This magnificent high-quality reproduction album and CD by Irish opera composer, William Vincent Wallace, was published in 1854 by William Hall and Son, New York. The album was issued in limited numbers as a highly-prized ladies’ gift collection of drawing room songs and piano music. Its sumptuous colour illustrations, painted by hand, complement this unique collection of music by one of Ireland’s most celebrated composers, making it a beautiful collectible as well as an important modern publication of Wallace’s music.

The album’s popularity was assured when it was advertised as a must have gift for Christmas 1853. The New York Times declared: ‘this is unquestionably one of the handsomest gift books of the season... we cannot conceive of a more graceful and elegant offering to the ladies of the United States’.

Included are vocal canzonets celebrating the four seasons, and fantasia pieces and dances for the piano. Foreword by Maestro Richard Bonynge, biographical and CD notes by Peter Jaggard and the music is performed by Una Hunt, piano, Máire Flavin, mezzo soprano, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music Vocal Trio.