The traditional musicians of Scotland owe John Glen a great debt of gratitude. John Glen was a music publisher in Edinburgh, who amassed a unique portfolio of the great 18th and 19th century collections. He was one of a small group of devoted music collectors who set about re-publishing the dance music of the Gows, Marshall and their many contemporaries during the last decades of the 19th century. The compilations of James Kerr ('Merry Melodies'), James Stewart Robertson (Athole Collection) and several others contain the essential ingredients of the Scottish dance band repertoire of the 20th century. But whereas their published editions give scarcely a hint as to the sources or authorship of the music, John Glen was meticulous in his biographical notes and the attribution of every tune he selected either to its composer (if known) or to an original collection. If it hadn't been for his careful work, there would be very much less information to guide us back to the 18th century and to the Golden Age of the Scottish Tradition.
Glen's work bears eloquent witness to the importance of detail. His 'Collection of Scottish Dance Music' was published in two volumes between 1891 and 1895 in Edinburgh. The music itself is arranged in 'medley' style, strathspey alternating with reel - as are all the larger collections of that period - and there is a significant absence of jigs (a dozen in a total of nearly 300 titles).
When John Glen died in 1904, his collection of manuscripts, printed music and other material (said to number in the region of 4000 items) was put up for auction and bought outright by a single bidder. It was deposited on loan to the British Museum with the benefactor expressing the wish that it should be available to students. The name of 'the benefactor' was formally disclosed in 1927, two years after The National Library of Scotland officially came into being, although there was to be an intervention of years including those of the Second World War before the present building was ready to house such items as The Glen Collection of Scottish Music. From then on, every item of the collection carried this printed dedication: 'Presented by Lady Dorothea Ruggles-Brise to the National Library of Scotland in memory of her brother, Major Lord George Stewart Murray, Black Watch, killed in action in France in 1914'. This daughter of the 7th Duke of Atholl, three of whose predecessors had been patrons of the great Niel Gow of Inver, was herself a lifelong devotee of Scottish music. It was entirely appropriate that her action should have returned this great resource to the nation and to the care of the National Library in Edinburgh.
The reprint by The Highland Music Trust combines both volumes and reproduces the text in its entirety. The tunes are printed in the treble lines only, and grouped into keys, with a composite index. There is a foreword by Charles Gore, author of the Scottish Fiddle Index.

Soft Cover: 294 strathspeys, reels and jigs