THE THREE OLD WOMEN WEATHER-WISE; A Dialogue in the Register-Office, between Margery Moorpout, The Yorkshire Girl, and Mr Gullwell, the Keeper of the Office. A Specimen of the Dialect spoken in the North-Riding of Yorkshire; The Magpie: A Tale; The Norfolk Turnip: An Ancient Tale.

Chapbook in original paper covers bound in later paper wrappers. Illustrated with 3 woodcuts. A very good copy, the binding firm with minor rubbing. The contents with toning and spotting and with one page trimmed loosing a little text (although without loosing meaning) are otherwise in good order throughout. A nice example.

A scarce Yorkshire chapbook. The first title recounts the conversation of 'Goody Cramp', 'Goody Twitch', and 'Goody Rheum', three old women who attempt to divine the weather/future from everyday occurrences. After Rheum reports seeing a "flaming comet", they decide that "the world is near an end" and so take to drink and song, for "There is no pleasure sure like drinking / The beauty on't it murders thinking". The second title, through the character of Margery Moorpout, provides an early representation of the North Yorkshire dialect: "I'se Yorkshire, by my truly! I was bred and bworn at canny Yatton, aside Roseberry Toppin". Moorpout recounts her experiences of London, asserting that "Lunoners...may bwoast as they will o their manners; but they hae nae mare manners than a miller's horse, I can tell e'm that that I can". The back cover advertises Ferraby's business: "At the Printing-Office, Market-Place, Hull, are sold, The greatest Choice of Old Ballads, Godly Patters, Histories and Children's Books, printed in as neat a manner, and with as good Cuts as at any other Place in England". Only one recorded in COPAC (Oxford).