Coincidentally there is currently a display of Ted Tarling's work and connections with Larkin, in the Hull History Centre. I also have a copy of the book and was at one time intrigued by what it contained. I now have a copy of Ted's obituary and have passed it on to the appropriate archivists. I never knew him when he was showing interest in folksong and I also know no-one on the local folk scene at time who had come across him. I'm assuming as far as folksong is concerned he was working in isolation. As a local folksong collector I'm absolutely certain those folksongs in the book are Ted's own adaptations (and why not) and the rest of the material is from his own pen.
He moved from Hull to Cambridge in 1994 and died there in 2004 having been born in Stoneferry, Hull, in 1938.