Up a double, Siding, Arming
Country Dances, Ancient and Modern

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:
Include:
(R)SCDS Book Range:
Containing figure:

(R)SCDS Book 5, 1929

Dumbarton Drums ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡
A Companion to the Ball Room

(R)SCDS Book 8, 1932

Tulloch Gorm
William Campbell, London, ~1796†‡
Campbell's 11th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels

(R)SCDS Book 10, 1935

Miss Mary Douglas ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡
A Companion to the Ball Room

(R)SCDS Book 12, 1938

Green Grow the Rashes ~ RSCDS
Walsh, London, ~1740
The Compleat Country Dancing-Master Book 1, 4th Ed.

(R)SCDS Book 14, 1947

Willie with his Tartan Trews ~ RSCDS
Johnson, London, 1750
A Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol. 5th

(R)SCDS Book 15, 1949

My Mother's Coming In
Thomas Wilson, London, ~1814†‡
No. 26 of Button & Whitaker's Selection of Dances, Reels and Waltzes

RSCDS Book 19, 1957

Rakish Highlandman ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡
A Companion to the Ball Room

RSCDS Book 32, 1984

Farewell to Crumlin
Wilson Brown, Alloa, 1982
RSCDS Book 32

RSCDS Book 33, 1985

Bedrule
Betty Grant, Toronto, 1984
RSCDS Book 33
MacLeod's Fancy
John Drewry, Aberdeen, 1985
RSCDS Book 33

RSCDS Book 41, 2000

Culla Bay
Ann Dix, [Unknown City], 2000
RSCDS Book 41

RSCDS Book 43, 2003 (Golden Jubilee Dances)

Bea's Delight
May MacFarlane, [Unknown City], 2003
RSCDS Book 43

RSCDS Book 45, 2005

The Dream Catcher
Eileen Orr, [Unknown City], 2001
RSCDS Book 45

RSCDS Book 48, 2014

The Rutland Reel
Robert Senior, [Unknown City], 2010
RSCDS Book 48

RSCDS Book 49, 2015

MacDonald of Keppoch
Chris Ronald, [Unknown City], 2015
RSCDS Book 49

RSCDS Book 50, 2016

Australian Ladies
Peter Fish, [Unknown City], 2014
RSCDS Book 50

RSCDS Book 53, 2023

The Meeting of the Waters
Iain Boyd, [Unknown City], 1969
RSCDS Book 53

RSCDS Book 54, 2025

The Darlington Dancer
John Brenchley, [Unknown City], 2020
RSCDS Book 54
Kathy's Fascinator ~ Alternate
Lydia Hedge, [Unknown City], 2020
RSCDS Book 54
Kathy's Fascinator
Lydia Hedge, [Unknown City], 2020
RSCDS Book 54

Miss Milligan's Miscellany 1, ~1977

Miss Corbett's Strathspey
Anonymous, date unknown†

Statistics

Number of dances published by city (or region)

[Unknown]11
London7
Aberdeen1
Alloa1
Toronto1

Number of dances published by semi century

Unknown1
1700-17491
1750-17992
1800-18494
1950-19994
2000-20499

Number of dances by early publisher/devisor

Thomas Wilson4
Lydia Hedge2
Ann Dix1
William Campbell1
Walsh1
Robert Senior1
Peter Fish1
May MacFarlane1
Johnson1
Anonymous1
John Drewry1
John Brenchley1
Iain Boyd1
Eileen Orr1
Chris Ronald1
Betty Grant1
Wilson Brown1

References

William CampbellCampbell's 11th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels, London, about 1796. May be found in the Havard University Library
JohnsonA Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, Vol. 5th, London, 1750. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the Library of Congress.
WalshThe Compleat Country Dancing-Master Book 1, 4th Ed., London, about 1740. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the Birmingham University Library
Thomas WilsonNo. 26 of Button & Whitaker's Selection of Dances, Reels and Waltzes, London, about 1814. I don't know where to find it.
"A Companion to the Ball Room, London, 1816. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the British 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
Creative Commons License 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.