Notes
- This list was originally prepared by John Maher, for which he accepted blame and responsibility for opinions and any errors. I may have added more. There may be too many of Violet Alford's books listed - but she was from Bristol and I'm not about to obliterate John's legacy!
- Possible sources are given.
- The CDSS also has an extensive section of English dance items and has recently published Roy Dommett's Morris Notes Volumes 1 -10 online.
- There is always Amazon, which has second hand book links for those "Out of Print" There is always Google (there are other search engines).
- Local libraries, or you could also ask: The Folklore Society Library and Archive; Vaughan Williams Memorial Library; NATCECT in University of Sheffield. Access to this and other University Libraries is normally restricted to students and staff, and access on-line is only possible via an academic institution, however most Universities welcome Visitors, see the Sheffield site for details.
- Mike Heaney's Morris Bibliography is now back online along with other bibliographies in the online Vaughan Williams Memorial Libary. It's several years old now and a lot has happened in the meantime! But he say's he *may* get round to updating it again some day!.
- If you want to read one of John Mayer's favourite books, which firmly nailed our English traditions, including morris, try Richard Lewis's "The Magic Spring".
Index
Morris Dance and Music
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Handbook of Morris Dances | Bacon, Lionel | The Morris Ring | - | 1974 | |
| The main modern source of Morris dances instructions and tunes. But join a Morris Sides before trying to interpret the contents! | |||||
| Morris Book, The (5 Volumes, 1911-1924) | Sharp, Cecil J.; MacIlwaine, Herbert C.; and Butterworth, George | The Morris Ring | 0-9503402-3-5 | 1991 | |
| See Project Gutenberg for a copy of The Morris Book, Part 1 A History of Morris Dancing, With a Description of Eleven Dances as Performed by the Morris-Men of England, 1907 Edition. Note the considerable differences between this and the 1912 Edition. | |||||
| Index to Cecil J. Sharp The Morris Book, An (5 Volumes, 1911-1924) | Cawte, E. C. | The Morris Ring / CECTAL Special Series No. 3 | 0309-9229 | 1983 | The Morris Ring |
| - | |||||
| Morris Dance Tunes Sets I-X | Sharp, Cecil J. (with Macilwaine, Herbert C, I-IV; with Butterworth, George, IX-X) | Novello | - | 1907-13; 1912-24 | Out of print |
| For Piano. Copies sometimes appear. Try Tom Randall | |||||
| Morris Dance Tunes | John Brock (Ed) | EFDSS | SBN 0 85418 005 2 | 1973 | Out of print |
| - | |||||
| A Popular Selection of English Dance Airs, Book III - Traditional Cotswold Morris Dance Tunes | Fleming-Williams, Nan and Shaw, Pat | EFDSS | SBN 85418 0036 | 1968 | Out of print |
| My copy was eaten by a mouse! But retribution came in the form of one of our three cats! | |||||
| (One Thousand) English Country Dance Tunes | Ed Michael Raven | Michael Raven | 0 906114 31 4 | 1984 (1st), 1999 (2nd) | Publisher |
| Contains "Morris, Sword Dance, and Ceremonial Tunes" and Alex Helm's article from J.E.F.D.S.S. 1957 on "Litchfield Morris Dances" | |||||
Sword Dance
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sword Dances of Northern England | Sharp, Cecil J. | EFDSS | 085418-146-6 | Reprinted 1985 | Out of print |
| Volumes 1-3 by Novello & Co., 1911-1913. Vol I also contains a description of the Abbotts Bromley Horn Dance. | |||||
| Sword Dance and Drama | Alford, Violet | Merlin, London | - | 1962 | Out of Print |
| Sword dancing from all over Europe. | |||||
| Sword Dancing in Europe: A History | Stephen D. Corrsin | Hisarlik Press for The Folklore Society | 1-874312-25-7 | 1997 | Out of Print |
| "Sword dancing, one of the most far-reaching and dramatic styles of folk dance performance throughout Europe, is by no means an ancient, timeless mystery, deriving from the magical rituals of primitive humanity, insusceptible to historical study. It is a relatively modern phenomenon, widely distributed from the mid-fifteenth century on, and popular in different eras in many parts of western, northern, and central Europe and Britain, in cities, towns and villages." | |||||
| Longsword Dances from Traditional and Manuscript Sources | Ivor Allsop (ed A. Barrand) | Brattleboro, VT: Northern Harmony, USA | - | 1996 | Out of Print but copies may be obtained from U.S.A. Contact webeditor [at] themorrisring [dot] org (web editor) for details |
| From traditional and Manuscript sources, information on 30 dances. 368p | |||||
Morris Animals
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Hobby Horse and other Animal Masks | Alford, Violet | The Merlin Press | SBN 850361605 | 1978 | Out of print |
| "If you ever hear of anyone carrying on that most filthy practice of dressing up like a Horse or a Stag, punish him most severely" St Augustine. Violet's book discusses the types of animal masks used throughout Europe. It has an excellent Index and Bibliography, and was prepared for publication after she died, and Edited by Margaret Dean-Smith F.S.A..
"Of all the books and articles written by Violet Alford 'The Hobby Horse" was the one nearest her heart, just as the Pyrenean region of France was her spiritual home. There as a young woman fresh from Swiss finishing-school, she first encountered the manifestations that in their many, often shameless varieties became her life interest"
Contents : Editor's Note, Editors's Introduction . The Hobby Horse ; The Hobby Horses of Great Britain and Ireland ; The Hobby Horse in Belgium and Holland ; The French Horse in Skirts ; Spain and Portugal ; Germany and the North ; The Hobby Horse in Alpine Countries ; Both Sides of the Danube. Read Violet's description of her encounters with Pyrenean bears in The Singing of the Travels. Do the bears still appear at Candlemas in Prats de Mollo? |
|||||
| Ritual Animal Disguise | Cawte, E. C. | D. S. Brewer Ltd. And Rowman and Littlefield for the Folklore Society | 0 85991 028 8 (UK) 0 8476 6005 2 (USA) | 1978 | Publisher |
| Reviews the historical hobby-horse, and the pageants and plays in which they appeared. It indexes the geographical records, describes each one, and seeks to clarify the relationship between them. Some foreign customs are also reviewed. The hobby-horse was associated with the morris only in the 15th and 16th centuries, though it was reintroduced in the nineteens for historical pageants. Recent animals have had different construction, and have appeared either as the central performer, of attached to some other custom. | |||||
Specific Morris Traditions
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adderbury Tradition Cotswold Morris Dancing | Radford, Tim | The Morris Federation | 0 948383 05 4 | 1989 | |
| - | |||||
| Fieldtown Dances and Jigs | Cleaver, Bert | The Morris Ring | - | 1985 | |
| - | |||||
| Sherbourne Dances and Jigs | Cleaver, Bert | The Morris Ring | - | 1983 | |
| - | |||||
| Morris Jigs from Bledington, Headington, Longborough, and Bucknell | Cleaver, Bert | The Morris Ring | - | 1986 | |
| - | |||||
| Morris Dancing at Bampton until 1914 | Chandler, Keith | Keith Chandler | 0-947801-01-4 | 1983 | - |
| See CDROM Mustrad: MTCD 250 | |||||
| Morris Dancing at Ducklington | Chandler, Keith | Keith Chandler | - | 1984 | - |
| See CDROM Mustrad: MTCD 250 | |||||
|
The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies - The Story and Notations of the Lichfield Morris Dances |
Brown, Jack | The Morris Ring | - | 2000 | |
| Jack's account of the discovery, and descriptions of the dances and music for the Litchfield tradition | |||||
| THE STORY OF THE FLAMBOROUGH LONGSWORD DANCE | Richard Traves & Trevor Stone | - | - | - | Out of Print |
| This 17-page booklet oozes the experience and knowledge of the two authors. It covers the entire history of the Flamborough tradition to the present day. | |||||
| Links in a Thousand-Year-Old Chain: The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in America | Forbes, Rhomylly B. | Old Castle Limited, Baldwin, Kansas | - | 1997 | CDSS or Revels, Inc. catalog |
| When the Horn Dance migrated to the United States in the 1930's, carried by Cecil Sharp's students May Gadd and Frank Smith, it changed forever. A compilation of survey replies from ritual dance teams and Revels companies, this book chronicles that change and presents individual and team stories in a conversational style. | |||||
Morris Origins - books on our background
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annals of Early Morris | Forrest, John, and Michael Heaney | CECTAL in association with The Morris Ring | 0309-9229 | 1991 | |
| The data and sources for Early Morris. "The joint authors ... take us from the earliest known mention of morris dancing during the middle of the fifteenth century and, following a journey which encompasses almost the entire geographical span of the English countryside and rapidly developing urban centres (in addition to parts of Scotland and Ireland) deposit us three centuries later in a greatly contracted area south of the Trent and north of the Thames." Keith Chandler in the Preface to AEM | |||||
| The History of Morris Dancing, 1458-1750 | Forrest, John | James Clarke & Co Ltd, Cambridge | 0227 67943 1 cased, 0227 67944 X pb | 1999 | Publisher |
| "Morris dancing, one of the more peculiar of the English folk customs, has been greatly misunderstood. Traditional scholarship on this custom has been based on the assumption that morris dancing is one of the pagan calendar rituals, a preconception held by many folklorists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries" All Morris Dancers should read this formidable book, then perhaps they too might cease to peddle the 'ritual, pagan line, at least and excepting as a good story for a pint! | |||||
| Ribbons, Bells and Squeaking Fiddles: The Social History of Morris Dancing in the English South Midlands, 1660-1900 | Chandler, Keith | Hisarlik Press (Publication of the Folklore Society) | 1 874312 06 0 | 1993 | Out of Print, |
| "Between the years 1660 and 1900 morris dancing was performed on uncounted occasions by thousands of individuals in more than 151 discrete communities in the English South Midlands, yet the encounter with the written word has been minimal." Keith's two books provide fascinating encounters with the culture of Morris dancing and 'the old dead guys' to which we owe so much. | |||||
| Morris Dancing in the English South Midlands, 1660-1900: A Chronological Gazetteer | Chandler, Keith | Hisarlik Press : (Publication for the Folklore Society) | 1 874312 07 9 | 1993 | Out of Print |
| The complement to "Ribbons, Bells and Squeeking Fiddles". Catalogues the historical, sociological and chronological aspects of what we refer to as 'Cotswold' Morris. | |||||
| Morris Dancing in the English South Midlands, 1660-1900. Aspects of social and cultural history | Chandler, Keith | Musical Traditions Records | MTCD 250 | 2002 | |
| The CD-ROM features the great majority of Keith Chandler's published works on the Morris 1981-2001. It includes the text of the two books above. | |||||
| “It’s street theatre really!” A history of Cotswold Morris Dancing in the twentieth century. | Garland, Mike | University of Essex | 2018 | Thesis | |
| This study investigates the history of Morris Dancing in the twentieth century through written sources detailing the development of the dance, but more importantly, through the oral testimony of some of those dancers who began their dancing careers after the second world war. | |||||
| The Kennet Morris Men - A Foolish History |
de Courcy, Peter | Kennet MM | 2023 (first published 2010) | Online | |
| Roots of Welsh Border Morris, The | Jones, Dave | The Morris Ring | - | 1988 (this has been re-issued with music recently) | |
| Dave was a founder member of Hereford and of Silurian Morris, he led Silurian into becoming solely a Border Morris Side, Very sadly he died in 1991. This book is no small reminder of a real enthusiast for the Welsh Border Morris. Buy it! | |||||
| Truculant Rustics "Molly Dancing in East Anglia before 1910 | Bradtke, Elaine | FLS Books | 0 903515 18 0 | 1999/2000 | Out of Print |
| Most of what there is to know about Molly dancing, based on Elaine's PhD thesis. | |||||
| Morris Dancers & Rose Queens: An Anthology of Reported Carnivals and Galas in West Lancashire to 1900 | Haslett, Johnny | Fairhaven Press, Leyland, Lancashire. Limited Edition | - | 2005 | |
| Apart from Alfred Burton's book on Rush-bearing published (also in a limited edition) in 1891, there is precious little written or collected for the NW morris. Johnny's labour-of-love partly fills this gap by collecting a large number of the references between about 1880 and 1900. | |||||
| History and the Morris Dance. A look at morris dancing from its earliest days until 1850 | Cutting, John | Dance Books Ltd | 1 85273 108 7 | 2005 | Amazon |
| "What was this morris tradition? Was it entertainment? Was it some mystical rite? Or was it somewhere halfway between? Where did it come from and how old is it? This book attempts to separate fact from fantasy and to answer some of the questions" - and makes a pretty good job of it too! Strongly recommended. | |||||
|
Michael Heaney |
Archaeopress | 9781803273860 | 2023 | Archaeopress | |
| Mike Heaney will need no introduction to those who have an interest in morris history and folk culture. This new book traces the history of morris dancing in England, from its introduction in the 15th century, through the contention of the Reformation and Civil War, when morris dancing and maypoles became potent symbols of the older ways of living, to its re-invention as an emblem of Victorian concepts of Merrie England in the 19th century. | |||||
| Cecil Sharp and the Quest for Folk Song and Dance a new biography | David Sutcliffe | The Ballad Partners | 9781916142473 | 2023 | The Ballad Partners |
| David is a freelance researcher with a particular interest in Somerset folksongs. He is a morris dancer with Taunton Deane and is an occasional singer.The biography is crammed full of several years of incredible research, all assiduously footnoted, referenced and indexed. This in itself is a massive resource for all who have an interest in the origins and personalities of the emerging English folk movement of that era, of Sharp's role, his findings and not least, his life. | |||||
Background Reading and the Folklore of Morris
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) |
Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All About The Morris | Mike Salter | Folly Publications | 2014 | Publisher | |
| 80+ pages summary of morris dance styles and performers past and present, well illustrated and with comprehensive indexes. A good introduction to our world. | |||||
| The Magic Spring - My Year of Learning to be English | Lewis, Richard | Atlantic Books, London | 1 84354 307 9 | 2005 | Out of Print - try Amazon |
| Richard Lewis, who hails from Bristol (and seems reluctant to admit it!) went in a search of his roots and of current English Folklore. The result is a fascinating and sympathetic description of the sub-culture of English folk: from morris dancing to the pagans, via Lewis bonfires and the Banbury Hobby Horse festival. I came away from the book wondering whether Richard was still playing his melodeon and keeping contact with this culture. Like him, John Mayer quite liked dressing up as a Horse! Read it! | |||||
| Six Fools and a Dancer: The Timeless Way of the Morris | Anthony G.Barrand | Northern Harmony | 0 9627554 1 9 | 1991 |
Publisher (U.S.A.) |
| A detailed, passionate and well written description of pretty well all aspects of Cotswold Morris from an American Morris Dancer's perspective - though the late Anthony Barrand was English. A very interesting section details the background to the American morris, from the first Elizabethans, to Florrie Warren, Cecil Sharp, and the 1970s morris and folk revival. This is probably the closest there is to a book on how to dance, play, run and organise a group of Morris dancers - it is from an American perspective - but the morris is now an American tradition! The book has descriptions, music and dances for some Wheatley, Bidford, Bessel's Leigh(?), and Withington traditions | |||||
| Stations of the Sun : a history of the ritual year in Britain | Hutton, Ronald | Oxford University Press | - | 1996 | Publisher |
| A journey through the ritual year in Britain. Morris, mummers and sword dancing discussed in a historical context. | |||||
| The Rise and Fall of Merry England : The Ritual Year 1400=1700 | Hutton, Ronald | Oxford University Press | 0-19-820363-2 | 1994 | Publisher |
| Professor Hutton, a historian explores the religious and secular rituals which marked the passage of the year in late medieval and early modern England, and tells the story of how they altered over time in response to political, religious, and social changes. Not a lot on Morris Dancing, but a fascinating read. | |||||
| The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles : Their Nature and Legacy | Hutton, Ronald | Blackwell | 0-631-18946-7 (pbk) | 1991, 1993 | Publisher |
| Religious beliefs and practices of the inhabitants of the British Isles before their conversion to Christianity. Read this alongside Hutton's other two texts, especially if you are inclined towards any idea that Morris has any pagan overtones. No mention of Morris Dancing | |||||
| Russell Wortley | Ed John Jenner & Andrew Richards | Cambridge Morris Men | - | 1980 | Cambridge Morris Men |
| Commemorative booklet containing articles by Russell, in English Dance and Song and other magazines. Includes a large number of pictures of old Morris Sides, dancers and musicians. | |||||
| Don't Blame me - I'm only the triangle player | Elliott, Rob | Square One, Worcester | 1 872017 50 9 | 1991 | Silurian Morris Men |
| Tales from the Welsh borders! | |||||
| The Fool and His Dancers | Elliott, Rob | Rob Elliott | 0-95558425-2-8 | 2017 | Via Amazon |
| More Tales of Dark Morris from the Wild West Border | |||||
| With A Crash and A Din Comes the Morris In - a Celebration of fifty years of the Morris Ring, 1934-1984 | Rowe, Doc | The Morris Ring | - | 1984 | Out of print |
| An excellent short source of 'photos and information | |||||
| National Music | Williams, Vaughan | Oxford University Press | ISBN - | 1934 | Out of Print |
| Mostly about Folk Song, but a snippet about "Mr Billy Wells" and his version of Shepherd's Hey (p65) | |||||
| Cecil Sharp | Strangways, A.H. Fox/ In collaboration with Maud Karpeles | Oxford University Press | - | 1933 | Out of print |
| The biography of Cecil Sharp. Revised edition published in 1967 by Maud Karpeles | |||||
| Peeps at English Folk-Dances | Alford, Violet | A & C Black Ltd. | - | 1923 | Out of print |
| Some descriptions of Morris and other dances, and photographs of EFDS dancers. Her first descriptions of her own collecting activities where she draws parallels between English Morris and Sword dances and French and Basque dances. | |||||
| The Traditional Dance | Alford, Violet and Gallop Rodney | Methuen | - | 1935 | Out of print |
| A general survey of the traditional dances of Europe and the British Isles, to coincide with the International Folk Dance Festival, London July 1935. Alford and Gallop were two of the organisers of the festival. Worth reading to put the 'European' dimension back into our dance and folk traditions! Review : Folklore, 1935, 46, 378-381 by M. M. Banks. | |||||
| Introduction to English Folklore | Alford, Violet | G.Bell & Sons | - | 1952 | Out of print - but try Tom Randall! |
|
Folklore is a composite word meaning the knowledge of the common people. The word was composed in 1846 by an inconspicuous, side-whiskered gentleman, Mr W.J.Thoms, and 'folk' was understood to mean the unlettered Calendar customs, village seasonal life, dances (sword, morris, etc), songs, tales and magic. Some music, and interesting black and white pictures - The Old Tup, Handsworth, The White Horse of the Burringham Lincs Plough Jags, The Wild Horse, Antrobus, Cheshire. The book is well referenced and has a lot of cross references to equivalent folklore in France and Spain. |
|||||
| The Singing of the Travels - in search of dance and drama | Alford, Violet | Max Parrish | - | 1956 | Out of print |
| Violet describes her travels in search of folklore, she starts, in her own words with 'the sound of Morris bells', for these first drew her to folklore and anthropology. The book takes its name from the title of the traditional song sung by the Symondsbury Dorset Mummers. Most of her travels were done before World War II, she returned after the war, her impressions of the effects are graphically described in an Epilogue. As a Morris dancer I wonder what her opinion of present day Morris would have been!? Contents : Prologue; Cantabria ; Andalusia ; Aragon ; The Fabled Shore - Catalonia, Valencia, Alicante ; Bulls and bears ; Basque Doings ; Swiss Fools and Festivals ; Processions ; Provincia Romana ; Epilogue. |
|||||
| Morris and Matachin. A study in Comparative Choreography | Forrest, John | EFDSS/CECTAL (Publication No. 4) | 0263 4805 | 1984 | Out of print |
| "The matachines, a descendant of the European matachin, is still traditionally performed in the south western United States. The link between matachines and morris seemed obvious". | |||||
| The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival | Georgina Boyes | Manchester University Press | 0-7190-2914-7 | 1993 | Publisher |
| An examination of the background events and people that led to the Folk Revival of the 1970s. | |||||
| Step Change - New views on traditional dance | Ed Georgina Boyes | Francis Boutle Publishers, London | 1 903427 09 6 | 2001 | Publisher |
| "The study of traditional dance has changed dramatically over the last ten years, bringing in previously unregarded types of dance and challenging the assumptions of the early Folk dance Revival. Step Change introduces the enthusiast and the general reader alike to seven views, some contraversial, that reflect this new approach: English Sword dancing and the European context; Ladies' clog dance contests of the 1890s; ownership of the Britannia Coco-Nut dances of Bacup, Lancashire; the tradition of 'Molly' dances of East Anglian farm workers and its reinvention in the 1970s; the colourful life of the nineteenth-century morris 'fool' William 'Old Mettle' Castle; the folk dance revival as seen through the Abbey School novels of Elsie J. Oxenham; and a fresh look at the achievements of folk dance collector, Maud Karpeles." | |||||
| The Folklore of the Cotswolds | Katherine M. Briggs | Batsford | ISBN 0 7134 2831 7 | 1974 | Publisher |
| Given a very favourable review by Douglas Kennedy in Folklore, 1975,86,141, this book is a 'must read' for any Morris dancer who wants to find out about the folklore of the Cotswolds. Dr Briggs (1898-1980) lived in Burford, and so was ideally placed to write such a book as this, her memory lives on in the annual Katherine Briggs Folklore Award, and the Memorial Lecture | |||||
Antiquarian and Historical Texts
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Esperance Morris Book, Part I. A manual of Morris Dances Folk-Songs and Singing Games | Mary Neal | J Curwen & Sons, London | - | 1910 | Out of Print |
| The Morris dances described (from Abingdon) are: Morris On, Shepherd's Aye, The rakes of mallow, The Country Garden, With Jockey to the Fair, The maid of the Mill, Pop goes the Weasel, Princes Royal, Sally Luker, A-Nutting we will go, Constant Billy, Morris Off. Mary Neal adds some interesting and succinct comments about the Morris and the revival. Copies are sometimes available via antiquarian book sellers, try Tom Randall. | |||||
| The Esperance Morris Book, Part II | Ed. Mary Neal; Dance notes, Clive Carey, Music, Geoffrey Toye | J Curwen & Sons, London | - | 1912 | Out of Print |
| In some ways this is the more interesting of Mary Neal's two books, especially since it contains more 'Morris'. Dances are from Headington: Bean setting, Rodney, Draw Back, Blue-Eyed Stranger, Double Set-Back, How D'Ye Do, Sir?, Laundnam Bunches, Trunkles, Old Mother Oxford, Step and Fetch Her. Ilmington: Bumpus O'Stretton, The Lively Jig, Figure of Eight, We Won't Go Home Till Morning. There is also a stick dance from Iping, Sussex, and the Flamborough sword dance. Again, copies are sometimes available via antiquarian book sellers, but this is the rarer of the two Esperance books, try Tom Randall. | |||||
| Rush-Bearing: An Account of the Old Custom of Strewing Rushes; Carrying Rushes to Church; The Rush-Cart; Garlands in Churches; Morris-Dancers; The Wakes; The Rush. | Burton, Alfred | Manchester :Brook & Chrystal | - | 1891 | Out of print |
| 500 numbered copies printed. "An Account of the Old Custom of Strewing Rushes; Carrying Rushes to Church; the Rush-Cart; Garlands in Churches; Morris-Dancers; The Wakes; The Rush." However there are still copies available from antiquarian bookshops. Try Tom Randall, copies often appear in his catalogues. | |||||
| Kemps nine daies wonder performed in a daunce from London to Norwich containing the pleasure, paines and kinde entertainment of William Kemp between London and that Citty in his late Morrice wherein is somewhat set downe worth note; to reproove the slaunders spred of him; many things merry, nothing hurtfull map and drawings | |||||
| Yaxley, Robert | - | - | 1985 | - | |
| There are numerous re-prints of this epic. See two examples below. Try Google! | |||||
| Kemps Nine Daies Wonder: Performed in a Daunce from London to Norwich | Kemp, William | AMS Press | - | 1600; 1840; 1968 | - |
| - | |||||
| Kemps Nine Daies Wonder: performed in a daunce from London to Norwich | Dyce, Alexander | Camden Society | - | 1840 | Out of print |
| - | |||||
| Robert Dover and the Cotswold Games. A New edition of Annalia Dubrensia | Whitfield, Christopher | Henry Sotheran Ltd | - | 1962 | Out of print |
| There are numerous books about Robert Dover's Cotswold Olimpick Games and reprints of the annociated poems, Annalia Dubrensia, written to honour them. This is probably the best account of their rise and fall from grace. They ceased in the early 1850s - closed by act of Parliament, and a victim of an enclosures act. However the crowds that gathered were very rowdy with a lot of disorder among the 30,000 revellers! I wonder if the 30th Olympiad in 2012 will feature any Morris Dancing Competitions? 2012 will also be the 400th anniversary of the start of Robert Dovers involvement with the Cotswold Games? Robert Dover's Cotswold Olimpick Games were revived in 1965 and are now an annual event. | |||||
| Orchesography - The Art of Dancing | Arbeau, Thoinot (Jehan Tabourot), trans. Mary Stewart Evans, new intro. and notes by Julia Sutton, Labanotation by Mireille Backer & Julia Sutton | Dover Publications, Inc. | 0 486 21745 0 | 1588; 1948; 1967 | Publisher |
| See http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/weaver/orchesography/ for a scan and transcription of the original text | |||||
| Baker's Northamptonshire Glossary, Vols 1 and 2 | Baker, Anne Elizabeth | John Russell Smith, London | - | 1854 | Out of print |
| Contains early descriptions of Morris and Mummers from Northamptonshire, Anne Baker was a friend of the poet John Clare. | |||||
| The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England | Joseph Strutt | - | 1801, 1810, 1830 (by William Hone) | This undergoes frequent reprinting | |
| For online version see: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/spe/index.htm Book III, Chapter V XIX | |||||
| Observations on the Popular Antiquities | Brand, John | Newcastle upon Tyne | - | 1777 | |
| You should be able to get a reprint via Amazon/Abebooks. | |||||
| Festivals, Games and Amusements - ancient and modern | Smith, Horatio | Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, J. & J. Harper | - | 1831, 1833; 1836 | Out of print |
| A contemporary reviewer said".. there are few subjects that admit of more delightful illustration, literary or graphic, than the "Festivals, Games, and Amusements" of "Merry England;" yet, to do these topics justice, requires careful compilation, condensation, and tasteful arrangement, upon neither of which points can we congratulate Mr. Smith's judgment in the specimen before us. Probably the author has been so long accustomed to indulge his fancy in ten shilling volumes of "historical tales," that he finds it difficult to restrain himself to books of facts: if this be the case, we should say that Mr. Smith is not just the person to furnish the "nation" with a history of "Festivals, Games, and Amusements, Ancient and Modern." The reviewer goes on to recommend Strutt and Brand! See Project Gutenberg | |||||
Roy Dommett’s Morris Notes
Thanks to the American Country Dance and Song Society, the late Roy Dommett’s Morris Notes are now accessible online for public use. These notes are a veritable treasure-trove of information that has been out of print since the 1990s. Now with the help of their editor, Dr. Anthony Barrand, the help of Tom Toleno, Randall Cayford and Dr. Paul Eric Smith, and the permission of Roy’s son, Michael, this incredible resource is once again available.
These 2500 pages of his Morris Notes are a complete set as far as Tony Barrand can determine from his side of the Atlantic. If anyone has pages that are not included, we would happily forward a scanned copy to him.
All dance descriptions and commentary are © Roy L. Dommett and Anthony G. Barrand and are published by CDSS with their permission. The dances and tunes may be printed for your own use, under Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA). This means:
- you must credit Roy L. Dommett and Anthony G. Barrand and the authors detailed below, and the CDSS Online Library;
- you may print and redistribute the dances, and build upon the work;
- all new work must carry the same license, so any derivatives must also be non-commercial in nature.
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN | Date(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction | Dommett, Roy, Barrand,Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | |
| Volume 1 Part1: Cotswold or Wychwood Morris - Background and Commentary | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online 2nd Edition |
| Volume 1 Part 2: Cotswold or Wychwood Morris - Dance Instructions and Notations | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online 2nd Edition |
| Volume 2: North-West Morris | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online 2nd Edition |
| Volume 3: Garland Dances | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online 2nd Edition |
| Volume 4: Sword Dances | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online 2nd Edition |
| Volume 5: Other Dances | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online 2nd Edition |
| Volume 6 - 10 Introduction- | Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) | Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online |
| Volume 6: Collected Cotswold Dances | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) Randall Cayford and Paul Eric Smith, Ph.D. |
Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online |
| Volume 7: Border Morris Material | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) Randall Cayford and Paul Eric Smith, Ph.D. |
Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online |
| Volume 8: Other Morris dances | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) Randall Cayford and Paul Eric Smith, Ph.D. |
Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online |
| Volume 9: Articles About Morris | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) Randall Cayford and Paul Eric Smith, Ph.D. |
Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online |
| Volume 10: Transparencies for Morris Lectures | Dommett, Roy, Barrand, Anthony G. (ed.) Randall Cayford and Paul Eric Smith, Ph.D. |
Country Dance and Song Society of America | - | 2019 | Online |
And other's notes - for which it is still very hard to obtain copies ... |
|||||
| Morris Conference Papers - The Evolving Morris 1990 | The Morris Organisations | The Morris Organisations | - | 1990 | Mostly out of stock, try archives |
| Held at Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education, Oct 20 1990 This conference was the first of this nature to have been organised jointly by the Morris Ring and the Morris Federation in conjunction with the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (EFDSS) and the Department of Performing Arts of the College. The publication contains papers by each of the three Morris organisations as well as invited speakers. Contents : The Evolving Morris: An Introduction by Roy Judge; The Morris Ring - A Brief History by Mike Garland; The History and Evolution of the Morris Federation by Sally Wearing and Sue Swift; Open Morris 1980 to 1990 and Beyond by Richard Gregson. The Royal Morris of Colne by Julian Pilling; Reflections on the Development of Style and Repetoire in American Morris Dancing : 1974-1990 by Anthony Barrand; Other Authenticities : The Occasional Morris by Tony Forster; You Can't Dance That Stuff Here In Dublin! by John Fry; The Role of Repetoire by John Swift; Frome Valley - The New Style by Dave Milner; Identity, Purpose and Commitment in a Changing Morris. (or) Can I persuade you that your ideas are wrong? by Tim Radford |
|||||
| Morris Conference Papers - Influences On The Morris 1992 | The Morris Organisations | The Morris Organisations | - | 1992 | Mostly out of stock, try archives |
| Procedings of the one-day conference at Cecil Sharp House on Sat 4th Apr 1992 This conference is one of a series of traditional dance conferences, in this instance organised jointly by the Morris Federation, The Morris Ring and Open Morris in conjunction with the English Folk Dance and Song Society and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Contents: An Introduction to Influences on the Morris by Roy Dommett ; Limiting the Repetoire - The Influence of Publication by Charles Corcoran and John Swift of leicester Morris Men; Influences on the Morris in a Small Sussex Seaside Town 1976 - 1991 by Keith Leech of Mad Jack's Morris; A Greener Morris Environment? or how morris is really a bastardised form of Irish dancing by John Fry of Dublin City Morris dancers ; May-Day! May-Day! The Artificial Resusitation of a Calendar Custom in South-East England by George Frampton; Teaching Morris to Juveniles. The Influence of Mary Neal and Cecil Sharp - Eighty years On by Paul Montague of Yateley Morris Men; Barley Morris - A Short Story by Pennie Gillis Taylor of Merrydale Morris; Midwinter Spring : East Anglian Molly dancing Stomps into the 1990s by Tony Forster, Boss of Pig Dyke Molly; "Oh, I can see who taught them to dance!" A study of influence as a perceptual phenomenon by Anthony G Barrand, PhD, Boston University; Point for Discussion, Led by Roy Dommett. |
|||||
| Morris Conference Papers : Morris - The good, the bad and the ugly. 1994 | The Morris Organisations | The Morris Organisations | - | 1994 | Mostly out of stock, try archives |
| - | |||||
| Morris Conference Papers : Morris - The legacy of the past. 1996 | The Morris Organisations | The Morris Organisations | - | 1996 | Mostly out of stock, try archives |
| - | |||||