Internet Resources: traditional song

Song collections: online books

• Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads &c.
  David Herd. Edinburgh: Moray Press, 1944.
  The texts from volume I of Herd's collection, originally published in 1776. Rendered as a single page of html, with separate hyperlinked contents list. Note: this is not a faithful transcription, but has been altered to make it conform more closely in spelling and grammar (in the site owner's opinion) to "more classical models of Scots". May not function correctly in older browsers.
  Link: Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs
  Scotstext: http://scotstext.org/
  
  
• Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads etc. Collected by David Herd, Reprinted from the Edition of 1776, with an Appendix containing the Pieces Substituted in the Edition of 1791 for Omissions from that of 1776 &c.
  David Herd. Glasgow: Kerr & Richardson, 1869. Volume I of two.
  Available as colour and greyscale PDF, DjVu, 'flipbook' and text ((uncorrected OCR).
  Link: Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs
  Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/
  
  
• Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England
  James H Dixon, revised and expanded by Robert Bell. London: John W. Parker & Son, 1857.
  Classic collection of 108 texts from printed, MS and oral sources with introduction and notes.

  Formatted html.
  Link: Ancient Poems, Ballads, And Songs Of The Peasantry Of England
  Poets Corner: http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/
  
  Plain text and html, with zipped options for download.
  Link: Ancient Poems, Ballads, And Songs Of The Peasantry Of England
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  Full scan of the book viewable online and in pdf format, plus text file ((uncorrected OCR).
  Link: Ancient Poems, Ballads, And Songs Of The Peasantry Of England
  Google books: http://books.google.com/
  
  Also in various formats at The Internet Archive:
  Link: Ballads and songs of the peasantry

• Anthology of American Folk Music
  Josh Dunson and Ethel Raim (eds). New York: Oak Publications, 1973.
  The book that accompanied Harry Smith's influential Anthology of American Folk Music. Includes interviews with Moses Asch and Frank Walker. Available as facsimile images linked from a full table of contents, and as a zipped file for download.
  Link: Anthology of American Folk Music
  Babel: http://towerofbabel.com/
  
  
• The Arkansas Traveller's Songster
  New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, c.1864.
  "Containing the celebrated story of the Arkansas traveller, with the music for violin or piano. And also an extensive and choice collection of new and popular comic and sentimental songs." Texts for 53 popular and/or traditional songs: music is not given, but tunes are indicated. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: The Arkansas traveller's songster
  Making of America Books: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
  
  
• The Ballad Book
  George R Kinloch. Edinburgh, 1827.
  Classic collection of texts from printed, MS and oral sources, with notes. The html formatting retains pagination and illustrations of the original. Additional notes and index by the transcriber, Robert B Waltz.
  Link: Kinloch: the Ballad Book
  Fresno Folklore Reprints: http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/reprints/
  
  
• The Ballad Book
  Katherine Lee Bates (ed). Boston: Sibley & Company, 1890.
  50 ballad texts from printed sources with introductory essay and notes. ASCII text file.
  Link: The Ballad Book
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  
• A Book of Manx Songs
  The Manx Society, 1914.
  A selection of 15 traditional Manx songs and modern songs on Manx subjects, compiled for troops. Texts are in English, mostly without music. Html, individual pages.
  Link: A Book of Manx Songs
  A Manx Notebook: http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/
  
  
• A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes
  Sabine Baring-Gould (ed). London: Methuen & Company, 1895.
  Includes material noted from traditional singers as well as from literary sources. Texts only, with Baring-Gould's notes. Pdf transcription with some minor errors; the original illustrations are not included.
  Link: A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes
  Internet Archive: http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html. Originally at http://www.sacredspiral.com/,
  
  
• A Book of Old Ballads
  Beverley Nichols (ed). London: Hutchinson, 1934.
  Traditional and literary ballad texts from printed sources with introductory essay. Plain text and html options. The zipped html version includes the illustrations.

  A Book of Old Ballads (entire book)
  A Book of Old Ballads (volume I)
  A Book of Old Ballads (volume II)
  A Book of Old Ballads (volume III)
  A Book of Old Ballads (volume IV)
  

  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  
• A Book of Old English Ballads
  George Wharton Edwards (ed). New York: MacMillan, 1893.
  Ballad texts from printed sources with introductory essay. Of limited interest without the original illustrations. Plain text.
  Link: A Book of Old English Ballads
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  Html rendition of the 1896(?) edition, with small scans of the illustrations and hyperlinked contents list. Original pagination indicated.
  Link: A Book of Old English Ballads
  Sacred Texts: http://www.sacred-texts.com/
  
  
• A Book of Roxburghe Ballads
  John Payne Collier. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1847.
  A selection from the Roxburghe collection of broadside ballads.
  Link: A Book of Roxburghe Ballads
  University of Michigan copy: online facsimile and downloadable pdf.
  Link: A Book of Roxburghe Ballads
  University of Michigan copy: online facsimile, downloadable pdf, text (uncorrected OCR).
  Link: A Book of Roxburghe Ballads
  New York Public Library copy: online facsimile, downloadable pdf, text (uncorrected OCR).
  Google books: http://books.google.com/
  
  See also: Roxburghe Ballads
  
  
• A Bundle of Ballads
  Henry Morley (ed). London: George Routledge & Sons, 1891.
  29 ballad texts, some literary imitations, from printed sources with introductory essay and glossary. Plain text.
  Link: The Ballad Book
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  
• Catch that Catch Can, or, The Musical Companion
  "... containing catches and rounds for 3 and 4 voyces, to which is added a second book containing dialogues, glees, ayres, and ballads."
  John Playford. London: 1667.
  Facsimile pages of the first part only: available as standard and high-resolution images. Of considerable interest, though the second part would have been more useful from the point of view of folk song studies. Attractively presented and with a useful introduction, but navigation options are limited (unless you know how to edit URLs) and the search function is a bit impenetrable. Some pages may not function correctly in older browsers.
  Link: Catch that Catch Can
  Dr Gordon J Callon, Acadia University, Nova Scotia: http://ace.acadiau.ca/score/
  
  
• The Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England from 1642 to 1684
  Charles Mackay (ed). London : Griffin Bohn, 1863.
  Texts mainly of broadside origin with introductory essay and notes. Plain text file.
  Link: Cavalier Songs and Ballads of England
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  
• Christmas Carols New and Old
  H. R. Bramley & John Stainer (eds). London: Novello, c.1871.
  A very influential collection of 42 carols, including examples from tradition. Texts, staff notation and steel engravings by various illustrators. Pages are available as standard and high-resolution images.
  Link: Christmas Carols New and Old
  Christian Classics Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/
  
  
• A Collection of Ballads
  Andrew Lang (ed). London, Chapman & Hall, 1897.
  55 ballad texts from printed sources with introductory essay and notes. Plain text file.
  Link: A Collection of Ballads
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  
• A Collection of Old Ballads: Corrected from the Best and Most Ancient Copies Extant. With Introductions Historical and Critical
  [Ambrose Phillips]. London: J Roberts, 1723-5.
  An early collection of ballads, largely from broadside sources. Very influential on the Romantic Ballad revival of the later 18th century; Percy drew on it for his even more influential Reliques.
  Links: A Collection of Old Ballads vol I, 1723
            A Collection of Old Ballads vol II, 1723
            A Collection of Old Ballads vol III, 1725
  Google Books: http://books.google.com/
  
  
• Curiosities of Street Literature
  Charles Hindley (ed). London: Reeves and Turner, 1871.
  A substantial collection of reprinted broadside texts, largely on topical subjects. So far, only the introductory matter (including a short account of some of the principal broadside printers) and Division IV, The "Gallows" Literature of the Streets, are available. Standard and large size images.
  Link: Curiosities of Street Literature
  The Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia Library: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/
  
  
• The Dancing Master, 1651-1728: An Illustrated Compendium
  Robert M. Keller
  Includes examples of all the dances published in Playford's collections, as annotated black-and-white gif images scanned from original copies held by various institutions. The site is searchable by various criteria, including dance figures. Although it is intended primarily as a dance resource, many of the tunes Playford published were also associated with songs, and there is much of interest there; though the images are of poor quality and not easily legible.
  Link: The Dancing Master, 1651-1728
  University of New Hampshire Library: http://www.izaak.unh.edu/
  
  
• The dancing master; or, Directions for dancing country dances, with the tunes to each dance, for the treble-violin.
  'The 10th ed. corrected; with addition of several new dances and tunes never before printed; [London] Printed by J. Heptinstall, for H. Playford, 1698.'
  Viewable as an 'online book'. Each page is linked to a larger jpeg image.
  Link: Playford's Dancing Master, 1698
  Library of Congress: An American Ballroom Companion: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/dihome.html
  
  
• Deuteromelia
  Thomas Ravenscroft. London, 1609.
  Classic collection of catches and Freemen's Songs, including John Dory, We Be Soldiers Three and Martin Said to His Man. Facsimile images in various formats, plus modern transcriptions.
  Link: Deuteromelia
  The Music of Thomas Ravenscroft: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ravenscroft/
  
  
• English and Scottish Ballads
  Francis James Child. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1860.
  Not Child's seminal English and Scottish Popular Ballads, but his earlier, preliminary work on the subject. Smaller and less detailed than the later collection, but contains material that was later omitted; "art songs" such as Greensleeves, for example: but, more importantly, translations of European analogues of some ballads which were later replaced with summaries. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.

  English and Scottish Ballads, vol I
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol II
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol III
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol IV
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol V
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol VI
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol VII
  English and Scottish Ballads, vol VIII
  
  

  Making of America Books: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
  
  
• The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
  Francis James Child. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1882 - 1898.
  Still the most comprehensive and authoritative study of the ballad, more than a century after first publication. The full text is not available online, but there are various "compromise" etexts which omit all the vital notes and contextual information and give only the ballad texts, and are therefore of use mainly to students of the subject who have access to print editions but can benefit from the searchability of digital text; and, of course, to people wanting raw material and who are not necessarily particularly bothered where it came from.

  A "Working" KWIC Concordance to Francis James Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
  Cathy Lynn Preston, University of Colorado.
  Available in four zipped, self-extracting pdf files or as four postscript files. Designed for academic use. The conversions may not work for everybody.
  
  The Child Ballads
  Straight html conversion of Ms Preston's text files by David Stampe of the University of Hawaii. Rendered as a single page of more than 3MB, and therefore unsuitable for most online use.
  
  Child Ballad Database
  A far more manageable rendering of the Preston material, though the interface may not display properly in non-Microsoft browsers and is invisible in older ones. Searchable by title and text, and can be browsed by title and volume/number. Includes some music notation, some not in the original edition, in midi and abc formats; the latter convertible to images of staff notation (png and pdf options).
  
  The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
  Another conversion to html of Cathy Preston's concordance, this time arranged as individual pages for each category, and therefore easily accessed. Includes, for some reason, the preface to Child's earlier 1860 collection; but neither the preface to the set presented, nor any of the supporting materials.
  Sacred Texts

  Note: Anybody who is seriously interested in the subject is strongly advised to acquire a proper, full edition. The 5-volume Dover paperback facsimile edition of 1965 was well-made and many sets are still extant, but have been grossly overpriced by greedy dealers in recent years; some demanding as much as £300 for each volume. Dover Publications have belatedly announced a reprint at $24.95 per volume (less than 5% of the artificially inflated "antiquarian" price), but there is a better alternative.
  
  Loomis House Press has already issued the first three volumes with the scattered Additions and Corrections incorporated into the main body of the text at the appropriate points, and with the original pagination indicated marginally so that page references from other works can still be used. Additionally, tunes available in Child's original sources, most of which were not originally included, are incorporated. These, at $24.95 (paperback: £14.50 approx) and $34.95 (cloth: £20 approx), are very good value indeed. The other two volumes are to follow.
  
  There is also a CDROM edition available from Heritage Muse, which includes midi tunes and hyperlinked cross-references, plus of course the ability to search the full text, and an accompanying set of audio recordings made by (mostly) well-known Revival performers of a few of the songs. There are some technical issues caused by poorly implemented copy-protection software; see http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/d_child.htm for details.
  
  
• English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians: Comprising 122 Songs and Ballads, and 323 Tunes
  Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J Sharp. New York & London: G P Putnam's Sons, 1917.
  Largely superceded by Maud Karpeles' far more extensive edition of the collection (Oxford University Press, 1932; and later editions) but important nonetheless.

  Rendered to html (via ocr) with jpg images of the staff notation: poor quality but legible. Original pagination is preserved and a fully linked (though rather eccentric) contents list is provided.
  Link: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians (1917)
  traditionalmusic.co.uk: http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/
  
  Full scan as colour and greyscale PDF, DjVu, 'flip book' and text (uncorrected OCR).
  Link: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians
  Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/

  See also Folk-songs of English Origin Collected in the Appalachian Mountains
  
  
• Flying Cloud: And One Hundred and Fifty other Old Time Songs and Ballads of Outdoor Men, Sailors, Lumber Jacks, Soldiers, Men of the Great Lakes, Railroadmen, Miners, etc.
  Michael Cassius Dean. Virginia, Minn.: The Quickprint, 1922.
  An important collection of song texts from American sources, though without tunes or contextual information. The original is badly browned, and page images are therefore not good, though legible. Available as colour and greyscale PDF, DjVu, 'flip book' and text (uncorrected OCR).

  Link: Flying Cloud (University of California copy)
  Link: Flying Cloud (University of Toronto copy)

  Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/
  
  
• Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry as found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes
  Howard W Odum, from Journal of American Folklore (1911) pp 255-94 and 351-96.
  Available in two parts, as html (ocr) and page images (pdf).
  Link: Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry I   Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry II
  The John Patrick Collection: http://www.folklore.ms/
  
  
• Folk-songs of English Origin Collected in the Appalachian Mountains by Cecil J Sharp with Pianoforte Accompaniment: Second Series
  Cecil J Sharp. London: Novello and Company Ltd, 1921.
  14 songs from Sharp's Appalachian collection; second of two selections. Available as colour and black-and-white pdf, DjVu or 'flip-book' and text (useless raw OCR at present).
  Link:Folk-songs of English Origin Collected in the Appalachian Mountains Internet Archive: "http://www.archive.org/"
  
  See also English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians
  
  
• Folk-songs of the Kentucky Mountains
  Josephine McGill. New York: Boosey, c. 1917.
  21 songs noted from tradition, arranged for piano. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: Lonesome tunes: folk songs from the Kentucky mountains
  Kentuckiana Digital Library: http://kdl.kyvl.org/
  
  
• The Garland of Good Will
  Thomas Deloney. Edition of 1631.
  Mostly ballads on historical subjects. Includes As I came from Walsingham.
  Link: Thomas Deloney's Garland of Good Will
  Sixteenth Century Ballads: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ballads/ballads.html
  
  
• The Gentleman's Bottle Companion
  "Containing a Collection of Curious, Uncommon, and Humorous Songs: Most of Which Are Originals."
  London: 1768.
  Drinking songs and parodies (many bawdy), a good number with tune indications. Includes a set of Sir John Barleycorn and a rather surprising parody of Death and the Lady. Available as html (raw, uncorrected OCR) and facsimile in pdf format.
  Link: The Gentleman's Bottle Companion
  The John Patrick Collection: http://www.folklore.ms/
  
  
• Hampton and Its Students
  M F Armstrong and Helen W Ludlow. New York: G P Putnam's sons, 1874.
  "With fifty cabin and plantation songs, arranged by Thomas F. Fenner." Spirituals arranged for piano. The songs begin on page 171, and are indexed on page 256. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: Hampton and its students
  Making of America Books: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
  

  Another transcription, rendered as a single page of html with images of staff notation. The xml/tei source file is also available. No separate list of contents.
  Link: Hampton and Its Students
  Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina): http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html

• Irish Melodies and Sacred Songs.
  Thomas Moore. New York: Oakley, Mason & Company, 1869.
  "From the last edition of his collected works". With an autobiographical preface by Moore. Texts of many of Moore's popular songs set mainly to traditional tunes. The tunes are neither given nor named. The index begins on page 179. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: Irish Melodies and Sacred Songs
  Making of America Books: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/

  Unidentified edition. Prefaces and notes are included and tune names given. html transcription.
  Link: Irish Melodies: Thomas Moore
  Bob Blair's Geocities Pages: http://www.geocities.com/~bblair/

• Irish Melodies
  Thomas Moore. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans,1849
  Full scan of the book viewable online with text file (uncorrected OCR) and pdf facsimile.
  Link: Irish Melodies
  Google books: http://books.google.com/
  
  Thomas Moore. Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans,1856
  Full scan of the book viewable online with text file (uncorrected OCR) and pdf facsimile.
  Link: Irish Melodies
  Google books: http://books.google.com/
  
  

  Google Books also lists numerous instances of collections of Moore's poetical works. We don't have time to check them all, and no doubt many are duplicates anyway. The following link should invoke everything that is available to UK users:
  The Works of Thomas Moore

• Journal of the Welsh Folk Song Society
  1909-1972. A selection of page images, mostly of songs published in the Journals, with a few sound files (RealAudio format) accompanying later examples. There are various search functions designed for the "local interest" user, but apparently no proper index or table of contents: the 576 items are displayed initially as thumbnails, 5 to a page. This makes for very slow browsing, and it is to be hoped that an index is at least planned. Bi-lingual site: Welsh is the default language. Will not display correctly in older browsers.
  Link: Welsh Folk Song Society Collection
  Getting in on the Act (Cymryd Rhan): http://www.cronfa.com/
  
  This site has now been removed without explanation. Parts of it may still be accessible via the Internet Archive.
  
  
• Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains
  Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway. Vol I. New York: H W Gray, c. 1916.
  25 songs noted from tradition, arranged for piano. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: Lonesome tunes: folk songs from the Kentucky mountains
  Kentuckiana Digital Library: http://kdl.kyvl.org/
  
  
• The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman
  Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray's rendering of Lord Bateman into the Cockney dialect of the day, with spoof scholarly notes. First published in 1839 and often reprinted.

  Available as plain text and html, the latter with George Cruikshank's illustrations, and the tune, included.
  Link: The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman
  Gutenberg Project: http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/
  
  Online facsimile of the 1839 edition, downloadable pdf, text transcription (uncorrected OCR).
  Link: The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman
  Google books: http://books.google.com/
  
  

• Manx Ballads and Music
  A W Moore, ed. Douglas: G & R Johnson, 1896.
  Manx songs with translations into English; many with tunes, which are included as gif images. Html, individual pages with fully linked contents page.
  Link: Manx Ballads and Music
  A Manx Notebook: http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/
  
  
• Manx National Music
  "Selected from the MS Collection of the Deemster Gill, Dr J Glague, and W H Gill, and Arranged for Pianoforte by W H Gill". London: Boosey, 1898.
  A collection of songs and ballads, carols and hymns, with an introductory essay. At present the music is available in gif format, but most of the texts are not transcribed.
  Link: Manx National Music
  A Manx Notebook: http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/
  
  
• Melismata
  Thomas Ravenscroft. London, 1611.
  "Mvsicall Phansies. Fitting the Covrt, Citie, and Covntrey Hvmovrs. To 3, 4, and 5. Voyces" Includes The Frog in the Well and The Three Ravens. Facsimile images in various formats, plus modern transcriptions.
  Link: Melismata
  The Music of Thomas Ravenscroft: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ravenscroft/
  
  
• Merry Drollery, 1661
  J. Woodfall Ebsworth, ed, 1875.
  'Merry drollery compleat, being jovial poems, merry songs, &c., collected by W.N., C.B., R.S., & J.G., lovers of wit, both parts; 1661, 1670, 1691. Now first reprinted from the final edition, 1691.' Two copies in various formats.
  Link: Merry Drollery
  The Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/
  
  
• Supplement of Reserved Songs From Merry Drollery, 1661
  J. Woodfall Ebsworth, ed, 1876.
  Issued privately by Ebsworth, to be inserted between pages 256-257 of the 1875-6 reissue of Merry Drollery, and comprising expurgated and omitted songs referred to (p 243) as "The Chamber of Horrors." Html transcription (generated from raw, uncorrected OCR) and pdf facsimile.
  Link: Supplement of Reserved Songs
  The John Patrick Collection http://www.folklore.ms/
  
  
• The Merry Muses of Caledonia
  "A Collection of Favourite Scots Songs, Ancient and Modern; Selected for use of the Crochallan Fencibles".
  The infamous collection of bawdy and scatological songs put together by Robert Burns and originally privately issued. Some are from tradition, while others are adaptations or parodies. Because of the nature and history of the material, published editions have tended to differ quite considerably. This site has several editions, rendered into html via OCR in whole or in part, in some cases with facsimile images. The site owner seems to spend much of his spare time changing the structure of his directories and duplicating material at various URLs, and it has become over-wearisome continually to be wasting time finding out where he has moved things to; so we will no longer provide direct links to each individual example.
  Link: The Merry Muses of Caledonia
  The John Patrick Collection http://www.folklore.ms/
  
  
• The Merry Muses of Caledonia
  James Barke and Sydney Goodsir Smith (eds.) London: W H Allen, 1965.
  Texts only: html.
  Link: The Merry Muses of Caledonia
  Scotstext: http://www.scotstext.org/
  
  
• Merry Songs and Ballads, prior to the year A.D. 1800
  John Stephen Farmer. London: Gibbings (?) 1897.
  Privately printed collection of bawdy material, mostly from printed sources. Html transcriptions of all 5 volumes (generated from raw, uncorrected OCR) and PDF facsimiles.
  Link: Merry Songs and Ballads
  The John Patrick Collection http://www.folklore.ms/
  
  
• Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern; with an Historical Introduction and Notes
  William Motherwell. Paisley: Alex Gardner, 1873 (originally published 1827).
  Motherwell's seminal collection of Scottish ballad texts from oral tradition, with commentaries and musical examples.
  Colour and greyscale PDF, DjVu, 'flip book', text (raw, uncorrected OCR).
  Link: Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern
  Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/
  
  
• Minstrelsy of the Scottish border
  "Consisting of historical and romantic ballads, collected in the southern counties of Scotland; with a few of modern date, founded upon local traditions." Sir Walter Scott. Third edition, Edinburgh, 1806.
  Scott's classic collection of texts (by no means all from the border region), with copious notes. Available as html or plain text, zipped or unzipped. The html version preserves the original page numbering. At present, two of three volumes are available.

  Minstrelsy of the Scottish border: volume I
  Minstrelsy of the Scottish border: volume II

  Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.net/
  
  Facsimile copies of all volumes (various editions) can be seen at the Internet Archive:
  Link: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
  
  
• Modern Street Ballads
  John Ashton. London: Chatto and Windus, 1888.
  Ashton's anthology of 19th century broadside songs on a range of topics, transcribed to html (individual pages). Ashton's headings and comments are retained; pagination and illustrations are not. May not work in older browsers.
  Link: Modern Street Ballads
  Staggernation: http://www.staggernation.com/
  
  Facsimile editions at The Internet Archive:
  Link: Modern Street Ballads
  
  
• Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs: Both Tunes and Words from Tradition
  M H Mason. London: Metzler and Co, second edition, 1908 (unrevised reprint of 1878 edition).
  Long unavailable, this book contains mostly texts and tunes from the Mitford family of Northumberland; some are the first published examples of the songs concerned. Page images, linked from html contents page.
  Link: Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs
  Traditional Song Forum: http://www.tradsong.org/
  
  
• The Nursery Rhymes of England
  James Orchard Halliwell. Fourth edition. London: John Russell Smith, 1846.
  The entire book, with the supplement to the fourth edition, rendered both as a single page of html and as separate chapter pages. Images of the original illustrations are inserted and original pagination is indicated. The index and contents pages are also available separately, and are fully hyperlinked. Includes material from printed and oral sources, much of which relates directly to traditional song.
  Link: The Nursery Rhymes of England
  Presscom: http://www.presscom.co.uk/
  
  
• The Nursery Rhymes of England: Obtained Principally from Oral Tradition
  James Orchard Halliwell. Second edition, with alterations and amendments. London: John Russell Smith, 1843.
  Available as an online book, downloadable pdf and plain text (uncorrected OCR).
  Link: The Nursery Rhymes of England
  Google Books: http://books.google.com/
  
  
• The Oxford Book of Ballads
  Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (ed). Oxford, 1910.
  176 texts. No source information, no tunes. Although a master anthologist, "Q" was a poet by inclination and saw ballads as anonymous folk-poetry; from his point of view, the associated music and the traditional sources were irrelevant. Interesting as a literary curiosity, but no substitute for the new edition, edited by James Kinsley, which replaced it in 1969. Html, with indexes of titles and first lines.
  Link: Oxford Book of Ballads
  Bartleby.com: http://www.bartleby.com/
  
  
• Pammelia. Mvsicks Miscellanie
  Thomas Ravenscroft. London, 1609.
  Rounds or catches and other songs religious and secular. Includes Hey, Ho, Nobody at Home. Facsimile images in various formats, plus modern transcriptions.
  Link: Pammelia
  The Music of Thomas Ravenscroft: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ravenscroft/
  
  
• The Roxburghe Ballads
  Charles Hindley. London: Reeves and Turner, 1873-74.
  An important two-volume selection from the Roxburghe collection of broadside ballads, though superceded by the later Chappell-Ebsworth edition. Available as plain text, pdf (greyscale page scans) or in DjVu format (colour). The latter can be downloaded and subsequently viewed via a proprietory browser plugin, or read online via an applet (may not work in older browsers). Various options are also available for direct download via http or ftp; including original page scans at 4.3 mb apiece.
  Link: The Roxburghe Ballads vol I
  The DjVu pagination does not match that of the book. For contents, go to page 37; for index, page 533. The book's page 1 is on page 45.
  Link: The Roxburghe Ballads vol II
  
  The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/
  
  
• The Roxburghe Ballads
  William Chappell & James Ebsworth. London: Ballad Society, 1869 - 1901.
  The epic edition, with extensive commentaries, of the Roxburghe collection of broadside ballads, edited by William Chappell (volumes 1-3) and Joseph Ebsworth (volumes 4-8). Available in various formats. At present volumes 3, 4 and parts 1-3 and Division 1 of volume 8 are lacking.

  Roxburghe Ballads vol I
  Roxburghe Ballads vol II
  Roxburghe Ballads vol V
  Roxburghe Ballads vol VI (i-ii)
  Roxburghe Ballads vol VI (iii-iv)
  Roxburghe Ballads vol VII
  Roxburghe Ballads vol VIII (division ii)

  The Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/
  
  
• The Sacred Harp
  White, B F. Philadelphia: S C Collins, 1860.
  "A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Odes, and Anthems, Selected from the Most Eminent Authors..."
  The "bible" of sacred harp singing. Available as page images: the index begins on page 430, but note that each image file is numbered one step behind the corresponding page number, so you actually have to request page 429. The text is also available without music as a single html page of nearly 100Kb.
  
  note: the site has now been re-designed and no longer works in older browsers. It also seems to be harder to use, but we have not yet had time to check this thoroughly. Some comments above may no longer apply.
  
  Links: The Sacred Harp (page images)
  Links: The Sacred Harp (text transcription)
  
  Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/collections/index.cfm?CollectionID=6
  Digital & Multimedia Centre, Michigan State University Libraries: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/
  
  
• Scots Minstrelsie: A National Monument of Scottish Song
  John Greig (ed. & arr.) Edinburgh: T C & E C Jack, 1893.
  An extensive 6-volume collection of Scottish popular and traditional song, with notes, full scores and illustrations. Texts are collated. Facsimile images with thumbnails for each page.
  Link: Scots Minstrelsie
  Electric Scotland: http://www.electricscotland.com/
  
  
• The Shilling Song Book
  Niagara Falls: W E Tunis, 1860.
  "A collection of 175 of the most favorite national, patriotic, sentimental, and comic ballads of the day." Texts only: a mixture of popular and traditional material. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: The shilling song book
  Making of America Books: http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/
  
  
• Slave Songs of the United States
  William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, Lucy McKim Garrison (eds). New York: A. Simpson & Co, 1867.
  A collection of spirituals, rendered as a single page of html with images of staff notation. The xml/tei source file is also available. No separate list of contents.
  Link: Slave Songs of the United States
  Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina): http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html
  
  
• Some Ballads of North Carolina
  John Avery Lomax. From The North Carolina Booklet, Vol. 11, no. 1: 26-42. Raleigh: North Carolina Society of the Daughters of the Revolution, 1911.
  A collection of texts from oral currency, rendered as a single page of html. The xml/tei source file is also available. No separate list of contents.
  Link: Some Ballads of North Carolina
  Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina): http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html
  
  
• Songs and Rhymes from the South
  E C Perrow, from Journal of American Folklore (1912) 25:137-155; (1913) 26:123-173 ; (1915) 28:129-190.
  Substantial collection of African American song, with music for a good number of texts. Available in three parts, as html, zip files, pdf.
  Link: Songs and Rhymes from the South I
         Songs and Rhymes from the South 2
         Songs and Rhymes from the South 3
  The John Patrick Collection http://www.folklore.ms/
  
  
• The Songs of Joseph Mather
  "To which are added a memoir of Mather, and miscellaneous songs relating to Sheffield. With introduction and notes by John Wilson." Sheffield: Pawson and Brailsford, 1862.
  Song texts by the important Sheffield radical songwriter (1737-1804): "the poet of the filesmiths". Online facsimile text and downloadable pdf.
  Link: The Songs of Joseph Mather
  Google Books (UK): http://books.google.co.uk/
  
  
• Strange Histories
  Thomas Deloney. Edition of 1602.
  "Strange Histories, Of Kings, Princes, Dukes, Earles, Lords, Ladies, Knights, and Gentlemen. With the great troubles and miseries of the Dutches of Suffolke." Metrical versions of selected episodes from Holinshed's Chronicles. Html transcriptions with facsimile images of the music.
  Link: Thomas Deloney's Strange Histories
  Sixteenth Century Ballads: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ballads/ballads.html
  
  
• Supplement of Reserved Songs From Merry Drollery, 1661
  J. Woodfall Ebsworth. 1876.
  See Merry Drollery
  
  
• Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs
  Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway. Boston: Oliver Ditson, c.1920.
  20 songs noted from tradition, arranged for piano. Available as facsimile images, pdf or html.
  Link: Twenty Kentucky mountain songs
  Kentuckiana Digital Library: http://kdl.kyvl.org/