Brian, I 've searched again for "Child ballads" (plural) with no additional results that I can see. You're right, though, that "Child ballad" (singular) appears in several early articles by Barry and one by Belden. In any event, no tripartite structure before Halpert in 1939, though Mellinger Henry's "More Songs from the Southern Highlands," XLIV (1931), 61-115, begins with four numbered Child ballads, without (apparently) using the phrase "Child ballad(s)." Much earlier articles print Child ballads identified by "Child No." (without using the phrase "Child ballad(s)." Moral: Not all search engines will find singular and plural at the same time.
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