FARMER, John S. Musa Pedestris. Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes. [London]: Privately printed for subscribers only, 1896. From the deluxe edition of 500 copies, bound in one third green calf over marbled boards, spine in six compartments (sunned) and lettered in gilt. Signatures unopened. Square 8vo. First signature loose, general shelfwear; very good. A work gathering faker?s toasts, sonnets of the fancy, drinking songs, and melodies of ?villons,? among other lyrics and rhymes of the canting crew.? Farmer, in preparing his celebrated dictionary of slang, ran across a number of canting songs, which he thought would make a useful volume by themselves. This collection ranges from the early songs found in Middleton, Copland, Dekker, Fletcher, and other early writers to the latest canting songs the compiler could find . The Notes, p. 199-245, are of extreme value to the bibliographer . This is the best anthology of this type to be had - when a copy can be found? (Burke, Literature of Slang, p. 82)