John Gilchrist's Collection of Ancient and Modern Scottish Ballads, Tales, and Songs, (Edinburgh 1815) is a carefully edited work, compiled from former books.
In 1822 David Laing published his valuable Select Remains of the Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland, and in 1824 C. K. Sharpe printed privately a little volume which he entitled A Ballad Book. James Maidment printed also privately A North Countrie Garland in the same year (1824).
In 1825 E. V. Utterson printed "Select Pieces of Early English Poetry, republished principally from early printed copies in Black Letter."
Peter Buchan commenced his ballad career by publishing at Peterhead, in 1825, a little volume entitled "Gleanings of Scotch, English, and Irish scarce old ballads, chiefly tragical and historical, many of them connected with the localities of Aberdeenshire." In 1828 he published his "Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland, hitherto unpublished." He affirmed that his materials were faithfully and honestly transcribed, and "they have suffered no change since they fortunately were consigned to me by their foster parents." A portrait is given in this book, which represents the compiler as a wild-looking, unkempt, man. Besides these two books Buchan made a large collection of ballads, songs, and poems, which he took down from the oral recitation of the peasantry. These were pronounced by Scott to be "decidedly and indubitably original." The two folio MS. volumes in which they were contained came into the possession of the Percy Society, and a selection was made from them by J. H. Dixon, in 1845, who entitled his work Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads (Percy Society Publications, vol. xvii.).
In 1826 Allan Cunningham published The Songs of Scotland, to which reference has already been made.
George R. Kinloch published in 1827, "Ancient Scottish Ballads, recovered from tradition, and never before published." He states in his introduction that "the present collection is almost entirely composed of ballads obtained in the 'North Countrie,' a district hitherto but little explored, though by no means destitute of traditional poetry."
In this same year appeared William Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern, a work of the most sterling character, which contains the best account of ballad literature extant.
In 1829 Robert Chambers published his collection of Scottish Ballads, which contains eighty pieces, of which number twelve are modern, or imitations. At this period the editor had not elaborated his theory that Sir Patrick Spence and certain other ballads were modern imitations.
Peter Cunningham published The Songs of England and Scotland, in 1835, and Thomas Wright printed The Political Songs of England from the reign of John to that of Edward II. in 1839, for the Camden Society.
In 1840 was founded, in honour of Bishop Percy, the Percy Society, which continued to print some of the old Garlands and various collections of old Ballads until 1852.