Suomen kansan vanhat runot

Suomen kansan vanhat runot (The Ancient Songs of the Finnish People), or SKVR, is an edition of traditional Finnic-language verse containing around 100,000 different songs, and including the majority of the songs that were the sources of the Finnish epic Kalevala and related poetry.

[1]: 25  A supplement, containing, among other things, some of the field notes of Cristfried Ganander and Elias Lönnrot, was added in 1997.

[1]: 26 The songs in SKVR are organised into fourteen regions from which they were collected; most volumes then arrange the material by geographical location within the region, and then into four genres:[1]: 26 Each of these genres is further divided into several subgroups.

For example, in 1918 F. A. Hästesko published a sub-genre classification for incantations, which was used in SKVR.

An Anthology in Finnish and English, edited and translated by Matti Kuusi, Keith Bosley and Michael Branch (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia, 329, Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 1977).

Suomen kansan vanhat runot vols X-2 to XIII-4 on shelf 247 of the north reading room of the National Library of Finland .
Inside front cover and recto of flyleaf of volume I.1 of Suomen kansan vanhat runot , showing kantele motif.