The title of the manuscript is taken from the spine of the portfolio in which it is held. The manuscript has a title page, a 20th century addition included when the manuscript was bound in paper covers : "A Gypsy ballad. Translated by George Borrow. Original manuscript".

Borrow included a version of this translation of an original Gitano ballad in his work on the Gypsies of Spain, "The Zincali". The translation, "Rhymes of the Gitanos", was published in parallel with the original, "Poesias de los Gitanos", in volume 2, part 3, chapter 1, pages 12-53.

The manuscript differs from the published translation in minor aspects of interpretation, in the number of verses and, therefore, in the numbering of many of the verses.

On the inside front cover of the portfolio holding the manuscript is the bookplate of Thomas Wise.