Completed in 1898, Francis James Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads remains the most comprehensive collection of ballads in the English language. Compiling every variant of every ballad known at the time, Child introduces the texts with discussions of the history and origins of each ballad, and traces related ballads and folk tales through dozens of languages and cultures.An essential reference for any student of ballads, this work also offers rich sources of material and inspiration for folklorists, story-tellers, and musicians. This new edition presents the text corrected according to Prof. Child's instructions and supplemented with tunes from his original sources.Volume 1, containing Parts I & II of the original edition, includes ballads 1-53 of the total 305.