Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1766, with proper tunes & directions to each dance, as they are perform'd at Court, Bath, Tunbridge, and all publick assembly's (Johnson, London 1766)

Dance manual/reference by John Johnson, in Cheapside, London, 1766 (printed title-plate lists John Johnson's associated country-dance / minuet / hornpipe / instrumental-tutor series: 1600 Favourite Country Dances in 8 Volumes bound 3/6d each; 200 Dances for the Harpsichord in 2 Volumes bound 5/6 each; 2 Books of Dances & Minuets by Mr Philpot 1/6d each; 2 Books of Hornpipes for the Violin 1/6d each; Directions to Learn the Violin/German Flute/Harpsichord/French Horn/Hautboy/Fife/Guittar/Bagpipe/Flaglet/Singing 1/6d each book). Source: IMSLP scan (DATA/LIBRARY_OF_DANCE/ABBYY TXT/1766-Johnson-Country_(IMSLP).txt, 61 lines partial OCR from pp. 74-85). Source citation: 'Twenty four country dances for the year 1766: with proper tunes & directions to each dance, as they are perform'd at court, Bath, Tunbridge, and all publick assembly's.' London, [1765?]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. Newcastle University. Gale CENGAGE learning. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Johnson's annual country-dance almanacs were one of the three principal LONDON COMPETITORS to the Walsh and Thompson country-dance publishing houses in the mid-1760s. The 1766 annual provides a snapshot of the mid-Hanoverian English country-dance repertory at the peak of its mid-century popularity, bridging Walsh 1748 (LOC-1748-WALSH-PART1 / LOC-1748-WALSH-CALEDONIAN) and the Thompson Compleat Vols I-II 1770c (LOC-1770c-THOMPSON). Distinctive content: Scottish-themed dances (Sawny's Return, Twa Bonny We, Johnny Shake Hands — reflecting post-1746 Highland-theme commercialization in London); contemporary-stage commemoratives (The Capricious Lovers — 1764 comic opera by George Colman with music by Thomas Arne); traditional ballad-melody settings (Fye for Shame, Rosy Joan, Daphne's Choice — the Daphne/Apollo mythological trope); current-events commemoratives (News from the Hague — Anglo-Dutch diplomatic ties). Step detail in Playford-style longways prose ('Cast off 2 Cu, cross over 2 Cu, lead to the top & cast off, hands 4 at bottom, Right & Left at top') — NOT Feuillet-chorographic notation. Has_Step_Detail=Partial: longways prose is extractable at figure-sequence level (cast-off / cross-over / lead-up / hands-round / Right-and-Left) but step-footwork detail (pas de bourree, assemble, jete) is absent from this register of publication. OCR capture is only ~14 of the 24 advertised dances; remaining 10 dances (likely on title-plate and pp.85+) deferred for future OCR re-pass. (1766). Imported from local collection.