Songbooks: New ballad book - Glenbuchat Ballads

Subject: New ballad book
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 02:30 PM

The Glenbuchat Ballads
Edited by David Buchan and James Moreira

A trove of previously unpublished Scottish ballads

Photograph--Glenbuchat castle, courtesy Thomas A. McKean

Sometime in the early nineteenth century, most likely in the year 1818, the Reverend Robert Scott, minister of the parish of Glenbuchat in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, compiled a collection of traditional ballads that until now has not been published. Most of the ballad collections produced during the Scottish Romantic Revival were eventually anthologized in Francis James Child's seminal English and Scottish Popular Ballads (five volumes, 1882-96). Yet, the Glenbuchat manuscripts, containing sixty-eight ballads in four folio volumes, were not included in Child's volumes. The complete work only came to light in 1949 when it was donated to the Special Collections of the Aberdeen University Library by a descendent of the original compiler.

Scott did not give the precise locations of where he collected his ballads or name the performers, but the texts are unique and appear to have been drawn from oral sources. As such, the ballads reveal a great deal about the nature of traditional music at the time they were collected.

The Glenbuchat Ballads were originally prepared for publication by David Buchan, one of the leading ballad scholars of the twentieth century. Upon Buchan's death, his former student James Moreira took up and completed his work and wrote the detailed introductory essay and annotations in this volume.

David Buchan (1939-1994) was a leading international ballad scholar. James Moreira, director of the Maine Folklife Center, has published widely on the ballads of Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

JULY, 304 pages (approx.), 6 x 9 inches, map, glossary, bibliography, index
Cloth, 1-57806-972-6 (978-1-57806-972-9)


Available from University Press of Mississippi ($60)
Available from CAMSCO ($45)
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: New ballad book
From: Celtaddict
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 02:41 PM

Are tunes for the songs included?
I ask for information, but will of course want a copy either way!

Subject: RE: New ballad book
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 06:11 PM

I don't know if there are tunes included--I haven't got my copy yet. If you want a copy, please E-mail me ASAP at [e-mail]

I only get the discount if I order several copies at a time, and I'll be placing my order tomorrow or Monday.

Subject: RE: New ballad book
From: Celtaddict
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 11:24 PM

Count me in; e-mail sent.

Subject: RE: New ballad book
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 06:54 AM

A table of contents would be welcome ... when someone has a copy. I could not find any indication of the contents on a google search.

A review would also be helpful. Does this largely duplicate Child et al, or are there new things? etc.

And mention if there are tunes (given the era when they were collected, that would be unlikely ... but great).

Subject: RE: New ballad book
From: Saro
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 07:37 AM

Dick, I'd like a copy - ae you coming to the UK this year? Or could it get sent to Boston so I can collect it in October?
Saro

Subject: RE: New ballad book - Glenbuchat Ballads
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 09:38 AM

One for me, too, please.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: New ballad book - Glenbuchat Ballads
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 07:54 PM

The book is also available in the UK from the Elphinstone Institute at Aberdeen University (the book is published by University Press of Mississippi in association with the Elphinstone). £20 + £5 p&p from The Elphinstone Institute, MacRobert Building, King's College, Aberdeen, AB24 5UA. 01224 272996. Cheques payable to University of Aberdeen. No doubt Elphinstone Director Ian Russell will have a copy or two to sell at Whitby Folk Week...

Sorry if that's taken a sale or two from you Dick!!

Derek

Subject: RE: New ballad book - Glenbuchat Ballads
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 08:59 PM

No problem, Derek. I'm primarily in the CD business, and I handle books as a convenience to those who are interested.

Subject: RE: New ballad book - Glenbuchat Ballads
From: Saro
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 05:37 AM

Thanks Derek, easier to have a look at Whitby! Sorry Dick...
Saro