Lighter,

The reasons you suggest are interesting. The first suggests that his work simply was not as useful/practical. The second suggests a possible bias.

I was thinking more along the lines of Bullen being *ignored* or unread in the first place, not being reviewed and then rejected.

Your idea about the 1-2 stanzas makes a lot of sense to me. Funny that Bullen gave piano accompaniment, as if the songs were meant to be performed, and yet did not give enough verses to perform! It's highly doubtable that the score-reading conservatory musicians would actually go through with improvising verses, as Bullen suggested! His work shows a horrible clash between two worlds. I think he knew and "understood" chanties as well or as or better than any of the authors on the subject. What to do then, when the conventions of his time compelled him to present them in such a format that was at odds with essential aspects of the genre?

Your second idea is quite profound, especially in terms of some of the discussion that have gone on in this thread. My opinion is that what Bullen said about shanty origins, while less attract-ing, would not necessarily have put off readers. However, I really can't know that. The more interesting question that it does raise is whether *in general* people (readers, not scholars in this case) would have been put off by Black cultural associations, affecting a turn away from that direction, or if those associations were ignored or over-written due to emphasis (and some manufacturing) of strong English cultural associations. In other words, if, as I believe to be true, there was a shift to favoring English "origins", etc., was it because the writers that had the dominant voice were saying that, and their voices came across more loudly? Or were other voices, saying different things, actively rejected. It could have been both. But I lean towards the former. Where the latter happened, I think, was at the level of writing (not reading). Audiences have seemed more open to accept whatever is presented.

All just opinions, and maybe not very clear at that!