The Dancing Master

Frontispiece to 'The Dancing Master, or, directions for Dancing Country Dances, with the tunes to each dance'. 14th edition. 'containing above 350 of the choicest old and new tunes now used at court and other publick places'. In 1651 a music publisher called John Playford published 'The English Dancing Master'. This was a book of brief instructions for c. hundred dances. The title was a joke because all the best dancing masters were French. This book proved to be a success and a second edition was issued the next year, and a third three years later; the later editions dropped the joke and were simply titled 'The Dancing Master'. Successive editions were published until 1728, with John Playford's son, Henry taking over in 1684, and then John Young in 1709. Later editions ran to three volumes and over the years dances were added and dropped so that over a thousand distinct dances were published. Various other publishers got in on the act and books of country dances were published at frequent intervals through to about 1850.