The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles

~~PERSONAL INSCRIPTIONS BY JOHN JACOB NILES (1965) AND BY HIS WIFE RENA NILES (1991), BOTH TO MIRIAM WOOLFOLK, KENTUCKY ARTIST AND POET~~

Houghton Mifflin/The Riverside Press (Stated 1st Printing, 1961). Hardcover with green boards. Dust jacket flaps have been removed and taped to ffep verso; folded poster for a John Jacob Niles Benefit Concert at the University of Kentucky Art Museum has been affixed to the ffep recto; photo from front of dust jacket has been cut out and affixed to the half-title page recto. There is light wear to the corners of the boards, also to head and foot of spine. Square and solidly bound. Text pages are clean and unmarked.

Woolfolk's collection of ephemera related to John Jacob Niles and Rena Niles is laid in: The Cherry Tree (Niles No. 23) (glossy single sheet of music); "John Jacob Niles, a 'True Artist,' Composer and Singer, Dies at 87," Lexington Herald-Leader (March 2, 1980); funeral card for John Jacob Niles signed by Rena Niles in addressed mailing envelope; photocopy of Rena Niles' obituary and newspaper article about her death, both from the Lexington Herald-Leader (June 30, 1996); flyer for 1973 concert in honor of Niles on his 81st birthday; photo from The Louisville Times (December 24, 1976); leaflet entitled "John Jacob Niles: Original Compositions, Folk-Song Adaptations and Arrangements" published by G. Schirmer of New York (undated); "His Music Found Her Voice," Tom Eblen, Lexington Herald-Leader, with Woolfolk's handwritten margin notes (April 22, 2012); "John Jacob Niles to Get Honorary Degree from U of L," The Lexington Leader (May 6, 1971); "John Jacob Niles Sings Friday," The Kentucky Kernel (University of Kentucky) (September 23, 1965); "Niles Honored," undated newspaper clipping; "For Russian-born Rena Niles, tour blends past and present," Rena Niles, Lexington Herald-Leader (March 13, 1983); "John Jacob Niles: A Song from the Heart," Beaux Arts: A Regional Arts Quarterly (Summer, 1981).

ABOUT JOHN JACOB NILES: A legend in the folk music community, John Jacob Niles (1892 - 1980) enjoyed a lengthy career as a balladeer, folk collector, and songwriter. Ever close to his Kentucky roots, he spent much of his adulthood searching for the most well-loved songs of the southern Appalachia. The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles brings together a wealth of songs with the stories that inspired them, arranged by a gifted performer.