Sorry--on checking through the full set of eight volumes I find that I had skipped two pages in the volume I consulted.
Here reads the title page I missed:---
                        
                        English and Scottish

                              BALLADS.

                              Edited by
                         FRANCIS JAMES CHILD.

                            Volume

                               LONDON
             Sampson Low, Son, & Co., 47, Ludgate Hill
                              MDCCCLXI.

In volume one there follows a six page preface:--                     

                     signed F.J.C. and dated May, 1860.


Each ballad has a preface of varying length.

The set is a quality product, having leather spines and corners, marbled boards and gold topped pages.