The Ball-Room Instructer; containing a complete description of Cotillons and other popular dances. With illustrations. Written and arranged for amateurs in dancing. (Huestis & Craft, NYC 1841)

Dance manual/reference by New York: PUBLISHED BY HUESTIS & CRAFT, 104 Nassau Street. 1841. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by Huestis & Craft, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. Stereotyped by Redfield & Savage, 13 Chambers Street, N. Y. Source: DATA/LIBRARY_OF_DANCE/TXT/1841-Huestis-Instructer_(Arc).txt (534 lines OCR; Internet Archive scan, clean American 1840s typography). FORMAT: amateur-ballroom-pedagogy pamphlet for those who 'have neglected, or have not had an opportunity of attending dancing-schools' — author argues that figure-literacy is more important than step-mastery in the modern (1841) American ballroom: 'In our modern assemblies, scarcely one person in ten is acquainted with [steps]; ... while one thoroughly acquainted with figures, would go through without difficulty.' STRUCTURE: (1) Etiquette preamble — country vs. city introduction protocols, ladies' dressing-room separation, trumpet-signal for dance-call. (2) PLAIN QUADRILLE SET in 5 figures — First Figure (Right and Left + Balance + Turn Partners + Ladies' Chain + Half Promenade + Half Right and Left), Second Figure (Forward Two + Chassez + Recross + Balance + Turn Partners), Third Figure (Right Hand Cross + Balance in Line + Promenade + Ladies Forward + Forward Four + Half Right and Left), Fourth Figure (Forward Four + Forward Three + Gentleman Forward + Four Round + Half Right and Left), Fifth Figure (Forward Two + All Promenade + repeat by sides + All Chassez bow finish). (3) PROMISCUOUS FIGURES — additional optional figures including Right and Left all Round (8-couple grand-circle variant), Sides Four (with First/Second/Third/Fourth Lady Forward Twice variants). (4) MARCH COTILLON — first couple promenade around set, third couple follow, etc., until full 4-couple column formed; all march to end of room, ladies right / gentlemen left, reform at opposite end, top-of-column balance + turn + promenade-down-centre with optional 'march, dance, or walk, and, according to a Kentucky teacher, run, jump, or go skip-i-te-hop' — a notable proto-American playful-cotillon attestation. (5) BASKET-DANCE — ladies-round-the-centre + gentlemen-ring-outside + ladies-duck-under-arches mechanic. (6) THE CHEAT cotillon — first-couple-balance-right + present-hands-and-cheat-by-withdrawing variant; 8-couple rotation with hands-all-around between iterations. (7) SPANISH DANCE — column-of-couples format with 4-position balance + cross-hands-star + promenade-to-next-couple, set to waltz / triple-time tunes (Cinderella waltz, Kate Kearney, Cachuca named). (8) FIRST SET OF CALEDONIANS 'FROM PARKER'S BALL-ROOM GUIDE' — 5-figure set citing earlier Parker imprint; Hands Across + Advance Twice + Back-to-Back + Lead Round + All Chain Half. (9) FAVORITE RUSTIC REEL — 3-line set with each gentleman having two partners. (10) THE TOILET — dress notes (satins / silks / delaines / bracelets / head ornaments for ladies; dress-coats / light vests / black hose / pumps for gentlemen). (11) TECHNICAL TERMS — French-English glossary (Chaine Anglaise = Right and Left; Demie Chaine Anglaise = Half Right and Left; Chaine des Dames = Ladies' Chain; Demie Promenade = Half Promenade Eight; Demie Queue de Chat = Half Promenade Four; En avant deux et en arriere; Chassez et Dechassez; Traversez / Retraversez; Traversez main droite / main gauche; Dos-a-dos; Cavalier seul; Demi tour a quatre; Tour a quatre; Demi rond; Moulinet = Hand across; Chassez croisez huit; Chassez quatre / Dechassez quatre; Le tiroire; Contre partie le meme; Grande chaine; Grande rond; Grande tour de rond; A vos places; En avant a droite; Balancez en ligne; En avant trois; En avant quatre; Tour a coin; Chaine des dames double). (12) REMARKS — Socrates / Plato / Xenophon / Henri IV health-and-elegance defense. HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: (a) 1841 NYC = pre-Polka, pre-Schottische, pre-Mazurka — the manual's vocabulary is purely Quadrille / Cotillon / Spanish Dance / Caledonians / Reel, the immediate-pre-Polka-revolution American ballroom snapshot. (b) Huestis & Craft were Nassau-Street stereotyper-publishers servicing the New York amateur market — this manual is the earliest dated American ballroom-instruction-for-amateurs imprint in the LOD corpus. (c) Predates LOC-1847-CELLARIUS (Paris), LOC-1848-POWELL, LOC-1849-CELLARIUS (Paris), LOC-1852-MEYEN (NYC), LOC-1854-CARPENTER-PRECEPTOR (Boston), LOC-1857-HILLGROVE (NYC), LOC-1858-HOWE (Boston) — thus filling the EARLIEST AMERICAN-AMATEUR-BALLROOM-MANUAL gap in the corpus, ~6y pre-Polka-craze and ~10y+ pre-Mazurka-Polka-Redowa-craze American social dance. (d) Cites 'Parker's Ball-Room Guide' as the Caledonians source — establishing a Parker-imprint anchor predating the 1841 publication date and inviting future targeted-OCR ingestion of the Parker imprint when found. (e) The 'skip-i-te-hop' Kentucky-teacher anecdote in the March Cotillon is a notable folk-American attestation of regional-style cotillon variation in 1841. ROSETTA-STONE VALUE: 8 Rosetta-stone matches confirm 1841 → mid-19c canonical-figure stability (Spanish Dance, First Set of Caledonians, Basket Dance, Favorite Rustic Reel, Sides Four, March Quadrille, Plain Cotillions, Cheat). 2 new canonicals minted: (i) the Huestis-1841-attributed Plain Quadrille set as a single umbrella canonical (composite-treatment cf. F1180 Pots-Pourris 17-Recueil umbrella from the 1511 run), (ii) the March Cotillon as distinct from the March Quadrille (the Cotillon is a processional / column-formation dance, the March Quadrille is the 4th-figure of the Quadrille Militaire). Has_Step_Detail = No. (1841). Imported from local collection.