This was in its time an excellent book about ballads, a scholarly discussion by a Wellesley professor,not just a collection of ballads, though as the sub-title says it dd include ballads and their tunes. It includes both thematic and historical chapters -- Robin Hood ballads, historical ballads, border raid ballads, romantic ballads, supernatural ballads, nursery ballads, Christian elements in ballads, the English ballad revival with Percy and the Scottish revival with Sir Walter Scott, then the famous collectors Francis Child and Cecil Sharp and the American versions of ballads. Although the bookplate in this copy includes both my parents' names, I believe that it was really my mother's as she was much more interested in folksongs than my father. ( )