates of their publication. In addition, a considerable amount of further material was eventually introduced, material including illustrations of Newcastle, biographies (and related articles) on the song's composers, as well as comments from the editors regarding their influences in choosing the songs of the various editions.

The series of works began to appear in 1862, when Thomas Allan published the original work in the series, which was called "Tyneside Songs"—a very small work mainly covering songs of Edward "Ned" Corvan and George "Geordie" Ridley. An version followed in 1863, entitled "A Choice Collection of Tyneside songs", which listed "E. Corvan, G. Ridley, J. P. Robson, R. Emery, &c., &c., &c., &c., &c." as authors, and which included engravings and text descriptions of Newcastle. A third version, of 1864, was likewise titled, listing the same authors.

A further edition was published in 1872, appearing under the same title as the 1863 volume ("A Choice Collection..."), but listing as authors "[Joe] Wilson, [Edward] Corvan, [William] Mitford, [Robert] Gilchrist, [Rowland] Harrison,  [J. P.] Robson,  [Robert] Emery,  [Geordie] Ridley,  [William] Oliver,  [Jack] Shield, &c,. &c.", and including illustrations of Newcastle and, newly added, "Portraits of the Poets [and] Eccentrics of Newcastle".

The final edition of the series was published in 1891, entitled "Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings...", a revised edition that included songwriter biographies, portraits, and autographs, as well as notes on the songs.

Hence, over the years that the Allans developed the book series, continually adding to it, it eventually, as of this date, became an extremely large volume, containing almost 400 songs and spanning almost 600 pages. Eventually, the name was changed to "Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside Songs and Readings...", and the contents increased to cover the songs, as well as details and histories of them, and of their writers and singers. Moreover, as it developed, its scope changed from being limited to popular songs, to encompass many older traditional songs, thus spreading the popularity of the series to a wider audience. It is now considered an invaluable historical reference.

Related secondary scholarship

 * Article by a scholar that focuses, at least in part, on this genre of music history and musicology, in a piece that includes descriptions of some musical pieces appearing in Allan's... Tyneside Songs.
 * A modern facsimile edition of the 1891 classic, with a new introduction by music scholar David Harker.

Contents
The contents as revealed by the Contents pages of the final (1891) edition, and Wikipedia editorial comments regarding mentions (and origins) of various subjects on various pages:

¹ – An old traditional song. ³ – Only a brief mention. A-C1 – According to Thomas Allan's Tyneside Songs and Readings of 1891, the writer is George Cameron. A-G2 – According to Thomas Allan's Tyneside Songs and Readings of 1891, the writer is Gilchrist. Br-S6 – According to Brockie's "The Shields Garland", the writer is John Stobbs. F-A1 – According to Fordyce's Tyne Songster of 1840, the writer is Armstrong. Fr-Tune7 – According to France's Songs of the Bards of the Tyne – 1850, the tune is "Polly Parker, O". Fr-Tune8 – According to France's Songs of the Bards of the Tyne – 1850, the tune is "Newcastle Ale".
 * Notes