James Hogg's mother, when she gave her songs to Sir walter Scott, told him that by writing them down he had destroyed them.
David Buchan put forward the fascinating theory that ballads had no set texts, but were plots and commonplaces which a singer took and recreated each time they were sung.
On the other hand, as has been said, the tradition has relied on print to circulate and preserve the repertoire (in some cases, many of our songs originated from print) - thereby hangs a contradiction.
As for me; I can't wait to get my hands on the Carpenter Collection.
Jm Carroll