The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #114320   Message #2444620
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
18-Sep-08 - 09:52 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Maid of Listowel
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maid of Listowel
Both 'Diana' examples are evidently variant sets from the same printer (as the Bodleian site states), so it's 1:1, not 2:1. Bear in mind that many broadside printers pirated each others' material or got the words from recitation, and that the typesetter didn't always have the benefit of a physical print to copy from. Errors and mis-spellings were common, not least from Irish printers. Haley was one of the better ones, though, and in a choice between 'Diana' and 'Damer' I'd go for the latter, since there's an obvious rationale for it.