A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads

Subject: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 11:42 AM

I'm not finding any previous mention of this book here... stumbled on it today:
Some British Ballads, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, published by Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, and T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty, at Edinburgh University Press. Wickipedia gives the date as 1918.

It's available online in various formats from the New York Public Library at the Internet Archive, here.

No music is given, of course, just the texts. The illustrations are color plates (listed below), and woodcuts (or pen & ink drawings). Not every song has an illustration.

There is this note:

Several of the Ballads in this book are based
on the great work of Francis James Child, The
English and Scottish Popular Ballads, permission
to use which was generously accorded by the
publishers, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
of Boston, U.S.A., to whom the grateful thanks
of all concerned in the production of this book
are offered.

I suspect they all are from Child (no other sources are given), but don't have time at the moment to check 'em.

Contents:

Clerk Colvill
The Lass Of Lochroyan
Young Bekie
Chevy Chase
The Gardener
The Gay Goshawk
Lord Thomas And Fair Annet
The Twa Corbies
Young Akin
The Lament Of The Border Widow
Erlinton
Babylon
May Colven
Binnorie
Get Up And Bar The Door
The Riddling Knight
Lady Elspat
Johnnie Of Cockerslee
The Old Cloak
Proud Lady Margaret
Yonge Andrew
Sir Patrick Spens
Lord Randal
The Twa Brothers
The Duke Of Gordon's Daughter
The Baron Of Braikly
The Lochmaben Harper
The False Lover Won Back
Lamkin
Bonnie George Campbell
Prince Robert
Earl Mar's Daughter
The Death Of Parcy Reed
Hynd Horn
Helen Of Kirconnell
The Bailiff's Daughter Of Islington
Rare Willie Drowned In Yarrow
The Gypsy Laddie
Clyde Water
The Lady Turned Serving-Man
Earl Brand
Earl Richard
The Fair Flower Of Northumberland
The Wife Of Usher's Well

List Of Illustrations In Colour:

Clerk Colvill
Young Bekie
O Waken, Waken, Burd Isbel
The Gardener
The Twa Corbies
Erlinton
May Colven
Get Up And Bar The Door
Johnnie Of Cockerslee
Yonge Andrew
Lord Randal

I offer this not as an authoritative source for texts, but because of Arthur Rackham's lovely illustrations.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 12:47 PM

Thanks for the info, Becky. I'm not into ballads much, but I enjoy Arthur Rackham's illustations very much.

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 01:13 PM

Saw it dozens of times back in the 70s but could never afford to buy a copy thanks to the Rackhm illustrations sending the price into the re-morgage-your-house bracket
Thanks for the memory DD
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: maeve
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 02:31 PM

One of my favorite illustrators! Here's a link to see the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_V7cUu_pDI

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 03:06 PM

The Internet Archive link I gave has the book (with illustrations) available to view online, or to download as a pdf or e-book.

I saw that YouTube video gallery, too, but was slightly annoyed that it didn't clearly label the pictures, or use related music, so I didn't link it. :-) It is a nice way to see all the images, though.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 14 Dec 12 - 03:59 PM

Just took a look. Gorgeous illustrations. BUT I wonder what was the point of including some ballads without illustrations. Were copies of Child already hard to come by in 1918?

Richard

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Dec 12 - 01:26 AM

It is a bit peculiar to have some without illustrations. I wonder if it was a matter of filling it out to an appropriate number of pages for printing. The texts were available at no cost to the publisher, conceivably the illustrations could have had a charge for each.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: GUEST,BobL
Date: 15 Dec 12 - 03:38 AM

With less than a dozen illustrations, without the other texts it would have made for a skinny volume.

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 15 Dec 12 - 05:11 AM

I love Rackham's work too. We have prints of some of his Shakespearen scenes (Midsummer Night's Dream etc.) on our wall.

Subject: RE: A. Rackham (illus.) Some British Ballads
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Dec 12 - 11:59 AM

BobL, above is the list of color plates -- it doesn't include the black and white illustrations, so there are more. It's a minority of the songs that has no illustration.

~ Becky in Tucson