ABSTRACT
Patricia Fumerton investigates English “heyday” broadside ballads, wherein single-sided sheets of paper by the late sixteenth century expanded in size to accommodate lots of decorative black-letter text, divided into two parts (the second part pursuing the verse and tune of the first), as well as an abundance of woodcut illustrations and other ornaments, and, of course, the required tune title(s). The English heyday broadside ballad lasted until circa 1690, by which time ornamentation (except for musical notation), tune titles, and black letter temporarily died out for some 15 to 20 years (the ballad's size forever diminished and black-letter text never made a comeback beyond the occasional word or phrase).
