Broadside ballad entitled 'The Sea!'

Commentary

Verse 1 begins: 'The sea! the sea! the open sea! / The blue, the fresh, the ever free!'. This sheet was published by James Lindsay of 9 King Street, Glasgow.

Lindsay worked from this address during the 1850s and so this sheet was probably published sometime during that decade. Many of Lindsay's sheets carry illustrations but they are often to compensate for short lyrics or flimsy content. Here, these lyrics were so long that Lindsay has even missed out some of his trademark, lengthy advertising.

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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