Some sources for Christmas carols:
WEBSITES:
Using websites as sources for PD Christmas carols can be risky, because not all websites are careful about properly checking the copyright status of the music and lyrics they post. This is why we prefer that you choose a song from a book with a verifiable publication date.
However, we have discovered that these two websites have been reasonably reliable sources for Christmas carols:
Hymntime and
Hymnary.
Please note that
not all of the carols on these sites are necessarily PD, so it is important to
check dates on any song you choose. Both of these sites are good about providing publication dates and specific sources, often with scans of the original pages. If they list a hymn as having been published in 1923 or earlier, we will generally believe them. These two sites also frequently provide the death dates for the song's authors and composers, which is helpful for singers in "death-plus" countries.
CAROL BOOKS:
(Any other suggestions of PD carol songbooks will be welcome.)
ENGLISH (with some Latin)
Arundel Hymns (c1905)
by Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, (1847-1917); Charles Tindal Gatty
http://www.archive.org/details/arundelhymnsmusi00norfuoft
Christmas carols new and old (1870)
by John Stainer (1840-1901); Henry Ramsden Bramley (1833-1916)
http://archive.org/details/chricarolsn00bram
Christmas Carols from the Wellesley Song Book (c1917)
by Wellesley College
http://www.archive.org/details/christmascarolsf00well
The Festival Song Budget: Christmas 1913 (1913)
http://www.archive.org/details/festivalsongbudg00newy
Christmas carols ancient and modern
by William Lawrence Tomlins (1844-1930)
http://www.archive.org/details/christmascarolsa00toml
Christmas Carols (1900)
by Francis Landon Humphreys (1851-1937)
http://www.archive.org/details/christmascarols00humpgoog
Christmas carols; old English carols for Christmas and other festivals (1922)
by Lavinia Edna Walter; Lucy Etheldred Broadwood, (d. 1929)
http://www.archive.org/details/christmascarolso00walt
Christmas carols, ancient and modern
by William Sandys (1792-1874)
https://archive.org/details/christmascarolsa00sandrich
Carols old and carols new
by Rev. Charles L. Hutchins
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015009638027
Some ancient Christmas carols: with the tunes to which they were formerly sung in the west of England
collected by Davies Gilbert (1767-1839)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000004289210
Christmas carols we love to sing
(various authors/composers)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000067569229
Christmas carols and hymns for school and choir
compiled and edited by Hollis Dann
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiuc.908539_001
Christmas carols; or, Sacred songs suited to the festival of Our Lord's nativity; with appropriate music, and an account of the Christmas carol.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044010525418
Father Finn's Carol Book
Francis James Finn (1859-1928)
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015009638043
The Cowley Carol Book (1922)
George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848-1934)
http://archive.org/details/cowleycarolbookf00wooduoft
Six Christmas songs: with English and German words
by Peter Cornelius
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31822004582813
English folk-carols: with pianoforte accompaniment
by Cecil J. Sharp (1859-1924)
https://archive.org/details/englishfolkcarol00shar
OTHER LANGUAGES
Christmas and New Year songs
compiled by Florence H. Botsford. reprinted from the First and Second Volumes of Folk Songs of Many Peoples.
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000032504590
This book has carols from many countries, including Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Greece, Japan, Germany, Denmark, Hungary. Most have words in the original language, as well as English translations.
FRENCH:
Ten provençal carols (c1918) by Micoulau Saboly (1614-1675)
http://www.archive.org/details/tenprovenalcar00sabo
Words in English and French
Noëls anciens de la Nouvelle-France
https://archive.org/details/cihm_08743
Words in French, with music scores
Paroles en français, avec partitions (généralement un peu après le texte complet du chant)
GERMAN:
Weihnacht-spiele und lieder aus Süddeutschland und Schlesien (1875) ed. Dr. Karl Weinhold (1823-1901)
http://www.archive.org/details/weihnachtspiele00weingoog
Evangelisches Gesangbuch (1889) by Evangelical Synod of North America
http://www.archive.org/details/evangelischesge00amergoog
Evangelisches Gesangbuch für Kirche, Schule und Haus in Basel-stadt und Basel-land (1859)
by Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche des Kantons Basel-Stadt,
http://www.archive.org/details/evangelischesge00unkngoog
Six Christmas songs: with English and German words
by Peter Cornelius
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31822004582813
ITALIAN:
Sette canzoni pastorali sopra il Natale di nostro signor Gesù Cristo (1829)
by Carlo Roggia, professore di sacra teologia (no tunes)
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-i8GAlJOAfAC
DUTCH:
Oude en Nieuwere Kerstliederen (1852)
by Joseph Albert Alberdingk Thijm (1820-1889)
https://books.google.nl/books?id=G-RWAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false