"There is a good store of pleasant humour in Spook Ballads, by Theodore Parkes, who also has a happy gift with the pencil, as witness the illustrations, the fare he provides certainly deserves a really grateful 'grace after meat.'"—The People.
"In his attractive volume, The Spook Ballads, Mr. Theodore Parkes has shown himself to be not only an author but an artist of considerable talents."—Weekly Budget.
"The fun is good humoured and light-hearted, and better than most popular verse as to rhyme and metre. The illustrations are really clever and range from broad farce to charming little head and tail pieces that are graceful and suggestive."—Borderland.
"—— Ballads all of which are undeniably clever. A book which will be gratefully turned to by all who seek occasional relaxation in the best of good company."—The Surveyor.
"A clever collection of poems illustrated by their author and deserve great popularity. The author is well known in London literary circles in which he has given several of the pieces here presented as recitations."—The Lamp.
"Irrespective of the pleasure to be derived from reading the Ballads, the book is well worth obtaining for the author's remarkably clever illustrations."—South London Press.
"A facile flow of versification, keen sense of humour, and a good mastery of English as she is spoke by Irish, German and other nationalities, as well as how she should be spoken, characterise this book of ballads. The sketches are well adapted to the themes."—Manchester Courier.
"'The Colonel and the Cook' is not only genuine farce in conception, but felicitous anti-pathos in the execution."—Manchester Guardian.
"These Ballads are as original and racy and facetious as any I have come across for a long time; Parkes's pencil is a lively companion for his pen; the two of them rollick and frolic down page after page in a state of hilarity that would dissipate and dispose of the worst attack of 'blues.' The sun does not shine every day, and when the hour is dark and dreary there will be found enlivement and joviality and wholesome entertainment within the covers of this volume."—Free Lance in the Weekly Irish Times.