Cowley Carol Book

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The book Cowley Carol is a two-part collection of Christmas Carols edited by George Ratcliffe Woodward between 1901 and 1919. The ‘First Series’ (1901, revised 1902) consisted of 39 carols, many already published. The second edition (1902) had 65 items. The Second Series was delayed by the First World War, and appeared in 1919, with a further 37 carols. Charles Wood co-edited this second volume. The origin of the title lies in a request for a carol book from the church of St John, Cowley, home of the Society of St John the Evangelist, also known as the ‘Cowley Fathers’. A third of the texts in the books are by J. M Neale the rest by Thomas Helmore and Woodward himself. Woodward also made the harmonisations of nearly half of the carols in Series I, but only of four in Series II. Original carols in the Cowley Carol Book include ‘Up! Good Christen Folk and Listen’ and ‘Come rock the cradle for Him’. Many translations, from German, Latin and Greek are included, and some are macaronic.