A collection of old ballads.

Corrected from the best and most ancient copies extant with introductions historical and critical. Volume III. Illustrated with copper plates. Ambrose Phillips.

London: J. Roberts, 1725(?)

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. In very good condition.

Singing & Dancing Wherever She Goes: Life of Maud Karpeles

Written by the late Simona Pakenham

Maud Karpeles’ biography was published in 2011. A personal friend of Maud’s, Pakenham combined information from a number of sources: Maud’s unpublished autobiography, notebooks, letters and diaries, supplemented by the reminiscences of many friends.

Special offer price!

A literary history of the popular ballad

By David C Fowler

Duke University Press; Durham; 1968

Withdrawn hardback library book with dustjacket covered in protective plastic. Minor wear and tear with small brown marks on the fore-edge.

A Secret Stream Volume 2

Folk songs collected from the Gypsy and Travelling community

Selected by Nick Dow
Musical notation by Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
Notes by Steve Gardham

The songs have been chosen to demonstrate the musical continuity of the song tradition within the Travelling community and to complement the historical songs published in the original volume, A Secret Stream, in 2021.

The songs have been selected by Nick Dow, and many come from his own collecting activities undertaken in the 1980s, as well as from collectors like Doc Rowe, Mike Yates, Ken Stubbs, Paul Burgess, and the late Gwilym Davies, among others.

The volume also includes dance tunes, stories and songs in Anglo-Romany Cant, as well as well-researched and key informative notes by Steve Gardham.

A. L. Lloyd: Folk Song in England

Faber Finds

A seminal work by one of the most influential figures of the English folk revival of the 1950s, Folk Song in England (1967) is an expansive account of the development of English traditional song, from the very oldest, ritual verse, through epic balladry, to the development of lyrical song in the industrial era.

Ancient Scots Ballads with the Traditional Airs to which they are wont to be sung

Edited by George Eyre-Todd, with harmonies for the pianoforte arranged by Emile Berger.

London: Bayley and Ferguson, 1895.

Unneeded library stock. Hard cover, very good condition.

Bert: Life & Times of A.L Lloyd

Folk singer and folk music collector, writer, painter, journalist, art critic, whalerman, sheep station roustabout, Marxist, and much more, this is the story of A. L. (Bert) Lloyd’s extraordinary life.

A. L. Lloyd was a catalyst, a man who made things happen, divided opinion, enthused, annoyed, embraced and attracted immense loyalty. He was a self-taught intellectual, a committed Marxist and a romantic, too. He might have exercised his propensity for genius in any number of areas but he did so most notably in the field of traditional music and song, becoming a touchstone for generations that followed him.

This book will please and astonish those who read it (Malcolm Taylor OBE, Previous Library Director, English Folk Dance and Song Society).

The Building of Cecil Sharp House

An illustrated guide by Brenda Godrich.

A world-class dedicated folk arts centre, Cecil Sharp House is at the heart of English folk. This fascinating and insightful booklet tells the story of how Cecil Sharp House came to be built.

The narrative starts with the man who founded the English Folk Dance Society and to whom the headquarters building was dedicated after his death.

With a unique history stretching back to 1930, the venue exists to serve its wide and diverse audiences and continue adding to the rich history - from bomb damage to the 60ft Ivon Hitchens mural the early years are recorded in this easy-to-read booklet. The iconic Grade II listed building is home to EFDSS and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, England's national collection of folk music and dance.

Published EFDSS 2009

Captain's Ceilidh: A Collection of Dances Old and New

by Jean Butler, Dave Brown and Peter Saunders, 1982

This collection of dances has been compiled from sources old and new to commemorate Maritime England Year (1982).
Six of these dances will be familiar to many as they have been selected from the existing dance manuals, and their popularity is wide-spread and well-proven. The other dances have been inspired by friends, occasions and experiences, but their titles have prompted their inclusion here. We hope that this choice reflects a wide variety of form and styles and we are pleased to share it with dancers, callers and musicians everywhere.

Cecil Sharp: His Life and Work

Maud Karpeles

Others came before and after him but no person is more strongly associated with the revival of English folk song and dance at the turn of the twentieth-century than Cecil Sharp (1859-1924). He collected about 5000 folk songs and nearly 500 dances.

This prodigious achievement is told by someone who perhaps knew him better than anyone else. Maud Karpeles was his assistant for many years and accompanied him on his expeditions to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. This remains the definitive biography of the greatest figure in the English folk song and dance movement.

Chansons folkloriques Francaises au Canada

Leur langue musicale

Quebec: Presses Universitaires Laval, 1956

Withdrawn library book. Paperpack. Some minor wear and a small amount of water damage on the back.

Clog steps for beginners

by Geoff Hughes, 1975

A booklet to help clog dancers, particularly beginners, in their practice time. It contains many of the steps and breaks taught at clog workshops and classes throughout the country, although it deliberately does not attempt a generic classification since it is written purely and simply as an aide-memoire.

Community Dances Manual

Revised Edition

Edited by Les Barclay and Ian Jones

A classic collection of English and American social folk dances and tunes. This is a 2015 reprint (with newly designed front cover, new subtitle and additional introduction) of the 2005 revised edition of this well-loved original series of dance instructions and tunes which began in 1947.

The book contains more than 130 English and American social folk dances and tunes for English country dancing, ceilidhs, barn dances and American contra dances; with dance notation and music on facing pages for ease of use. An extensive glossary provides detailed notes on formations, steps and figures for anyone not familiar with the terms used.

Or buy as a set with the accompanying CD

Country Dance Tunes Chord Supplement

Compiled by Christine Collins

The chords in this supplement to 'Country Dance Tunes' match the harmonies in the Cecil Sharp arrangements and are particularly suitable for the piano. Some alternative harmonies (shown in brackets) may be used when the piano is not in use. When the accordian replaces the piano some notes cannot be played using the chord buttons. They can, however be played by the right hand beneath the melody line.

Country Dance Tunes Harry Styles

These tunes were issued originally by Cecil Sharp in 1909 as an accompaniment to ‘The Country Dance Book’ by the same author.

Here in the fourth revised edition from 1994 by Harry Styles, you can expect to find an expanded set that provides all possible tunes covered in the ‘Country Dance Books’. The piano score arranged by Cecil Sharp has been rendered as closely as possible in a melody line and chord symbols.

Country Dance Tunes: Sets I-XI

Collected and arranged by Cecil Sharp.

London: Novello, 1909.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Loose cover on the spine, but otherwise in good condition.

Dances from the Yorkshire Dales

Contents
Meeting Six
Buttered Peas
Kendal Ghyll
The Holly Berry
Turn Off Six
Brass Nuts
Huntsman's Chorus

Dear Companion

Compiled and edited by Mike Yates, Elaine Bradtke and Malcolm Taylor

Preface by Shirley Collins

Appalachian Traditional Songs and Singers from the Cecil Sharp Collection.

A collection of fifty-three songs and ballads from Sharp's American collection... together with biographical sketches of the singers and notes on the songs.

Special offer price!

English Dance and Song

Volumes 29-31, 1967 to 1969, four numbers to each volume.

London: English Folk Dance and Song Society, 1969.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Excellent condition.

English ritual drama

A geographical index

by E.C. Cawte, Alex Helm and N. Peacock

London: Folk-Lore Society, 1967.

Unneeded library book, hardback with dust jacket, excellent condition.

Folk Music Journal 2003

Volume 8 | Number 3

The Singer's the Thing: The Individual and Group Identity in a Pennine Singing Tradition
Ian Russell

Watching Cecil Sharp at Work: A Study of His Records of Sword Dances Using His Field Notebooks
E. C. Cawte

Music at Work: Towards a Historical Overview
Marek Korczynski

Ralph Hedley and His Sword-Dance Paintings
Eddie Cass

Neglected Pioneer: E.J. Moeran (1894-1950)
Roy Palmer

Folk Music Journal 2006

Volume 9 | Number 1

Popular Culture in Microcosm: The Manuscript Diaries of Richard Heritage of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire
Keith Chandler

A. L. Lloyd in Australia: Some Conclusions
Graham Seal

Alice E. Gillington: Dweller on the Roughs
Michael Yates and Steve Roud

Folk Music Journal 2007

Volume 9 | Number 2

'... and They Calls I Buttercup Joe': Albert Richardson, the Singing Sexton of Burwash, 1905-76
George Frampton

Competing with Ballads (And Whisky?): The Construction, Celebration, and Commercialization of North-East Scottish Identity
Ian Russell

Continuity, Variation, and Authenticity in the English Folk-Rock Movement
Robert G. H. Burns

Lucy Broadwood and John Potts: A Collecting Episode in the Scottish Borders
Katherine Campbell

Rhythms of Labour: The British Work Song Revisited
Michael Pickering, Emma Robertson and Marek Korczynski

Folk Music Journal 2009

Volume 9 | Number 4

Isabella McBride — Traditional Singer
Linda-May Ballard

The Calling-On Song in the North-West of England
E. C. Cawte

'That Chief Undercurrent of My Mind': Percy Grainger and the Aesthetics of English Folk Song
Graham Freeman

Folk Music Journal 2012

Volume 10 | Number 2

Scissors-grinder and 'first-rate fiddler': The Life and Tunes of Henry Cave of Midsomer Norton and his Father, Tom Cave
Philip Heath-Coleman

My book of Manx ballads at last published': A. W. Moore's "Manx Ballads and Music" (1896)
Stephen Miller

Farmyard Cacophonies Amplified
VIC GAMMON

The Bishopthorpe Sword Dancers
GORDON RIDGEWELL

An Astonishing Mumming Revelation
KEITH CHANDLER

Folk Music Journal

Volume 10 | Number 4

Folk Music Journal (FMJ) is a unique specialist scholarly journal. Published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it is the annual publication of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. It is edited by David Atkinson.

The Life and Times of Black-Ey’d Susan: The Story of an English Ballad
Andrew Gustar

Old Songs and Sugar Mice: The Story of the Remarkable Miss Mason
Martin Graebe

‘William and Margaret’: An Eighteenth-Century Ballad
David Atkinson

Folk Music Journal 2016

Volume 11 | Number 1

Folk Music Journal (FMJ) is a unique specialist scholarly journal. Published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it is the annual publication of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. It is edited by David Atkinson.

The Merging of the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society: Amalgamation or Takeover?
Arthur Knevett

Percy Manning, Henry Balfour, Thomas Carter, and the Collecting of Traditional English Musical Instruments
Alice Little

English Folk Song Collectors and the Idea of the Peasant
Arthur Knevett and Vic Gammon

Folk Music Journal 2017

Volume 11 | Number 2

Folk Music Journal (FMJ) is a unique specialist scholarly journal. Published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it is the annual publication of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. It is edited by David Atkinson.

Folk Dance and Theatrical Performance in the Eighteenth Century
Michael Heaney

‘Da Merry Boys o Greenland’: Explorations into the Musical Dialogue of Shetland’s Nautical Past
Frances Wilkins

Resources in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library: The Pat Shaw Archive
David Plant

Folk Music Journal 2019

Volume 11 | Number 4

Folk Music Journal (FMJ) is a unique specialist scholarly journal. Published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it is the annual publication of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. It is edited by David Atkinson.

Who Were the Folk?’ The Compilers of Nineteenth-Century Manuscript Tunebooks
Rebecca E. Dellow

‘I think it is best to keep out of the way’: The Benbow Ballads Lying Low at Longleat
Matthew Baalham

The Later Bassingham Plough Play: Con-Textualizing a New Text
Tom Pettitt and Peter Meredith

‘I have believed in spirits from that day unto this’: ‘The Ghostly Crew’, Ghostlore, and Traditional Song
Paul Cowdell

Folk Music Journal 2022

Volume 12 Number 2

Folk Music Journal (FMJ) is a unique specialist scholarly journal. Published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it is the annual publication of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. It is edited by David Atkinson.

Includes:
Drawing on his own extensive experience as a collector, Gwilym Davies explores mouth music for English step-dancing, a practice that that may be quite well known but which has attracted little scholarly attention.
An unusual piece of social history takes the form of the bell harp, or ‘box of bells’, made by Somerset carpenter Eli Coleman, which has come into the hands of Rod Howell, who describes the instrument, its uses, and something of the life of its maker.
A different kind of social history is gleaned by Chloe Middleton-Metcalfe from the description of social dancing in rural Suffolk in the inter-war period provided in Adrian Bell’s 1932 semi-autobiographical novel The Cherry Tree.
John Howson has researched the remarkable life and work of Edward Rushton, who was blind from the age of nineteen but nonetheless campaigned for the abolition of slavery, founded the Liverpool Blind School, and wrote radical poems and ballads which were widely printed.
The final article is a more reflexive piece in which Keith Gregson draws on his own correspondence with Roy Palmer, esteemed folk song scholar and member of the FMJ Editorial Board, who died in 2015. The letters are now in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
The reviews section is headed by the landmark publication of The Routledge Companion to English Folk Performance edited by Peter Harrop and Steve Roud, a ground-breaking blockbuster with twenty-six chapters ranging right across this journal’s main areas of interest in folk dance, folk song and music, and folk drama.
Other reviews cover dance in Scotland and across Europe, Irish music, shanties, street literature, children’s street songs, local and regional music-making, women, and the FBI(!), as well as Bruce Lindsay’s much-anticipated book on Harry Cox and Sam Larner.
On a more sombre note, there is an obituary of Peter Cooke, distinguished ethnomusicologist and long-standing member of our Editorial Board.

Folk Music Journal 2024

Volume 12 | Number 4

The English Folk Dance and Song Society has published the 2024 issue of Folk Music Journal (FMJ) the annual scholarly journal of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Editor David Atkinson.

This year’s journal begins with the two trips Maud Karpeles took to the Appalachians to revisit some of the singers she and Cecil Sharp had met when they made their collecting trips in 1916–18. In 1950, not only had times changed in the Appalachians but Karpeles was now accompanied by the American folklorist Sidney Robertson Cowell, and the two collectors’ approaches to folk song differed markedly. Catherine Kiebert Kerst and Brian Peters chart the collecting trip and the singers, and also these changing paradigms for the study of folk song. In 1955, Karpeles was accompanied by her old friend Evelyn Wells, whose company and views she clearly found more congenial.

Joe Oldaker explores morris dancing at Polesworth in north Warwickshire between 1910 and 1915, when a morris ‘troupe’ was started by a local lady, Mrs Fowler. The troupe and its repertoire were influenced by prevailing notions of ‘Merrie England’ and by the teaching of the Espérance Club, but in the end the performances in Polesworth and the neighbourhood were an independent phenomenon, adapted to the local community.

In 1840 three Irish navvies working on the construction of the Glasgow–Edinburgh Railway were convicted of the murder of a ‘ganger’, or foreman. The incident was widely reported in the press and a song was made on the events, though (surprisingly) no print copies have been identified. The song, however, has persisted in the repertoires of a number of traditional singers. Ian Russell uses this framework to explore the notion of ‘truth’ in folk songs, a long-standing focus of scholarly interest going back to the work of Herbert Halpert as long ago as 1939.

The final article this year concerns the songs of Belgian lacemakers. Although the focus of the journal is usually the English-speaking world, on occasion comparative reference can be both fascinating and instructive. Lacemakers in England habitually sang at their work, and their songs ranged across the canon of folk song, but in Catholic Europe the repertoire was much more of a focus of contention. David Hopkin describes the political – ideological – struggle in which the lacemakers of Middelburg in East Flanders
were caught up in the 1840s.

This issue also contains notes on Welsh traditional music and the Goathland Plough Stots.

There is the usual healthy crop of reviews, beginning with Michael Heaney’s eagerly awaited and monumental history of morris dancing. Following the anniversary year in 2022 there are two new publications on Ralph Vaughan Williams, who, of course, did so much to support the work of EFDSS, which we at Folk Music Journal endeavour to continue. There are further contributions on step-dancing, clog dancing, morris in the North-West, and cultural dance in Australia. Songs and revivals are well represented in various guises, both English and American, and there are second editions of a couple of books that may already be known to readers, Robin Morton’s admirable Folksongs Sung in Ulster, and Michael Brocken’s study of the folk revival. The Anglo-Scottish triple hornpipe and the Anglo-concertina both attract attention. So there is something for everyone.

Folk Music Journal

Volume 12 | Number 5

The English Folk Dance and Song Society has published the 2025 issue of Folk Music Journal (FMJ) the annual scholarly journal of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Editor David Atkinson.

The 2025 issue of the journal will be the last in Volume 12. It kicks off with a study of sea shanties, in particular the much-loved American shanty ‘Shenandoah’, written by acknowledged shanty expert Gibb Schreffler. And nowadays everyone loves shanties, or ‘chanties’ as Gibb prefers, but you’ll have to read the article to find out why. Then that old chestnut, what is folk?, which Peter Harrop tackles from a novel angle by comparing morris and sword dancing with the development of the Northern Soul scene, shedding unexpected light on the matter.

Chloe Middleton-Metcalfe provides an exhaustive study of the origins of the ‘Varsoviana’, the couple dance that will be familiar to many under various titles (‘Shoe the Donkey’, ‘Turkey Rhubarb’, among others), which takes us rattling through Spain, Poland, and the racy world of Parisian salons, ending up on the London stage. For the less terpsichorean and more computer-minded, Mike Boursnell tries out the application of phylogenetic software from his background in biological sciences to tracing the evolutionary trees of Child ballads. Does the transmission of songs stand comparison with the evolution of species?

In ‘Lucky Lukey’s Northsea’ George Frampton brings to life manuscript sources and a series of newspaper columns to shed new light on singing in the North-East fishing village of Cullercoats before the First World War. Sean Goddard’s note revives, or rediscovers, the country dance ‘The Quaker’s Wife’ as played on the anglo-concertina by William Kimber.

Reviews include David Sutcliffe’s major new biography of Cecil Sharp. At last we have an authoritative source for what Sharp got up to. No doubt he will continue to be the target for agenda-driven criticism, but at least the outline of his work collecting folk songs, tunes, and dances is available for all. There is also a new book about the suffragette and morris dance pioneer Mary Neal, with whom Sharp fell out. Equally to blame, it seems. There are books about the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’, the great Scottish singer Jock Duncan, songs collected by the late John Howson, another volume of songs from Gypsies and Travellers, essays on folk songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and eighteenth-century street literature. And more, and a handful of films about British customs and Sidmouth Folk Week. As editor, I am ever grateful to everyone who has contributed to making this volume possible, and I trust EFDSS members, and all readers of the journal, will find something to interest them, and perhaps be prompted to submit their own research findings to the journal.

Folk Music Journal

Volume 12 | Number 5

The English Folk Dance and Song Society has published the 2026 issue of Folk Music Journal (FMJ) the annual scholarly journal of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Editor David Atkinson.

In this issue:
Derek Schofield takes new look at social dancing in Northumberland, within the orbit of the ‘New Northumbrians’.

Brian Peters continues his reappraisal of Cecil Sharp as an advocate for and collector of folk songs, examining his fieldwork practice in Somerset and the Appalachians. Jeremy Barlow looks at Cecil Sharp's membership of the Savile Club, where he rubbed shoulders with many of the most prominent names in English music.

Karen McAulay traces the career of Sir John MacGregor Murray, a Highland chieftain who assisted song collector Alexander Campbell and helped establish a piping competition in Edinburgh.

Daniel Kotin’s piece on Pete Seeger and the calypso musician and politician Raymond Quevedo, known as Atilla the Hun. Seeger was particularly interested in Atilla’s song ‘Guardian Beauty Contest’, a scathing commentary on race relations in the British colony of Trinidad and Tobago, which he adopted as a protest song for the Civil Rights Movement.

Other subjects include the concertina music of William Kimber, the unexpurgated repertoire of Stan Hugill, street literature, protest song, Vaughan Williams, rapper dance in America, and the ideologies of sound recording. The Editor’s own Outlandish Knights is also reviewed.

Folk Song: Tradition, Revival, and Re-creation

edited by Ian Russell and David Atkinson

This University of Aberdeen publication is a major contribution to UK and international folk song studies at the start of the twenty-first century. It brings together 36 selected essays, which explore the revival movements, key men and women who made them happen, and some significant singers and songs.

The subjects covered range from ballad studies to folk-rock, from the engravings of Hogarth to the Manchester Runway protest, with differing theoretical and critical perspectives, including features on several of the prime movers - Sabine Baring-Gould, Frank Kidson, Lucy Broadwood, Annie Gilchrist, Gavin Greig, Maud Karpeles, Ruth Herbert Lewis, Annabel Morris Buchanan, Ewan McColl, Moses Asch, Louise Manny and Peter Kennedy.

Among the many issues tackled are: cultural politics, national identity, commercialisation, gender, mass media representation, adaption and acculturation, fakelore, creativity, repertoire analysis and singing style.

Folk-lore

A quarterly review of myth, tradition, institution and custom being the transactions of the Folk-lore Society, and incorporating the Archaeological Review and the Folk-lore Journal. Vol. LXV -1954, Vol. LXVI -1955.

London: William Glaisher, 1955.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Excellent condition.

Folk-lore

A quarterly review of myth, tradition, institution and custom, being the transactions of the Folk-lore Society, and incorporating The Archaeological Review and the Folk-lore Journal. Vol. LXVII -1956, Vol. LXVIII -1957.

London: William Glaisher, 1957.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Excellent condition.

Glossary of Northamptonshire words and phrases

With examples of their colloquial use, and illustrations from various authors, to which are added the customs of the county, in two volumes, by Anne Elizabeth Baker.

London: John Russell Smith, 1854.

2 volumes. Withdrawn library books. Hardback. Very good condition, apart from a loose bit of spine on one of the books.

Here's a Health to the Barley Mow

Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games

BFI DVD

From the 'sexy, savage' Cornish May Day rites of Alan Lomax's Oss Oss Wee Oss to Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane's footage of ferociously fought traditional football; from children's games in London's bombed East End to intricate sword and step dances, this collection of poetic documentaries, long un-seen television reports and rare silent film footage reveals just how powerful and enduring the folk traditions of Great Britain have always been.

This double-disc set of remastered films is accompanied by an illustrated 58-page booklet including detailed notes and essays by folk historians. The silent films feature innovative fiddle and melodeon accompaniments by contemporary folk musicians.

UK | 1912-2002 | black & white, and colour | English | 365 minutes | 44 films | DVD9 x 2 | Mixed original aspect ratios | Region 0 PAL DVD

PDF of The Histories of Morris in Britain

Edited by Michael Heaney

This book is not currently available in printed form. You can download the full book as a PDF without charge here.

The Histories of the Morris in Britain presents the proceedings from the two-day conference held at Cecil Sharp House on the 25th and 26th March 2017, organised by the Historical Dance Society and English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Morris is an enduring feature of British culture across more than six centuries, and this conference celebrated the dance form and shared the latest in morris dance research. Topics ranged from the early days of morris dance as found in the Jacobean court, to the revival and formation of women’s sides, alongside explorations of context, costume, and competing art forms.

Illustrated British Ballads Old and New

Selected and edited by George Barnett Smith

Includes volumes I and II.

London: Cassell & Company, 1886.

Withdrawn library book. Spine is missing and front cover loose. The condition of the pages is very good.

Introduction to English folklore

Violet Alford

London: G. Bell and Sons, 1952.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Very good condition.

Locating Women in the Folk

Perspectives on Women’s Contributions to Folk song, Folklore, and Cultural Traditions is the publication of the conference proceedings

The conference which took place at the University of Sussex in 2018 aimed to place a spotlight on the significant role of women as scholars, singers, collectors, storytellers, dancers and educators of folk across the world.

Longsword: An introduction to the Longsword dance tradition of Yorkshire

Book and CD set

Written and compiled by Diana Jewitt
A Practical Guide to Longsword Dance for Beginners

Written with the help of experts in the tradition this is a fascinating guide, produced with:
Well illustrated diagrams and photographs
Helpful notes to improve performance
Three typical but different examples of England's longsword dances
The newcomer to the tradition in mind

Ideal for any age group wanting an activity that encourages:
Teamwork and tolerance
Co-ordination and rhythm
Spatial awareness
Physical fitness and
fun

Maggot Pie

A Book of Country Dances

The tunes arranged for pianoforte by William Porter

Ralph Vaughan Williams: O Thou Transcendent

DVD 2017

The first ever full-length film biography of the great composer, produced by the multi-award winning director, Tony Palmer. Featuring many of those who knew and worked with him, including the Gloucester Cathedral Choir, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha, archive performances by Boult and Barbirolli.

Also contains interviews with Vaughan Williams himself, specially recorded extracts from The Symphonies, Job, The Lark Ascending and of course The Tallis Fantasia. And with unexpected contributions from Harrison Birtwistle, John Adams, Richard Thompson, Mark Anthony Turnage, Barbara Dickson, Michael Tippett and Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys.

Once a year

Some traditional British customs. Homer Sykes.

London: Gordon Fraser Gallery, 1977.

Withdrawn library book. Paperback. Very good condition.

One thousand fiddle tunes

Chicago, IL.: M. M. Cole Publishing, 1967.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Some small marks on the cover but otherwise in very good condition.

Pat Shaw, 1917-1977

His life through memories of his friends, his music, dances and songs.

Edited by Brenda Godrich

Nicolas Broadbridge, 2010.

Withdrawn library book. Paperback. Very good condition.

Pat Shaw Collection

Book 2 -Dances

Dances compiled and edited by Marjorie Fennessy
1986

Pat Shaw Collection

Book 3 - Dances

Dances compiled and edited by Marjorie Fennessy.
1986

Pat Shaw Collection

Book 4 - Dance Melodies

Dance melodies compiled and edited by Marjorie Fennessy, Nan Flaming-Williams, Vi Le Maistre and Denis Smith.
1987

Pat Shaw Collection

Book 5 - Dance Melodies

Dance melodies compiled and edited by Marjorie Fennessy, Nan Fleming-Williams, Vi Le Maistre and Denis Smith
1987

Popular ballads and songs from tradition, manuscripts and scarce editions, with similar pieces from the ancient Danish language and a few originals by the editor. Volumes I and II.

by Robert Jamieson.

Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1806.

Withdrawn library books. Hardback. Minor wear but otherwise in very good condition.

Popular music of the olden time

A collection of songs, ballads and dance tunes illustrative of the national music of England, volume II., by W. Chappell.

London: Cramer, Beale & Chappell, 1860?

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. One loose leaf at the back of the index, but otherwise in very good condition.

English Dance Airs

17th and 18th Century Country Dance Tunes

Edited by Nan Fleming-Williams and Pat Shaw
1965. Reprinted 1994

Proceedings of the English Folk Dance and Song Society

Folk Song Conference 2013

Edited by David Atkinson and Steve Roud

Includes the essays:
Singers and Collectors
Miss Wakefield's Folk Song Competition, 1902-1906, and its Legacy : Sue Allen
Cecil Sharp and Photography : C.J Bearman
Eliza Wedgewood and Folk Song Collecting in Gloucestershire : Paul Burgess
Old Songs and Sugar Mice: The Story of the Remarkable Miss Mason -summary : Martin Greabe
Maud Karpeles and her Folk Song Collecting : Derek Schofield
A Singer in the Quantocks: Jane Gulliver - Her times and Songs : Angela Shaw
Going Up into the Next Class: Alice Snow, Folk Song Collector : Yvette Staelens
What's in a name? Alfred Williams and his singers : Chris Wildridge
Phyllis Marshall and the Bathpool Singers : Geoff Woolfe

Songs
'No father, no mother, nor no friend at all': 'The Poor Murdered Woman' as Local Compost
ion and Subversive Crime Ballad : Clare Button
Infanticide in Folk Song: An Examination of the PostMedieval Historical Context
Napoleonic Songs -An Overview : Peter Wood

Tunes
The Tunes of the Brazil Gypsy Family from Gloucestershire : Gwilym Davies
How Good a Music Transcriber was Cecil Sharp? : Vic Gammon
Modal Scales in English Folk Song: An Analysis with reference to the George Butterworth Collection : Lewis Jones
Sabine's Tears -summary : Paul Wilson

Revivals
In Defences of Revivals: Tradition and Community in a Contemporary English Folk Club : Fay Hield

Pyrenean Festivals

Calendar Customs, Magic and Music, Drama and Dance. By Violet Alford.

Chatto & Windus; 1937
Withdrawn hardback library book in good condition.

Rattle up my boys

An occasional, later quarterly, broadsheet for those with an interest in longsword dance. Series 1, issue 1 [Summer 1987?] to Series 15, issue 2, Summer 2006.

Hardback bound collection of the journal. Withdrawn library book. Excellent condition.

Rinkaghyn Vannin

Dances of Mann, published by Sleih Gyn Thie

Norris Modern Press, 1983.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Excellent condition.

Romancero du Canada

Marius Barbeau

Toronto: St Martin's House, 1937.
Hardback. Withdrawn library book in French, good condition.

Rush-bearing

An account of the old custom of strewing rushes, carrying rushes to church, the rush-cart, garlands in churches, morris-dancers, the wakes, the rush. By Alfred Burton.

Manchester: Brook and Chrystal, 1891.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Very good condition.

Scottish ballads and songs , historical and traditionary

Edited by James Maidment

Volumes I and II

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1868.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Minor wear to cover and spine but in good condition otherwise.

Singing Histories: London

Sing your way through local history! From milling songs in Manchester to hop-picking songs from Kent, Singing Histories uses traditional song to bring history to life.

London Wherryman
London Steamer
Wild and Wicked Youth
Wild, Wild Whiskey
London Lights
Stanley and Dora
How Many Miles to London Town
London Bridge is Broken Down
A Maiden Came From London Town
Hopping Down in Kent
Lavender
Basket and Chairs
Press Gang
The Tower of London
Up to the Rigs
What Will We Do if We Have Got No Money
Maybe it's Because I'm a Londoner

Signing Histories: Norfolk

Sing your way through local history! From milling songs in Manchester to hop-picking songs from Kent, Singing Histories uses traditional song to bring history to life.

Windy Old Weather
On Board a Wherry
Waiting for the Day
Norfolk Harvest Song
The Thatcher
Farmer's Boy
On Board a Ninety-Eight
Bungay Roger
Newton Flotman Train
Bold Fisherman
Yarmouth Town
The Norfolk Turnippe
The Outing
Butter and Cheese and All

Singing Histories: Plymouth

Sing your way through local history! From milling songs in Manchester to hop-picking songs from Kent, Singing Histories uses traditional song to bring history to life.

Roll the Old Chariot Along
Sailor's Lass
Oggie Man
Tie Em Up
Mack'rel Up The Wall
The Ramble-ay
Tom's Gone to Hilo
Captain Ward
The Eddystone Light
Outward Bound

Singing Histories: Sunderland

Sing your way through local history! From mining songs to sea shanties on the Wear, Singing Histories uses traditional song and their stories to bring history to life.

This project has been produced by Sing London - the arts organisation whose mission is to unite the nation in song.

Songs:
Two People, Two Churches, Two Rivers
Jack he was a Sunderland Lad!
Spottee
The Rigs of Sunderland Fair
Pretty Girls of Sunderland
The Old Wife's Lament
The Meeting of the First
Boat Race on the Wear
The Sunderland Trip
Winding Men
The Safety Lamp Song
The Lands upon the Wear

Six Fools and a Dancer

by Anthony G. Barrand

Vermont: Northern Harmony Publishing Co., 1991.
Withdrawn library book. Hardback, good condition with minor wear and sun damage on the spine.

Some historical dances

Twelfth to nineteenth century. Their manner of performance and their place in the social life of the time.

Described and annotated by Melusine Wood, Chairman, Historical Dance Branch. With a foreword by Cyril Beaumont.

London: The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, 1952.

Unneeded library book. Hardback. Spine partially separated from the pages, some minor scuffing, otherwise good condition.

Southern Songster

ENGLISH FOLK SONGS FROM THE HAMMOND AND GARDINER MANUSCRIPTS

Selected by Nick Dow

Musical notation by Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
With notes by Steve Gardham

The Hammond and Gardiner manuscripts are amongst the most important nineteenth-century collections of English folk song.

Stepping On

Paperback publication

Papers from a conference held at Cecil Sharp House, London on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November 2019, edited by Toby Bennett.

Stepping On: A conference on Stepping in Dance was organised jointly by the Historical Dance Society, English Folk Dance and Song Society, Instep Research Team and the Dance Department of the University of Roehampton.

The focus was on various forms of stepping and step dancing with connections to Britain and Ireland, with papers featuring England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, Canada and the United States. A number of dance styles were featured, including English clog, Cape Breton step dancing and stepping in social dances, and a broad range of themes was addressed including history, analysis, migration, competition, social dance, reconstruction, music and transmission.

A free PDF download is also available.

See the PDF download page for a list of the papers and speakers.

Still Growing

English Traditional Songs and Singers from the Cecil Sharp Collection

50 songs from the enormous volume of collected works of Cecil Sharp, with music and notes on the singers.

An introduction on Cecil Sharp and English Folk Music by Vic Gammon.

Published by EFDSS in association with Folk South West 2003.

The Ballad Tree

A study of British and American Ballads, their Folklore, Verse, and Music by Evelyn Kendrick Wells

London: Methuen & Co Ltd. 1950.

Withdrawn library book in good condition with some wear and tear on the cover.

The Bishoprick Garland

Or a collection of legends, songs, ballads, etc. belonging to the County of Durham.

Sunderland: Hills and Company, 1906.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Very good condition.

The Ever Green, vols. I and II

"A collection of Scots poems wrote by the ingenious before 1600"

Glasgow: J Cameron, 1824.
Pair of withdrawn library books in excellent condition. Hardcover.

The Fiddle Music of Scotland

A comprehensive annotated collection of 365 tunes with a historical introduction. By James Hunter

Edinburgh: T&A Constable, 1979
Withdrawn hardback library book in good condition.

The Idiom of the People: English Traditional Verse

Edited with an introduction and notes from the manuscripts of Cecil J. Sharp

London: Heinemann, 1958.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Good condition with minor wear and tear and library stamps inside.

The Idiom of the People

Traditional English verse, James Reeves. Edited with an introduction and notes from the manuscripts of Cecil J. Sharp.

London: Heinemann, 1958.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback with dust jacket. Very good condition.

The Making of a Tradition

EAST LANCASHIRE CLOG DANCING

By Pat Tracey

Edited by Roy Tracey, Christina Tracey and Alison Cannard

The Making of a Tradition: East Lancashire Clog Dancing explores the history of clog dancing by one of its most accomplished performers, Pat Tracey.

The book is lavishly illustrated and contains the notations for many of the dances.

The Mummers' Play

by the late R.J.E. Tiddy. With a memoir.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923.

Withdrawn library book. Hardback. Very good condition.

The Ploughboy’s Glory

A selection of hitherto unpublished folk songs collected by George Butterworth.

Edited from the Butterworth manuscripts by Michael Dawney

The Songs:
All Around My Hat (Roud 22518)
Mr Edmund Knight (c. 70), Washington, Sussex, December 1907
The American King (Roud 587)
Mrs Cranstone (c. 50), Wood Dale, Billingshurst, July 1907
As I Roamed Out (Roud 2512; Laws P19; Henry H794)
Mrs Whiting, Broseley, Shropshire, April 1908
As Robin Was Driving (Roud 1396)
Mr ‘Blue’ Fisher, Tibenham, Norfolk, December 1911
The Bold Fisherman (Roud 291; Laws O24)
Mr Edmund Spooner, inmate of Midhurst Workhouse, December 1908
The Banks of Green Willow (Roud 172; Child 24)
Mr and Mrs Crandstone, Billingshurst, Sussex, June 1907
Crystal Spring (Roud 1391)
Mr ‘Skinny’ Crow, Filby, Norfolk, March 1913
Gypsy Laddy O (Roud 1; Child 200; GD 2:278; Henry H124)
Mr ‘Skinny’ Crow, Filby, Norfolk, March 1913
Green Bushes (Roud 1040; Laws P2; Henry H143)
Mrs Cranstone (c. 50), Wood Dale, Billingshurst, July 1907
Green Mossy Banks of the Lea (Roud 987; Laws O15)
Mr Lockly (c. 80), sexton at High Ercall, Shropshire, March 1908
Horse Racing Song (Roud 1392)
Mr ‘Blue’ Fisher, Tibenham, Norfolk, December 1911
It’s of a Farmer All in This Town (The Suffolk Miracle) (Roud 246; Child 272; Henry H217)
Mr Smith, Stoke Lacy, Hereford, September 1907
Jack Went Up to London City (Roud 511; Laws K40)
Mr Heygate, Rusper, November 1910
The Keys of Heaven (Roud 573)
Mr Woods, Tibenham, Norfolk, December 1911
Little Brown Jug (Roud 725)
Mr Smith, Stoke Lacy, Hereford, September 1907
Merry Bloomfield (Roud 34; Child 43; GD 2:322; Henry H135)
sung at Ipswich, June 1912
On the First of November (Roud 1915; Laws N1)
Mr ‘Skinny’ Crow, Filby, Norfolk, March 1913
An Old Man He Courted Me (Roud 210)
Mrs Powell, Minster, Sheppey, August 1910
Ploughboy’s Glory (Roud 202)
Mr Knight (c. 60), Horsham, April 1907
Our Captain Calls (Roud 602)
Mrs Cranstone (c. 50), Wood Dale, Billingshurst, July 1907
The Rambling Sailor (Roud 518; GD 7:1477)
Mr Verrall, Horsham, July 1909
Saucy Ward (Roud 224; Child 287)
Mr ‘Skinny’ Crow, Filby, Norfolk, March 1913
A Story, a Story (Roud 276; Laws K36; GD 1:48; Henry H779)
Mr John Woodhouse (81), California, Ormesby, Norfolk, March 1913
The Servant Man (Roud 1398)
Mr Searle, Wepham, December 1911
Thomas Hegan and Sally Blair (Roud 1393)
Mr Verrall, Horsham, July 1909
The Trees They Do Grow High (Roud 31; Laws O35)
tune sung by Mrs Whiting, Newport, Monmouthshire, April 1908, words from Mr W. Smith
William Taylor (Roud 158; Laws N11)
sung at Ipswich, June 1912
We Poor Labouring Men (Roud 1394)
sung at East Meon
Willie the Waterboy (Roud 22567)
Mrs Whiting, Newport, Monmouthshire, April 1908
Young Collins (Roud 1720)
Mr Greenfield, Largashall, Sussex, October 1910

Traveller's Joy

Songs of English and Scottish Travellers and Gypsies

Compiled by Mike Yates
Foreward by Norma Waterson

Traveller’s Joy is first and foremost a songbook, a collection of over fifty songs to be learned, sung, and enjoyed by the reader. The intention is to portray the singers and their music with honesty and sensitivity.

Special offer price!

Tunes of the Munster Pipers

Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts, volume 1.

Edited by Hugh Shields.

Studies in Irish Traditional Music.

Dublin: Irish Traditional Music Archive, 1998.

Withdrawn Library book. Paperback. Excellent condition.

Vaughan Williams

Simon Heffer

A tweedy purveyor of folklore; too many larks ascending and too much Linden Lea: no composer’s work has ever been more cruelly stereotyped than that of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The truth could hardly have been more different: that folksy feel masked the highest sophistication, that countrified air the most audacious experimentation. If, unlike his Germanizing contemporary Elgar, Vaughan Williams did indeed open the way to a distinctively English Music, his was an Englishness which owed nothing to narrow-mindedness or lack of artistic enterprise.

Fifty years after his death in 1958, Vaughan Williams’ reputation is greater than ever before and there is a resurgence of interest in his music. Re-issued to coincide with this anniversary, Simon Heffer’s perceptive book lends weight to the increasingly compelling case for Vaughan Williams’ recognition as the most important English composer of the twentieth century.

Folk Shop

A collection of old ballads.

Corrected from the best and most ancient copies extant with introductions historical and critical. Volume III. Illustrated with copper plates. Ambrose Phillips.

Singing & Dancing Wherever She Goes: Life of Maud Karpeles

Written by the late Simona Pakenham

Special offer price!

A literary history of the popular ballad

By David C Fowler

A Secret Stream Volume 2

Folk songs collected from the Gypsy and Travelling community

A. L. Lloyd: Folk Song in England

Faber Finds

Ancient Scots Ballads with the Traditional Airs to which they are wont to be sung

Edited by George Eyre-Todd, with harmonies for the pianoforte arranged by Emile Berger.

Bert: Life & Times of A.L Lloyd

The Building of Cecil Sharp House

An illustrated guide by Brenda Godrich.

Captain's Ceilidh: A Collection of Dances Old and New

by Jean Butler, Dave Brown and Peter Saunders, 1982

Cecil Sharp: His Life and Work

Maud Karpeles

Chansons folkloriques Francaises au Canada

Leur langue musicale

Clog steps for beginners

by Geoff Hughes, 1975

Community Dances Manual

Edited by Les Barclay and Ian Jones

Country Dance Tunes Chord Supplement

Compiled by Christine Collins

Country Dance Tunes Harry Styles

These tunes were issued originally by Cecil Sharp in 1909 as an accompaniment to ‘The Country Dance Book’ by the same author.

Country Dance Tunes: Sets I-XI

Collected and arranged by Cecil Sharp.

Dances from the Yorkshire Dales

Dear Companion

Compiled and edited by Mike Yates, Elaine Bradtke and Malcolm Taylor

Special offer price!

English Dance and Song

Volumes 29-31, 1967 to 1969, four numbers to each volume.

English ritual drama

A geographical index

Folk Music Journal 2003

Volume 8 | Number 3

Folk Music Journal 2006

Volume 9 | Number 1

Folk Music Journal 2007

Volume 9 | Number 2

Folk Music Journal 2009

Volume 9 | Number 4

Folk Music Journal 2012

Volume 10 | Number 2

Folk Music Journal

Volume 10 | Number 4

Folk Music Journal 2016

Volume 11 | Number 1

Folk Music Journal 2017

Volume 11 | Number 2

Folk Music Journal 2019

Volume 11 | Number 4

Folk Music Journal 2022

Volume 12 Number 2

Folk Music Journal 2024

Volume 12 | Number 4

Folk Music Journal

Volume 12 | Number 5

Folk Music Journal

Volume 12 | Number 5

Folk Song: Tradition, Revival, and Re-creation

edited by Ian Russell and David Atkinson

Folk-lore

A quarterly review of myth, tradition, institution and custom being the transactions of the Folk-lore Society, and incorporating the Archaeological Review and the Folk-lore Journal. Vol. LXV -1954, Vol. LXVI -1955.

Folk-lore

A quarterly review of myth, tradition, institution and custom, being the transactions of the Folk-lore Society, and incorporating The Archaeological Review and the Folk-lore Journal. Vol. LXVII -1956, Vol. LXVIII -1957.

Glossary of Northamptonshire words and phrases

With examples of their colloquial use, and illustrations from various authors, to which are added the customs of the county, in two volumes, by Anne Elizabeth Baker.

Here's a Health to the Barley Mow

Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games

BFI DVD

PDF of The Histories of Morris in Britain

Edited by Michael Heaney