Early Sources of RSCDS dances

None of the dances published by the RSCDS before book 13 were devised by the RSCDS, instead they were considered "traditional" dances. Many dances published in subsequent books fall into that category as well. I have tried to track down the sources of these dances and display here the earliest published versions of the dance's figure which I've been able to find.

Note: this is often different from the earliest dance with that name. The dance's name was often the name of the tune to which it was danced, and many tunes had multiple figures attached to them, so care must be taken.

Note also: there may very well be earlier sources than "the earliest published version ... which I've been able to find". Many early sources have been lost to the ravages of time, and others have simply escaped my notice. And in other cases the publication dates are uncertain, and which is earliest may be indeterminate.

In some cases the RSCDS mentions a source. Often I have found earlier examples of the dance. Sometimes I have been unable to find the RSCDS source and will present the earliest source I have found.

When I know the deviser, I mark the name in italics. In most cases for these old dances I only know the publisher.

When a dance source is marked with "†" it means I have been unable to verify the source of the dance, when it is marked with "‡" it means I have been unable to find any Scottish dance manual containing this dance (prior to 1924).

Hovering the mouse over a dance's devisor/publisher will (often) produce a popup containing the text of the original.

By default the list below shows only traditional dances interpreted by the (R)SCDS. I believe that Book 34 (1986) was the last book to contain any traditional dances. Before Book 13 all (R)SCDS dances were traditional, but Book 13 contains The Reel of the 51st Division, the first published modern dance. No further modern dances were published until Book 22 (1963), and after that some books contained modern and some traditional dances until Books 31&34, which contains both.

At the end I have several tables of statistics.

Order by: RSCDS Book Original Publication Date
Include: All Dances Only Traditional Dances Only Modern (post 1924) Dances [Not Complete]
(R)SCDS Book Range:
Containing figure:

(R)SCDS dances devised by Thomas Skillern

RSCDS Book 16, 1951

The Birks of Invermay	Thomas Skillern, London, 1776‡ Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & Four Reels and Country Dances
The Duke of Atholl's Reel	Thomas Skillern, London, ~1776‡ Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & Four Reels and Country Dances

RSCDS Book 21, 1961

The Braes of Breadalbane

Thomas Skillern, London, 1795‡
Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1795

Miss Milligan's Miscellany 1, ~1977

The Duke of Roxburgh's Reel

Thomas Skillern, London, ~1776‡
Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & Four Reels and Country Dances

Miss Milligan's Miscellany 2, ~1977

McLachlan's Reel	Thomas Skillern, London, ~1776‡ Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & Four Reels and Country Dances Skillern spells the title "Mc. Lachlan's Reel"
Sandy o'er the Lea	Thomas Skillern, London, ~1776‡ Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & Four Reels and Country Dances
What You Please - Skillern ~ RSCDS	Thomas Skillern, London, 1780‡ Skillern's Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1780 The RSCDS attributes this to Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1781 but according to Robert Keller the 1781 publication contains on such dance, however, the 1780 publication did. So I presume someone miscopied the date. Playford published a dance with this name in 1657, but it has a completely different figure. Skillern writes: First and 2^d. Cu Set change & Right hands across The same back again & Left hands across lead down the middle up again and cast off Hands 4 at bottom Right and Left at top The music consists of two 8 bar strains of a jig.

Statistics

Number of dances published by city (or region)

London

Number of dances published by semi century

1750-1799

Number of dances by early publisher/devisor

Thomas Skillern

References

Thomas Skillern	Skillern's Compleat Collection of Two Hundred & Four Reels and Country Dances, London, 1776. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow.
"	Skillern's Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1780, London, 1780
"	Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1795, London, 1795. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the Dundee Public Library.

Scans of old dance manuals are scattered about the internet. The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, International Music Score Library Project, Scott Pfitzinger's Playford site, Richard Powers' website, Library of Congress, and The Library of Dance all provide primary sources. A number of other sites provide indeces of these sources: The Regency Dance site, The Library of Dance again, and my own site have all proven useful for finding old sources. Finally there is Robert Keller's index which does not provide sources directly but lists thousands of dances, the publications containing them, dates and a brief coded description of the figures. This last has proven invaluable for tracking down dances for which I had no complete sources.

And, of course, both the Scottish Country Dance Database and the Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary provide online descriptions of all the RSCDS books and often hint at early sources.

This website is copyright © 2021-2026 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.