minstrel: Child's Ballads

[Lisa and Ken Theriot]

David wrote:

[I've been looking for the "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads" in

print.]

Sorry, it ain't.


[ The original had at least 5 volumes (perhaps 7). All I can find is 
one volume versions that do not have the full content of the original.]


The original printing was 8 volumes of odd sizes; it was reprinted as 5
volumes, and it really isn't missing much.  I have a lovely
leather-bound 5-volume set that I got off eBay.  They turn up on the
auction sites as well as used book sites periodically, but I will not
kid you, be prepared to pay dearly for them.  The Dover soft covers will
run you $200 and hard covers even more.  I heartily recommend your
nearest University library, which probably owns a set.  There's so much
material that you can't use it all at once anyway...  The single volume
edited by George Lyman Kittridge is an affordable starting point, too.
There's a copy up right now at eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=885936886

It's way overpriced, though it does seem to be in nice condition.  These
come up on eBay regularly, and you can get one for $10-$12 if you're
patient.


[Loomis House press (link below) is offering volume 1, with intentions
of 
publishing the rest someday.]

By the time the last volume is published, the first will be
out-of-print; that's what happened to the definitive version of the
melodies of the Child Ballads published by B. Bronson.  He did four
massive volumes (of which, sadly, I own only Volume IV, and it makes me
slaver my fangs after the other three), published piecemeal, and it was
so hard to get them together he finally did a single volume which is the
one you normally see as _The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads_.


[Anyone have recommendations on what edition by whom and where to get it
that would be most useful for a non-music scholar?]


As there is NO MUSIC in Child at all, music scholarship doesn't enter
into it.  For tunes, you need Bronson.  As far as study goes, Child's
discussion is pretty accessible.  I also recommend checking your library
for _The Ballad Book_ edited by MacEdward Leach (beware, there's a 200
page version which is useless; the version you want is 800+ pages).  If
you lean towards the Scottish side of the house, there are more helpful
volumes; if you're interested, contact me offlist.


[I don't suppose someone did a good audio version of all 360 songs?]

What would happen to man's search for knowledge?  

Seriously, since Bronson has in some cases more than 100 tunes PER
ballad, that would be some task.  Ewan McColl did an excellent series
back in the sixties, but they're hard to find.  Again, check your
library.  Joan Baez's "Ballad Book" is pretty much Victorian versions
and tunes; some of McColl's are older.  Get a copy of Bronson (good luck
there, too) and buy a nice dinner for someone who reads music and get
them to play some of the tunes into a tape machine for you.


Where are you located?


Adelaide