Magic In Ballads booklet

Subject: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: GUEST,Barney Sloane
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 08:10 AM

Hi all - I'm doing some research on early-70s folk-horror classic Hearken To The Witches Rune by Dave and Toni Arthur, and was recently told that certain copies of the album came with a booklet entitled 'Magic In Ballads' - does anybody have a copy of this they could possibly scan, please? Copies (and details) seem maddeningly elusive!

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: cnd
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 10:02 AM

Barney, if you don't mind straining your eyes there is a fairly low-quality picture set of the book here

Your best bet would be searching for the album on sales-archiving websites (like roots vinyl guide, linked above, or worthpoint.com, or a similar site of your choice) and NOT the booklet and hope you find sales pictures that included the booklet. The one I shared was the "best" and most complete one I could find, but as you can see, not a great picture. But it's a start

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 10:17 AM

Awesome find, cnd.

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: GUEST,Barney Sloane
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 10:47 AM

Got sorted, cheers! Derek Schofield (gentleman and scholar of this parish) sent some photos of his copy earlier. I've combined them into a pdf which I've uploaded here if anyone's interested.

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: cnd
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 10:52 AM

Thanks Starship, and glad you found it Barney!

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: cnd
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 10:54 AM

I should also mention that if you want a physical version, the tail end of the booklet mentions it was also published in Folk Unlimited, a magazine published in 1970, though it appears to be nearly equally as obscure.

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: Reinhard
Date: 27 Mar 20 - 05:02 PM

I've converted this into HTML (and corrected a very few typos):

Dave & Toni Arthur: Magic in Ballads

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: GUEST,Barney Sloane
Date: 28 Mar 20 - 08:44 AM

Thank you Reinhard!

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: GUEST,SteveT
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 05:16 AM

Thanks for the transcription; an interesting read. If anyone wants other information magic in the Child ballads I can recommend Folklore in the English and Scottish Ballads by L C Wimberly.

Subject: RE: Magic In Ballads booklet
From: cnd
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 11:01 AM

If you want to read a fictionalized version of folk songs and the supernatural, Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John series is an interesting read. Supposedly, Wellman didn't make up all of the songs but did make up some, so there is a bit of work sorting between what's real and what's not, but I enjoyed the series a great deal.

(As a side note, Joe Bethancourt recorded an album of songs from the book, which I've been attempting to track down. I bumped the thread recently for unrelated reasons).