This song has been sung many times by plenty of well-known singers. However, I would really like to read the earliest known version, as it sounds like it is significantly different to the versions commonly known (printed on broadsheets, sung by Harry Cox, Phoebe Smith and others).

Mostly Norfolk says this of it:

"The earliest known collected version, however, is from Ayrshire in 1827 (published by Emily Lyle in Andrew Crawford's Collection Vol. 2 (1996). This lone Scottish version includes numerous differences to the English texts, in particular the ending in which, instead of forgiveness and marriage, the squire dies and Bess's master and mistress throw his corpse "into yon river clear".

Sadly this version seems impossible to find online. I've seen a couple of editions of Andrew Crawford's ballad collections offered for sale on eBay, but I don't really want to shell out 20-60 quid for a ballad collection just to satisfy my curiosity on this one particular song. On one site somewhere (I forget where) I read that the Crawford version is called simply 'The Milk-Maid', but that might be incorrect.

Does anyone have access to this version, and might they be kind enough to post it up?