Broadside ballad entitled 'Teetotallers' Defeat'

Commentary

Verse 1 begins: 'Come fill up your Glasses, / And drink your toast round'. It was published by James Lindsay of 9 King Street, Glasgow, and there is a woodcut depiction of a windmill and grand house included at the top of the sheet.

The abuse of alcohol is now closely associated with nineteenth-century Britain - with gin and beer automatically featuring in today's perception of the period. It must have also been a recognised problem at the time as the 1830s and 1840s saw an increase in the spread of the temperance movement. This ballad, however, is a fight back against temperance. The exact importance of 'writer Anderson' is largely lost on today's readers though, illustrating the ephemeral role of the sheet.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them.

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