![[3727649] A Complete Practical Guide to the Art of Dancing, Containing Descriptions of All Fashionable and Approved Dances, Full Directions for Calling the Figures…. Thomas Hillgrove.](https://rareamericana.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/3727649.jpg?width=768&height=1000&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1537469791)
A Complete Practical Guide to the Art of Dancing, Containing Descriptions of All Fashionable and Approved Dances, Full Directions for Calling the Figures…
“Especial attention has been given to the inculcation of gracefulness of position and elegance of contour and attitude while dancing”
Illustrated Civil War-era dancing instruction manual published by Dick & Fitzgerald, publishers of popular how-to books.
The work is divided into six parts and covers such topics as deportment, ballroom etiquette, bows and curtsies, and various exercises preparative to dance and proper posture. The bulk of the text comprises detailed instructions for dancing quadrilles, polkas, waltzes, etc.
Curiously, the frontispiece, which shows a young female dancer, comprises an ad for the author’s services as a teacher of dancing. It is captioned: “Country Classes, Schools and Private Classes, attended within a Reasonable Distance from New York.”
Description: A Complete Practical Guide to the Art of Dancing, Containing Descriptions of All Fashionable and Approved Dances, Full Directions for Calling the Figures…
New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1864. [4 (publisher’s ads)], 237, [1 (blank)], [20 (publisher’s ads)]pp. 6¾ x 4¼ inches. Publisher’s quarter, patterned cloth spine and illustrated paper-covered boards. Numerous illustrations and diagrams. Boards rubbed, small corner paper loss to two advert pages (no text loss); some foxing; overall, good; internally, quite bright and clean.
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