Publication: That Precious Legacy
An account of Ralph Vaughan Williams' visits to Essex, and the words and music of 30 songs he collected there (some previously unpublished) can be found in:
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Sue Cubbin, That Precious Legacy: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Essex Folksong (Essex Record Office, 2006).
We regret that this is now out of print.
Review extracts
"Sue Cubbin provides very useful background informationon RVW's Essex singers and their localities, supported by archive photographs and facsimile extracts from maps, census records amd church registers. She also reproduces pages from RVW's manuscripts, and as well as listing all the songs he obtained in the county, she prints the words and music of thirty of them.
"This is a rewarding little collection." Roy Palmer English Dance and Song
"The book... is a model of its kind... [It]is an admirably straightforward and readable account of how Vaughan Williams began collecting folk songs in Essex and of his working methods when doing so...
"...I cannot recommend this book too highly." William Hedley Journal of the RVW Society
