American Dancing Master, and Ball-room Prompter

Book excerpt: This is one of several manuals credited to the well-known American inventor, Elias Howe. Like many nineteenth-century dance manuals, it is a compilation of other sources and assembled by a publisher. The book begins with a brief description of etiquette of the ballroom and continues with information on the supper room and how to arrange balls. The work also discusses many popular group dances including the quadrille, country dance, and German or parlor cotillon as well as round dances--polka, schottisch, esmeralda, polka redowa, and zingerilla.