The+great+northern+tunebook+william+vickers+collection+of+dance+tunes+ad1770+free [2021] Jun 2026

Known as the , the William Vickers Collection is more than just a stack of yellowed paper; it is the "Bible" of Northumbrian traditional music. It preserves a snapshot of the repertoire played by country dance musicians, local fiddlers, and town waits in the North East of England before the standardization of "folk music" in the Victorian era.

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| Feature | Available free? | |---------|----------------| | Full facsimile (original handwriting) | Yes (Internet Archive) | | Modern notation of all 500+ tunes | Yes (Village Music Project) | | PDF download | Yes | | Searchable tune index | Yes | | Historical notes / introduction | Partial (some editions redact commentary) | | ABC files for easy editing & playback | Yes | | MIDI or MP3 renditions | Yes (via ABC tools) | Known as the , the William Vickers Collection

, the collection offers a rare and unvarnished window into the repertoire of a Northumbrian musician—likely a fiddler—during a period when oral tradition and formal notation were increasingly intersecting. The Compiler and the Manuscript Little is known about William Vickers Known as the