Bronson: Trad Tunes Child Ballads

Subject: BRONSON
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 02:52 PM

BRONSON'S BACK! OFFICIAL NOTICE

The four volumes of Bertrand Harris Bronson's The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads is back in print, after 30-odd years. A joint project of CAMSCO Music and the Loomis House Press, they're available in softcover for $40 per volume and hardcover at $50 per volume; in the US, normal shipping will be by Media Mail, with a $10 S&H charge for the set of four. It will also be printed in the UK (more pricing details as soon as I get them) to avoid the horrendous cost of shipping books from the US.

This is the set that the Times Literary Supplement called "The greatest single contribution to the scholarship of the ballad in this century". It is simply a collection of all the tunes and lyrics of all of the versions of the Child Ballads that were available in 1972---over 2000 pages, along with complete bibliographical material and musical analyses.

You can order from either Loomis House or CAMSCO; CAMSCO's number for phone orders is 800/548-FOLK<3655>

And, if I may say, WHOOPEE!

Subject: RE: BRONSON
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 03:11 PM

Definitely interested once the UK edition is available. Well done.

Regards

Subject: RE: BRONSON
From: John Routledge
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 03:18 PM

Great stuff Dick

Subject: RE: BRONSON
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 03:22 PM

Martin. Mark of Loomis House Press has just appeared on the Ballad_L list announcing that he is setting up drop shipping for the UK. More news in a few days.

Subject: RE: BRONSON
From: KathWestra
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 04:40 PM

Saving my pennies!!
Congratulations, Dick! What a huge accomplishment--and what a great service to lovers and scholars of ballads. Yippee!
Kathy

Subject: RE: BRONSON
From: olddude
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 06:07 PM

My hats off to you my friend
great job

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: foggers
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 08:14 PM

Brilliant news - think that could be an early joint "Xmas gift to us, from us" to add to the music library....heck who needs an excuse really??!!

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 05:26 AM

For those of you wondering whether to spend such a large sum on a set of Bronson, bear in mind that the new set will cost less than I paid for the single Volume 4 several years ago! A bargain.

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 06:03 AM

Hi Dick

Christmas pressie for Mick solved! Can you save us a hard copy set please?

Blessings
Rhiannon

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 09:34 AM

I can echo BigJ's experience.
The last vol I got was 4 and I had to pay £150 and that was a favour at the time.

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: BB
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 11:27 AM

£25 when Vol.4 was published - a huge amount at the time, but never was a penny, or rather pounds, better spent.

Barbara

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: Reinhard
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 11:38 AM

Thank you Dick for providing this great masterpiece, it is very much appreciated. I just ordered the 4 volumes from Loomis House with the cheapest delivery costs (6-10 days delivery to Germany for $59). That's a bit of money but as a crazy collector I can't wait for a UK print ;-) Now I just wonder what United States Postal Service International Flat Rate Shipping is for the heavy price of $733. Do they offer delivery yesterday?

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 04:00 PM

BTW, the price for the soft cover edition is exactly what a volume of Bronson was selling for in 1972.

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Aug 09 - 02:46 PM

Bronson's Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads is now available in the UK. The pricing is in USdollars---we're also listing it in GBpounds at today's exchange rate, but the equivalency may change from day to day.

             Softcover: $40 US (23.75 GBpounds) per volume
             Hardcover : $50 US (28.50 GBpounds per volume)
             S&H (per set of 4) : 11 GBpounds (Royal Mail)

The most convenient way to make a payment is through PayPal; I can take VISA, but, for security's sake, please phone in your order (609-371-1707) or send the number and expiry date in two separate E-mails (or a Mudcat PM and an E-mail). International money orders and bank cheques just don't work--the surcharge that US banks charge for cashing them is horrific.

CHEERS!

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Aug 09 - 07:08 PM

Forgot to post: my PayPal account is at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: Roberto
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 03:45 AM

Dick, please answer my PNM about shipping the books to Italy. Thanks. R

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 10 Aug 09 - 02:42 PM

Roberto-
Your books are on the way.

And for anyone who's had trouble reaching [e-mail] has been a bit flakey recently, but I can be reached at [e-mail]
    Or you can order by phone: 800/548-FOLK<3655> in the US or Canada; 609-371-1707 otherwise.

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: GUEST,Marc Bernier
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 06:53 PM

Mine arrived at my door 2 days ago. Thank You Dick! Thank You. Thank You. Thank you.

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 10:51 AM

Got my shiny new Vol 3.
Many thanks to St. Dick.

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 09:47 PM

For those not familiar with Bronson, I'm cutting and pasting a review from Musical Traditions:

The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads
in four volumes, by Bertrand Harris Bronson
Camsco Music and Loomis House Press. ISBN 978-1-935243-05-2

Francis James Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, published in ten parts from 1882 to 1898, contained the texts and variants of 305 extant ballad themes written down between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unsurpassed in its presentation of texts, this exhaustive collection devoted little attention to the ballad music - a want that was filled by Bertrand Harris Bronson in his four volume Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. When it was first published in 1959, the collection, nearly 2,200 pages of tunes and texts, was hailed as a milestone in ballad scholarship, and has never been surpassed.

Camsco Music (the company which handles the sales of our Musical Traditions CDs in the States), in conjunction with Loomis House Press (publishers of the new edition of Child), has now re-published The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads in facsimile, putting it back in print for the first time in over 30 years All four volumes are available from Camsco Music or Loomis House Press. They have printing sources in both US and UK, so there are no huge overseas carriage costs.

I now have Volume 1 in front of me, and a handsome piece of work it is, too. The 20-page Introduction is extremely interesting, covering: The Primary Importance of the Tunes; The Child Canon; Basis, Scope and Aim; and Editorial Procedure. A 7-page Acknowledgements section follows in which the author thanks collectors and accademics from right accross the Anglophone world. Perhaps oddly, I can see no mention of Peter Kennedy here - I wonder why?

The ballads are presented with a basic discussion of the ballad and its musical forms, followed by a number of examples of variants Bronson has unearthed. Each is presented with both tune and full text, together with its source and sometimes specific notes. The number of the variants can be quite staggering - a singer wishing to have a go at a 'different' version of Lord Randal, for example, has a choice of 103, while for Lord Bateman it's 112! Whether these are exceeded in any other ballad I don't know (Barbara Allen maybe?), but it certainly gives you an idea of the scope of this huge work.

Everything is very well presented, clearly printed on very white paper. The quality of the binding appears to be excellent. My only complaint (which should really be laid at the feet of the original publishers, Princeton University Press) is regarding the size of the type used. The Introduction and Acknowledgements are, I would guess, set in a 7.5 point serif font, which is small but acceptable, but the remainder of the work is 6 point. Given that many (most!) of today's readers are likely to be over 50 years of age, I think this may be rather too small ... perhaps a new set of reading glasses might be a sensible adjunct to this admirable publication!

Camsco Music are to be congratulated in re-publishing this fascinating work - and in getting all four volumes out at once - and (with over 500 pages per volume) at such a sensible price! Softcover: £23.75, hardcover: £28.50 per volume. Buy them from Dick Greenhaus at Camsco Music, using PayPal - Email him at: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: karen k
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 09:07 PM

My set came today from Loomis along with vol. 4 of Child. Hope Child 5 comes soon. Both sets are great and well worth the money. Thanks Mark and Dick.

karen

Subject: RE: BRONSON: Trad Tunes Child Ballads
From: GUEST,Peter Shepheard
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 05:43 AM

The Loomis House reprint of Bronson's The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads is available through Springthyme both in UK and for Worldwide distribution - priced at £22 per volume (paperback) and £28 (hardback):
Link: Bronson: Traditional Tunes - full set for £87

We have also been distributing the Loomis House reprint of Child's: The English and Scottish Ballads for several years - since the first volume was published in 2001.

Bronson: Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads - Special Bargain: POST FREE (to UK and Ireland) : BUY ALL FOUR VOLUMES TOGETHER and be offered a FREE CD with fully searchable files for the complete collection: 2,200 pages of tunes and texts with notation for 4,120 tunes. The bargain of the century!