Robin Hood: A Collection of all the Ancient Poems, Songs and Ballads, now extant, Relative to that Celebrated English Outlaw

The popularity and appeal of the English legendary hero Robin Hood has never waned since Elizabethan times. Our knowledge of Robin Hood is largely anecdotal, handed down through poems, songs and ballads going back to at least the fourteenth century where he is mentioned in Piers the Plowman. Regardless of his real existence, a large literature has built up around the myth of Robin Hood.Joseph Ritson's greatest scholarship was on British ballads, and Robin Hood is perhaps his most exhaustive study. It includes works both minor and major and is beautifully illustrated by the celebrated wood engraver Thomas Bewick.