Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a prolific Scots man of letters, a poet, novelist, literary critic and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as the collector of folk and fairy tales. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, St Andrews University and at Balliol College, Oxford. As a journalist, poet, critic and historian, he soon made a reputation as one of the ablest and most versatile writers of the day. Lang was one of the founders of the study of "Psychical Research," and his other writings on anthropology include The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (1897), Magic and Religion (1901) and The Secret of the Totem (1905). He was a Homeric scholar of conservative views. Other works include Homer and the Epic (1893); a prose translation of The Homeric Hymns (1899), with literary and mythological essays in which he draws parallels between Greek myths and other mythologies; and Homer and his Age (1906). He also wrote Ballades in Blue China (1880) and Rhymes la Mode (1884).

This volume includes all of the surviving songs by German-American composer, performer, critic, and businessman Herrman S. Saroni (1823/24–1900), who is now most remembered as the owner and editor of Saroni’s Musical Times (one of America’s first significant music magazines). The entire date range of these songs is 1844–89, but the vast majority appeared in the 1840s and early 1850s. Saroni was among the first composers in America to combine aspects of German lieder and various features associated with popular song, and these works fuse accessibility to amateurs with sophisticated compositional techniques. Despite several indicators of success in his era, Saroni’s songs are almost completely unknown today. These works deserve reconsideration and modern performance both for their historical significance and for their aesthetic value. Most of the songs in this edition were published in Saroni’s lifetime, but an appendix includes a transcription of an unpublished holograph manuscript song, the original of which is also shown in two plate images.