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Laws' American Balladry - years covered? |
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Subject: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: GUEST,Paul Slade Date: 02 Jan 12 - 03:00 PM Can anyone tell me the exact period covered in Laws' American Balladry from British Broadsides? When was the first American ballad sheet he considers there printed, and when was the last? |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 02 Jan 12 - 05:07 PM The first thing to note is that this study was done in the 50s and lots more broadside copies are now available, so Laws is far from being comprehensive. He didn't much bother with American printed examples as the title suggests, although many of the ballads were also printed in America albeit at a later date than in Britain. Laws would have had access to the Stationers registers and would have been aware that some of them were first printed in the 16th century although these would have appeared in Child and he seems to have avoided those ballads already with a designated Child number many of which appeared on broadsides on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of the ballads were still being printed into the 20th century but I can't remember seeing references to these in Laws. He didn't actually give printers' dates for any of his references so we can't be certain how recent the printings are. He must have had access to some of the larger collections and many of these go upto the 1880s or so. Also he was in some cases at least looking at style and conjecturing from content and style that they were from British broadsides without actually having seen the broadside. I should also imagine he was using references to broadsides from earlier anthologies from both sides of the Atlantic. To answer your question precisely you would have to go through the whole book and even then some of the references are vague. If it's any help a rough guide is that the majority date from the late 18th/early 19th centuries. About 20% from an earlier period. |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: GUEST,Paul Slade Date: 02 Jan 12 - 05:23 PM Thanks very much for that. I know Laws' collection mentions 45 American texts of the ballad I'm interested in, but I was hoping to pin down exactly the period this covered. Perhaps that simply isn't going to be possible. |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: Susan of DT Date: 03 Jan 12 - 06:25 AM There is at least one version of each Laws song in the DT. Laws does not include texts of the songs - just references and plot. There are a few songs that are in both Child and Laws: Child # Laws Title 7 M27 Douglas Tragedy 43 K27 Maid on the Shore 53 O26 Lord Bateman 112 N24 Clear Away the Morning Dew 283 L1 Yorkshire Bite 295 P9 Rich Irish Lady |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 03 Jan 12 - 01:16 PM There are several much more comprehensive indexes of ballads available nowadays, not least the DT. Possibly more comprehensive is the Roud Index which also covers broadsides. If you tell us which ballad you are interested in we might be able to enlighten you further. The Roud Index is available online via the EFDSS website. |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 03 Jan 12 - 02:05 PM Hi Susan, If I might be so bold, including all of these as Child ballads, is grasping at straws (IMHO). Maid on the Shore simply shares a motif/plot very loosely with a Child ballad and The many Rich Irish Lady versions are based on a Baring Gould forgery (295B) which he cobbled together from 295A and the well-known broadside ballad. Lord Bateman is a 19thc broadside hack's rewrite of Young Beichan, possibly even a parody/burlesque. |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: Reinhard Date: 03 Jan 12 - 02:47 PM The Traditional Ballad Index lists these ballads for the Child and Laws numbers Susan mentions: Child 7 Roud 23 Earl Brand Laws M27 Roud 321 The Bold Soldier Child 43 Roud 34 The Broomfield Hill Laws K27 Roud 181 The Maid on the Shore Child 53 Roud 40 Young Beichan Laws O26 Roud 8124 The Turkish Lady Child 112 Roud 11 The Baffled Knight Laws N24 Roud 674 Katie Morey Child 283 Roud 2640 The Crafty Farmer =Laws L1 Roud 2640 The Crafty Farmer Child 295 Roud 180 The Brown Girl Laws P9 Roud 180 A Rich Irish Lady The first four pairs are categorised as different but related songs referring to each other. |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: Susan of DT Date: 03 Jan 12 - 03:38 PM They are usually (often?) so listed. I realize some are a stretch, ie Maid on the Shore as Broomfield. |
Subject: RE: Laws' American Balladry - years covered? From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 03 Jan 12 - 05:58 PM The first American collectors were naturally so desperate to collect Child Ballads that anything with a slight connection was pounced upon and so in every American anthology upto the 40s Child Ballads were placed in a separate section at the beginning. Then upto the 50s (Laws' time) the 'secondary' ballads were given in a middle section. Most academics now see these so-called 'secondary' ballads for what they are, not directly connected to the Child ballads. The Bold Soldier for instance has only a very tenuous connection to Earl Brand. |
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