The fourth volume in the series of essays on street literature and cheap print will be available from October 2024, entitled Father Christmas and the Deck of Cards: Further Adventures in Cheap Print, edited by David Atkinson and Steve Roud. It is a collection of eleven essays based on papers presented at the Traditional Song Forum’s annual Broadside Day conference, including an investigation of how the figure of Father Christmas developed in cheap prints, and the surprisingly long history of the story/song/recitation ‘Cards Spiritualized’ (or Deck of Cards, as it is usually called nowadays). It turns out that this story might well be older than Father Christmas. We always like to include at least one piece on street literature from other countries, and this volume includes two chapters from the Czech Republic – one an introductory essay and one, even more surprisingly, on – yes – ‘Deck of Cards’! Other chapters cover various aspects of Irish traditions and an investigation of the ‘murdered-sweetheart’ ballads, a perennially popular theme in song tradition in Britain for at least 400 years.
