I got my copy of the New Penguin a couple of days ago. Ordered direct from Penguin, via their website.

It seems churlish to say so (it is a very handsome book, with a well written intro and great notes and clearly a labour of love), but I feel just ever so slightly disappointed.

there just aren't many songs I haven't heard before. I suppose that's because it does what it says on the tin: it is indeed a collection of what I suppose you'd call "core repertoire": the authors deliberately went out to try to compile songs that had been collected many times.

I suppose that means I'm "proper folkie" now.