Scripscrapologia; or, Collins's doggerel Dish of All Sorts. Consisting of songs adapted to familiar tunes, and which may be sung without the chaunterpipe of an Italian warbler, or the ravishing accompaniments of Tweedle-Dum or Tweedle-Dee. Particularly those which have been more applauded in the author's once popular performance, call'd The Brush. The gallimaufry garnished with a variety of comic tales, quaint epigrams, whimsical epitaphs, &c. &c.

12mo. Birmingham: by the Author, 1804. 12mo, xi, [i] 184 pp. Engraved portrait, with the half-title. Occasional spotting; expertly rebacked; still an attractive, untrimmed copy in the original drab boards. § First edition of this collection of provincial verse by John Collins (1742-1808), the actor, poet and sometime bookseller who became noted in the last quarter of the 18th century for his somewhat eccentric performances which combined recitations of his own light verse with songs and dialect performances. The volume contains a barrage of doggerel on themes considered comical: courtships and cuckoldings, dubious medicines, and satirical takes on recent events, all interspersed with sentimental ditties and regrettable forays into popular bigotry: “A Jew in Grain: The Doctrine of an Israelite! To be sung in High German Dialect,” “The Desponding Negro: A Song,” and the like. “[Collins’] evening performances generally went under the title of ‘The Brush’ or ‘The Evening Brush,’ because, according to an advertisement of 1793, it was intended ‘for rubbing off the rust of care’. Collins thus became popularly known as ‘Brush Collins’” (DNB). (Inventory #: 107260)