Customer Reviews

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. 1 of 5: The Child Ballads (Forgotten Books)

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3 star:		(1)
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I purchased this book for a folkmusic class. Although it arrived quickly in mint condition, it is definitely not the book you want if you are looking for an introduction to ballads. The Child Ballads are an amazing collection of ancient music and I would very much recommend the Loomis Edition of this book. That edition includes pages and pages of useful notes on each ballad, including origins of collecting, explanation of the differences between versions, etc., as well as an introduction by Child himself.

Child's ballads exercise your brain and your imagination. There are all different versions of ballads such as The Elfin Knight and Tam Lin. The versions are all similar, except some have some different elements and some require some deductive translating from the old world spelling and dialects. This book version is from Forgotten Books, which also has the books on-line for free, if you'd like to read it before you buy. If I had known about that before I purchased, I would still have bought my copy. It is a wonderful edition to my personal library.

The following is a quote from my sister (I purchased the book as a gift for her): "Awesome! Just what I wanted! Although Volume 3 is the Best!" (She is a Robin Hood Buff and most of his ballads are in the third one.)

The book is a nicely bound paperback with a really neat introduction in the front. Very cool.