The Child Ballads was the first significant collection of English-language ballads, and is still considered to be an essential resource for students of English, Scottish and American folk song. The collection was published in five volumes between 1882 and 1898 by the American scholar Francis James Child as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. In its original form it contains text only, but there are now supplementary editions that include musical notation for the songs.
Child allocated numbers to the ballads, collecting ballads clearly related to each other under the same number. So, for example, Den Bortsålda (by Garmarna) and The Prickle-Holly Bush (by The Watersons) are both Child #95, as is Gallis Pole (by Leadbelly) and Gallows Pole (by Led Zeppelin).
