The Ball-room instructer [sic]
Subtitle: containing a complete description of cotillons and other popular dances : with illustrations : written and arranged for amateurs in dancing
Contributors: Baldwin, George, former owner; Taylor, John, former owner; John Milton and Ruth Neils Ward Collection (Harvard Theatre Collection)
Publisher: Published by Huestis & Craft, 104 Nassau Street
Published: 1842
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 48
Subjects: Ballroom dancing; Handbooks, manuals; Dance Instruction and Technical Manuals
Other titles: Ballroom instructer; Ball-room instructor
Description: This manual, small enough to fit into a pocket, declares that it contains "all the information which is interesting to the world of dancing" [p. 5]. In fact, like many nineteenth-century dance manuals, the text is heavily borrowed from numerous sources and compiled by a publisher. Its format is common for this type of manual. It begins with a discussion on etiquette followed by a description of quadrilles--popular group dances performed by four couples facing in a square. Although the waltz was a staple of the mid-nineteenth-century ballroom, it is not discussed in this manual.
Notes: Frontispiece signed: Huestis.