Sometimes the tunes convey a sense of the body in motion to the music, and several of the ballad tunes were indeed also dances. Murder Out At Last and My Dog and I . The illustrations are mostly woodcuts and the quality varies. I have often enhanced them by a few simple operations to remove blotches and grit, to lighten dark images, or very occasionally to fill in riddled lines. My aim has been to remove noise introduced by photocopying and to get somewhat closer to the original appearance.
Facsimiles are generally available for comparison.
Woodcuts were often reused by a printer, so that a ballad may be illustrated with woodcuts originally designed for another publication. The result is that the illustrations are not always appropriate and inferences from them regarding the intended meaning should be made with caution. On the other hand, if a new print is made for a ballad, this becomes all the more significant. This in part explains why they typically are so full of information, presenting in effect an abstract. Large type was used to attract attention, and the bookseller's name and location is mentioned so that interested customers will know where to purchase the book.