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 4, 1927

The Haughs O' Cromdale ~ RSCDS
Anonymous, date unknown†

(R)SCDS Book 8, 1932

Peggy's Love ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡
A Companion to the Ball Room

(R)SCDS Book 15, 1949

I'll Gang Nae Mair Tae Yon Toon
Thomas Wilson, London, 1825‡
Analysis of the London Ballroom

RSCDS Book 19, 1957

New Park
Bishop, London, 1788‡
Six New Minuets and Twelve Country Dances for the year 1788

RSCDS Book 20, 1959

Miss Ogilvie's Fancy
William Campbell, London, 1795‡
Campbell's 10th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels
Village Reel
William Campbell, London, ~1793†‡
Campbell's Eighth Collection of the newest & most favorite Country Dances and Reels

RSCDS Book 21, 1961

The Lea Rig
Anonymous, date unknown†
My Only Jo and Dearie, O ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡
A Companion to the Ball Room

RSCDS Book 22, 1963

Neidpath Castle
Derek Haynes, Liverpool, 1963
RSCDS Book 22

RSCDS Book 23, 1967

Alltshellach
Elizabeth D Gilroy, East Lothian, 1967
RSCDS Book 23

RSCDS Book 25, 1970

The Fête
Anonymous, date unknown†

RSCDS Book 27, 1975

Auld Lang Syne ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816
A Companion to the Ball Room

RSCDS Book 28, 1977

Miss Shaftesbury's Fancy
Anonymous, date unknown†
The Star
Hilton MS, [Unknown City], date unknown†

RSCDS Book 30, 1981

Hame Came Our Gude Man ~ RSCDS
Thomas Wilson, London, 1816‡
A Companion to the Ball Room

RSCDS Book 35, 1988

The Gentleman
Roz Scott Huxley, [Unknown City], 1986
RSCDS Book 35

RSCDS Book 38, 1994

Mr. Robert H Mackay
Jürgen Munz, [Unknown City], ~1994
RSCDS Book 38

RSCDS Book 44, 2004

The Wishing Well
Minnie Bänninger, [Unknown City], ~2004
RSCDS Book 44

RSCDS Book 46, 2010

The Flower of Glasgow
Ruth Taylor, [Unknown City], 2010
RSCDS Book 46
Peggy Spouse MBE
John Wilkinson, [Unknown City], ~2010
RSCDS Book 46

RSCDS Book 48, 2014

A Summer Meeting
Irene Townshend, [Unknown City], 2014
RSCDS Book 48

RSCDS Book 49, 2015

Midsummer Common
Tom and Lindsey Ibbotson, [Unknown City], 2013
RSCDS Book 49

RSCDS Book 52, 2018

Ruby Wilkinson's Farewell to Cranshaws
Alasdair Brown, [Unknown City], 2015
RSCDS Book 52

RSCDS Book 53, 2023

Something in the Air
Pam Stephens, [Unknown City], 2019
RSCDS Book 53
S8×32 2C/4C

Miss Milligan's Miscellany 2, ~1977

Lass o' Loudon
Anonymous, date unknown†

Statistics

Number of dances published by city (or region)

[Unknown]15
London8
East Lothian1
Liverpool1

Number of dances published by semi century

Unknown6
1750-17993
1800-18495
1950-19994
2000-20497

Number of dances by early publisher/devisor

Anonymous5
Thomas Wilson5
William Campbell2
Alasdair Brown1
Bishop1
Derek Haynes1
Elizabeth D Gilroy1
Hilton MS1
Irene Townshend1
John Wilkinson1
Jürgen Munz1
Minnie Bänninger1
Pam Stephens1
Roz Scott Huxley1
Ruth Taylor1
Tom and Lindsey Ibbotson1

References

AnonymousHilton MS, undated. I don't know where to find it.
BishopSix New Minuets and Twelve Country Dances for the year 1788, London, 1788. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the British Library.
William CampbellCampbell's Eighth Collection of the newest & most favorite Country Dances and Reels, London, about 1793. I don't know where to find it.
"Campbell's 10th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances & Strathspey Reels, London, 1795
Thomas WilsonA Companion to the Ball Room, London, 1816. Robert Keller's site says this may be found in the British Library
"Analysis of the London Ballroom, London, 1825. May be found at the Huntington Library, UC Berkeley Libraries, UNC Chapel Hill, Harvard University, New York Public Library, National Library of Scotland

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.