THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH POPULAR BALLADS. EDITED BY FRANCIS JAMES CHILD. IN FIVE VOLUMES. VOLUME I-V. FIVE BOOKS. New York : Dover Publications, Inc., 1965. Scarce. A set of five solid and attractive scarce books. Published more than 50 years ago, this edition is now long out of print and hard to find.From the Text: "IT was my wish not to begin to print The English and Scottish Popular Ballads until this unrestricted title should be justified by my having at command every valuable copy of every known ballad. A continuous effort to accomplished this object has been making for some nine or ten years, and many have joined in it. By correspondence, and by an extensive diffusion of printed circulars, I have tried to stimulate collection from tradition in Scotland, Canada, and the United State,s and no becoming means has been left unemployed to obtain possession of unsunned treasures locked up in writing. The gathering from tradition has been, as ought perhaps to have been foreseen at this late day, meagre , and generally of indifferent quality. Materials in the hands of former editors have, in some cases, been lost beyond recovery, and very probably have lighted fires, like that large contale of the Percy manuscript, maxime deflendus ! Access to several manuscript collections has not yet been secured. Bu what is still lacking is believed to bear no great proportion to what is in hand, and may soon come in, besides: meanwhile, the uncertainties of the world forbid a longer delay may soon come in, besides: meanwhile, the uncertainties of the world forbid a longer delay to publish so much as has been got together..."According to Wikipedia: "Child's monumental final collection was published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads in 1882-1898, at first in ten parts (the tenth, posthumously) and then in five quarto volumes, and for a long time was the authoritative treasury of their subject. The "English" and "Scottish" of the title notwithstanding, it was an international piece of research, with references that include thirty different language sources.[18] A commemorative article in the 2006 edition of the Harvard Magazine states: Child's enthusiasm and erudition shine throughout his systematic attempt to set the British ballad tradition in context with others, whether Danish, Serbian, or Turkish. He made no attempt to conceal or apologize for the sexuality, theatrical violence, and ill-concealed paganism of many ballads, but it is characteristic of the man that in his introduction to "Hugh of Lincoln," an ancient work about the purported murder of a Christian child by a Jew, he wrote, "And these pretended child-murders, with their horrible consequences, are only a part of the persecution which, with all moderation, may be rubricated as the most disgraceful chapter in the history of the human race."[19] Since Child did not live to complete the planned introduction to his work which was to have explained his methodology, it has sometimes been alleged his selection was arbitrary and based purely on personal taste. The most recent edition of the ballads, however, published in 2002, now includes Child's rediscovered essay, "Ballad Poetry," which he had published anonymously in 1874.[20] Reviewing the new edition, Ian Olson notes that the rediscovered essay: gives considerable insight into Child's thinking after he had published his "first go" of English and Scottish Ballads in 1857-59 and was in the process of researching and reconsidering his last great work. It may not be Child's "final statement" that we all wish he had lived to make, but it comes close in many ways, and nicely complements the original Introduction to 1880s English and Scottish Popular Ballads made by Child's successor, George Lyman Kittredge (retained in this volume).[21] Owing to the indelicate nature of their theme, certain traditional ballads such as The Crabfish were deliberately excluded from this work. For a listing of all the Child ballad types, and links to more information on each individual type, see List of the Child Ballads..."... HIDE




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