"Folkloristic Erotica" query is by Gershon Legman. It appeared in the journal Western Folklore in the October 1955 issue.
• Folkloristic Erotica.—I would like to ask for help in the preparation of a comprehensive collection of the American and British ballads and folk songs which have until now generally been omitted from published collections because of their sexual forthrightness. This is to be Volume 2 of the series, “Les Hautes Etudes” now being published in Paris, of which Volume 1, The Limerick, containing 1,739 examples, with notes, variants, and an index, has already appeared—a volume of 540 pages. The series is to be entirely devoted to the sexual folklore of the English-speaking peoples, and will extend to six volumes when completed. Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted except the Kryptadia, and the Anthropophyteiaseries of Dr. Friedrich Krauss, published in Vienna from 1884 till 1931 when the Nazis closed the printer down. In any case, these series specialized in German and South Slavic materials, with English-language folklore treated only very infrequently and superficially.
For the ballad volume, adequate texts are lacking for some of the most famous American and British songs and poems, such as “The Red Light Saloon,” “The Winnipeg Whore,” “While Strolling through Norfolk” (bawdy sea chanteys in general seem practically unrecoverable at this date owing to the expurgatory techniques of former collectors), “Our Goodman” (Child, 274, but in the unrepressed modern version), “The Ball of Carrie Muir,” and many others known only by name and reputation or through imperfect fragments. Versions of any such songs would be gratefully received, as also information as to singers and specialists or collectors from whom further help may be sought.
G. Legman
“Dou Souleou," Le Planastel,
Cagnes-sur-Mer (A.-M.), France