''The Cowley Carol Book'' was edited by

George Ratcliffe Woodward George Ratcliffe Woodward (27 December 1848 – 3 March 1934) was an English Anglican priest who wrote mostly religious verse, both original and translated from ancient authors. The best-known of these were written to fit traditional melodies ...

and was published in 1901 and 1919, in two parts, ('First' and 'Second' Series), and was subtitled as a selection of carols "for Christmas, Easter and Ascensiontide". The First Series was produced by

, and for the second, later volume he was assisted by Charles Wood. The 'First Series' (1901, revised 1902) contained 39 carols, some already published in J. M. Neale and T. Helmore's "Carols for Christmas-tide, 1853 and Carols for Easter-tide, 1854" The second edition of the first volume (1902) had 65 carols – 42 for Christmas and Epiphany, 20 for Easter and 3 for Ascensiontide. The Second Series with 37 carols was delayed by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, until 1919. 27 carols are for Christmas and Epiphany, two for Passion-tide and nine for Easter and Ascension. Charles Wood co-edited this second volume. The origin of the title lies in a request for a carol book from the parish of St John, Cowley. The Church was the home of the Society of St John the Evangelist, also known as the 'Cowley Fathers'. A third of the texts are by

John Mason Neale John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar and hymnwriter. He worked and wrote on a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his most ...

, and the rest by

Thomas Helmore Thomas Helmore (7 May 1811, in Kidderminster – 6 July 1890, in Westminster) was a choirmaster, writer about singing and author and editor of hymns and carols. Helmore's father was a congregationalist minister (also called Thomas). During th ...

and Woodward himself. Woodward harmonised almost half of the items in Series I, but only of four of those in Series II. 'Up! Good Christen Folk and Listen' and 'Come rock the cradle for Him' made their first appearances in the book. There are many translations, from German, Latin and Greek included, and some are

macaronic Macaronic language uses a mixture of languages, particularly bilingual puns or situations in which the languages are otherwise used in the same context (rather than simply discrete segments of a text being in different languages). Hybrid words ...

, that is, involving more than one language in a text.. Strictly speaking, St Mary and St John Cowley was/is not the ''home'' of SSJE. Fr Richard Benson was one of the three Founders of the Society while he was Incumbent at the Parish Church. Fr Benson is credited as being the ''instigator'' of the Society. He was a great encourager of good monastic and parish music. The attractive 1927 edition of both volumes published by A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd. is printed on heavy deckle edge paper. The card jacket is greyish green with dark green print and a red "C" serving as the "C" for both the word "Cowley" and, below it, the word "Carol". A red fleur de lis decorates the bottom right corner of the cover.

External links

1922 edition
digitized by

Richard Mammana Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowley Carol Book Anglican church music Christmas carol collections Music books 1901 books 1919 books 1901 in Christianity Anglican liturgical books

See also

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