Folk Song Scholarship

• English Folk Song Some Conclusions Cecil Sharp, 1907, Simpkin and Co, Novello and Co. This was first published in 1907 and was written at a time when few people were aware of the wealth of folk music that England possessed. By that time Sharp had been collecting for four years and noted 1,500 tunes mostly from Somerset. There was a second edition in 1936 and a third revised edition in 1954. This was in effect a new edition by Maud Karpeles who makes a few modifications which she considers Sharp would have made with his later wider knowledge. There is an appreciation of Sharp by Ralph Vaughan Williams in this third edition. There was also a fourth edition (1965) and a reprint of the 1907 edition published by EP publishing (1972).*

• English Folk Song and Dance, Frank Kidson and Mary Neal, 1915, Cambridge University Press (Reprint 1972 - EP Publishing)

• National Music Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1934, Oxford University Press

• The Common Muse V. de Sola Pinto and A.E. Rodway, An Anthology of Popular British ballad poetry from the 15th century to the 20th century. Chatto and Windus 1957 also Penguin 1965. Lots of interesting material but no tunes.

• Sailortown Stan Hugill, 1967, Routledge, Keegan Paul

• Folk Song in England, A. L. Lloyd, 1967, Lawrence & Wishart (then Paladin)

• The Sound of History - Songs & Social Comment, Roy Palmer, 1988, Oxford University Press

• The British Folk Scene - Musical Performance and Social Identity, Niall MacKinnon, 1993, Open University Press

• Victorian Songhunters: The Recovery and Editing of English Vernacular Ballads and Folk Lyrics 1820-1883, E David Gregory, 2006, Scarecrow Press (Published in USA). Paperback edition only.