I haven't quite decided how I'm going to present this, I think I'm just planning to go page by page until I'm done. So, let me begin with a brief statement about the collection and then we'll just get started.
This book is fiddle gold and has been for a century and longer. It represents sort of a catch-all for the tunes that Elias Howe Jr. had been printing for decades before and after the Civil War, often as part of his line of instrument tutors. You might have found numerous of the tunes in his Complete Preceptor for the Accordion or his School for the Flute or his Complete Ball Room Hand-book, but here they are in a gigantic concordance, more than a thousand reels, jigs, hornpipes, essences, walk-arounds, strathspeys and flings.
1. Blodgett's Reel
2. "Fire Him Out" Reel
3. Kelton's Reel or 'Pig Town Fling'
4. Brazen Mask Reel
5. Witch of the Wave Reel
6. Welcome Here Again Reel
7. the Scotch Patriot's Reel
8. 'Neath the Moonlight Reel