(42) [Alf the Freebooter: 1913]
Alf the Freebooter / Little Danneved and / Swayne Trost / and Other Ballads / By / George Borrow / London: / Printed for Private Circulation / 1913.
Collation:—Square demy octavo, pp. 27; consisting of: Half-title (with blank reverse) pp. 1–2; Title-page, as above (with a note regarding the American copyright upon the centre of the reverse) pp. 3–4; and Text of the Ballads pp. 5–27. There are headlines throughout, each page being headed with the
title of the particular Ballad occupying it. Upon the reverse of p. 27 is the following imprint, “London: / Printed for Thomas J. Wise, Hampstead, N.W. / Edition limited to Thirty Copies.” The signatures are A (a quarter-sheet of 2 leaves), B (a half-sheet of 4 leaves), and C (a full sheet of 8 leaves), all inset within each other.
Issued in bright green paper wrappers, with untrimmed edges, and with the title-page reproduced upon the front. The leaves measure 8½ × 6⅞ inches.
Thirty Copies only were printed.
Contents.
| page | |
| Sir Alf the Freebooter. [Sir Alf he is an Atheling.] | 5 |
| Little Danneved and Swayne Trost. [“O what shall I in Denmark do?”] | 14 |
| Sir Pall, Sir Bear, And Sir Liden. [Liden he rode to the Ting, and shewed] | 20 |
| Belardo’s Wedding. [From the banks, in mornings beam] | 23 |
| The Yew Tree. [O tree of yew, which here I spy] Two earlier versions of this Ode were printed by Borrow in Wild Wales, vol. iii, pp. 203 and 247. The texts of all three versions differ very considerably. | 27 |
There is a copy of Alf the Freebooter and Other Ballads in the Library of the British Museum. The Press-mark is C. 44. d. 38.
