The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Volume Set

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Volume Set
by Francis James Child

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Volume Set
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Book Summary Information

Author: Francis James Child
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-12
ISBN: 0486431509
Number of pages: 2816
Publisher: Dover Publications

Book Reviews of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Volume Set

Book Review: The only thing that could make it better is incorporating all of Bronson's "Traditional Tunes" material
Summary: 5 Stars

There is not much to say about this, since if you're keen on the traditional music of Scotland and England, you already know what a treasure trove these books are. And if you don't care about that music, you won't care about the books.

It's a treasure trove indeed, with the books being facsimiles of the original 10-volume edition, combined to make the current 5 volumes.

It's a pity Prof. Child didn't live longer, or have more help with the work. Many of the ballads are not exclusively Scots or English, but have parallels in other countries. Had Prof. Child had more time (vol. 10 was published after his death) or more help, he might have been able to give us the European versions too, in somewhat the same way the Langs collated folktales from multiple national traditions, and Prof. Afanas'ev collected folktales from the various Slavic traditions. Perhaps Prof. Child could even have come to some conclusions about the root versions of the shared story-songs.

(In my original review, I suggested that cover paintings be identified. It turns out that they are, though not in the usual place. You can find the names of the paintings given in quite small type on the back covers along the spine. I found vol. 2's painting, "Hard Times" by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, to be especially poignant, and am glad to know its name)

Perhaps Dover can get the rights to republish Bronson. What a combination that would make!

Summary of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Volume Set

Published between 1882 and 1898, the original ten-part study became the definitive collection of popular English and Scottish ballads. Francis James Child superceded previous and unreliable?ballad editions by compiling all the extant ballads with all known variants, making them available for the first time. Features his invaluable commentary for each work.

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