The Manuscripts
The Manuscripts
The Personal Copy
Baring-Gould's intention in collecting the folk songs of Devon and Cornwall was not to pin them, like butterflies, into the museum case of a printed text. His desire was to hear them sung and enjoyed by as many people as possible, particularly by children who would keep tradition alive. The articles he wrote and the books he published were done with this in mind. Early on in his collecting days he also started to arrange performances of his songs, initially in concerts but, increasingly, as staged performances with costumes and a plot that joined the songs together. In doing this he knew that the songs could not be performed exactly as he had collected them. Victorian audiences were not attuned to unaccompanied singing. If he was to be successful in popularising the songs they had to be matched to the tastes of the listeners. This meant that piano accompaniments were obligatory. He also had to tone down some of the more 'unsuitable' songs.
"Of course, it is only some, and they are not very numerous among the popular lyrics, that are objectionable, and the singers have no thought that they are offending ears polite, when they mention in their songs and ballads matters not generally talked about, and when they call a spade "a spade" and not "an agricultural implement employed by gardeners."
Less forgivably, Baring-Gould often edited on the grounds of personal taste and his feeling of what the singer might have sung if they hadn't omitted a verse.
Baring-Gould's gift to posterity is that he had the foresight to make fair copies of the songs he collected and to ensure that one of these copies was given to Plymouth Library, together with the rough notes of tunes taken down in the field by his collaborators Bussell and Sheppard. These were the only manuscripts that researchers had to work with up until 1992 when we discovered that Baring-Gould's personal fair copy had also survived with his books and other papers in Killerton House near Exeter where his Library had been moved in the 1970s. This started a period of exploration with the help and encouragement of Baring-Gould's great-granddaughter, Merriol Almond and with the assistance of a number of other enthusiasts. The manuscripts and other material now known about includes the following
Plymouth Library
The Rough Manuscripts are the original notebooks in which Baring-Gould, Sheppard and Bussell noted tunes from the old singers. There were originally 15 notebooks but 1 was mislaid before they were presented to Plymouth Library in 1914. Volume 12 has gone missing in more recent years. The Rough Manuscripts are due to be re-bound at the time of writing
The Fair Copy is a collection of 202 songs with their tunes, set out with all their variants of word and tunes. They include the songs published in both editions of "Songs of the West". A photocopy of this manuscript is also available in the West Country Studies Library in Exeter.
There are also two Notebooks in the Plymouth collection. One is a fair copy of verses composed by Baring-Gould, including pieces commissioned by newspapers etc. The other is one of the notebooks used by Baring-Gould for noting down songs in the field.
Killerton House
When Baring-Gould's personal library (at least, a large part of it) was removed, for safety, from Lewtrenchard in the 1970s it was agreed that it should be placed in the Library at Killerton House the former seat of the Acland family near Exeter, now owned by the National Trust. The collection includes a large number of Baring-Gould's own books as well as those he used for reference in his writing. There is a good collection of books on folk song and these include specially bound editions of his song books with extra pages which he has used for annotations, presumably with the next edition in mind. There are also a number of bound collections of chap-books and ballads. It is here that the manuscript now known as the Personal Copy is kept. This is a set of three vellum-bound ledgers laid out like the Fair Copy (for which it was the prototype) only it contains about 650 songs, some of which are repeated. It appears that Baring-Gould continued to copy songs into these volumes from his notes and from other sources until about 1917.
Devon County Record Office
At the time that the significance of the Library at Killerton was recognised and the Personal Copy discovered it was revealed that 30 boxes of material were being stored in the basement. This material has now been transferred to the Devon County Record Office in Exeter. While it has not been studied in full the boxes contain letters, newspaper cuttings, Family Journals and scrapbooks, photographs and other manuscripts as well as a number of damaged books and other items of less interest. In respect of folk song the most interesting finds to date have been two more notebooks which both appear to have been early attempts at fair copies and which were later used for rough notes.
Extract from a Lady's Notebook
Other Manuscripts
Other locations have manuscripts which are of interest, including:
While these are the manuscripts that are known about and are available (though with some restrictions) to researchers there is some other material which is in private hands, including the Baring-Gould family. I am sure that there are other papers which will come to light as the search goes on.
Updated 3rd December 2000
