This is the first book to combine contemporary debates in ballad studies with the insights of modern textual scholarship. Just like canonical literature and music, the ballad should not be seen as a uniquely authentic item inextricably tied to a documented source, but rather as an unstable structure subject to the vagaries of production, reception, and editing. Among the matters addressed are topics central to the subject, including ballad origins, oral and printed transmission, sound and writing, agency and editing, and textual and melodic indeterminacy and instability. While drawing on the time-honoured materials of ballad studies, the book offers a theoretical framework for the discipline to complement the largely ethnographic approach that has dominated in recent decades. Primarily directed at the community of ballad and folk song scholars, the book will be of interest to researchers in several adjacent fields, including folklore, oral literature, ethnomusicology, and textual scholarship.

A small format gift book which is a reproduction of the popular book ‘101 Scottish Songs’ published by Collins in 1962. Popularized as ‘the wee red songbook’ in Scottish folk circles, this publication was in print for 26 years.

Ten stories from old Scottish folk songs tell histories and local legends in the voice of the people Many Scottish ballads tell stories of adventure and danger, trickery and wit, valiant nobles and passionate romances. But to the natives of Scotland, the best ballads have often been those that speak of ordinary people playing the parts of heroes. Writers of ballads stretched their imaginations to bring life to tales that happened long ago, and the stories were passed down from generation to generation as oral retellings of local Scottish history and myth. By Loch and by Lin presents exciting tales such as those of the harper who tricked a king, the dove that became a prince at night, and the beautiful lass who was stolen from her true love. In stories from ancient folk songs, this collection weaves a colorful tapestry of Scottish lore.