The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. 3

by Francis James Child

Published between 1882 and 1898, this definitive collection compiles all the extant ballads with all known variants and features Child's commentary for each work. Volume III includes Parts V and VI of the original set — ballads 114–188: "Mary Hamilton," "Flodden Field," "Sir Andrew Barton," and more than 30 ballads about Robin Hood.

Genres: Poetry, Music

544 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 2003

About the author

Francis James Child (1825-1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry. In 1876 he was named Harvard's first Professor of English, a position which allowed him to focus on academic research. It was during this time that he began work on the Child Ballads.

The Child Ballads were published in five volumes between 1882 and 1898. While Child was primarily a literary scholar with little interest in the music of the ballads, his work became a major contribution to the study of English-language folk music.

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Read selections of the work for a module on Ballads and Popular Romance