Paris and the Irish Melodies

1819. A selection from The Works of Thomas Moore, vol. 4 (Galignani)

1820. A selection from The Works of Thomas Moore, vol. 4 (Galignani)

1823. From Les amours des anges et les Mélodies Irlandaises (Chasseriau)

1835. A selection from The Poetical works of Thomas Moore (Baudry's)

1841. From The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore complete (Baudry's)

1842. A selection of material from The poetical works of Thomas Moore (Galignani)

1844. From Selected poetical works of Thomas Moore (Baudry's)

Paris was the most active centre in continental Europe for publishing lyrics to Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies, with five firms involved 1819 and 1880 -- Galignani, Baudry, Fain, Chasseriau, and Maillet. This exhibition displays examples of work by all but the last.

In 1819, Galignani was the first publisher anywhere to issue the lyrics to the Irish Melodies in a collected edition in English -- followed by later editions (through to 1829) whose contents reflect the expansion of the series in London. The Venetian publisher Giovanni Antonio Galignani had settled in Paris during 1801, where he estabished a bookshop, and also a European reading room at his premises on the rue Vivienne. He also founded Galignani's Messenger, a daily newspaper for the English-speaking community on the Continent. Despite the firm's prominence as an English-language publisher, it would seem that its editions of Moore were not authorized, and sometimes even included works of spurious attribution.

Baudry's and Fain responded to Galignani in 1821 with their own  separate collections--also in English-- the former as part of their 'British Authors' series. This particular flurry of activity coincided with the period between  1819 and 1822 when Moore was resident in Paris. Although openlibrary.org charts the activity of Baudry's European library between 1791 and 2010, it does not seem to include Baudry's publications of Moore. WorldCAT confirms that Baudry's continued to  publish collections of Moore until at least 1847.

Chasseriau (1823)  and Maillet (1869) were the only Paris-based firms to present the Irish Melodies in French. Chasseriau's selection was translated by Louise Swanton Belloc, née Chasseriau (1796–1881), Maillet's by Henri Jousselin (1824-1882).

In addition to the works noted above and in the collection Moore's Irish Melodies: Texts and Illustrations, WorldCAT documents further editions by Baudry and Galignani, as well as the translation published by Maillet in 1869.