Rook manuscript

The Rook manuscript, compiled by John Rook, of Waverton, Cumbria in 1840, is a large collection of traditional music from Scotland and Northern England. Little is known of the author, beyond his name and home village. Two John Rooks, aged 35 and 50, were registered in the census the following year living near Wigton, but it is not known which of these was the author, or whether they were related.

The location of the original manuscript is unknown, but a scanned photocopy, lacking one page, is online. The title reads MULTUM IN PARVO, or a Collection of old English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh tunes, for the... (there is then an illustration of various musical instruments, a fiddle, Northumbrian pipes, a trumpet, an accordion, a flute and a piccolo) ... containing upwards of 1260 airs, selected by John Rook, Waverton. Written by the selecter for his amusement on the above instruments, 1840. A note at the bottom of the illustration reads 'not to be lent on any account'. The selection of tunes is both wide and varied, and gives a detailed picture of the repertoire of a knowledgable musician, who seems to have had access to an extensive collection of sources. While many of the tunes are common in printed and manuscript collections of the time, a significant number are, as the title page says, 'old'. They include a significant number of long variation sets, many dateable to the previous century.

It is clear from the title page that Rook played the Northumbrian pipes. Many of his Northumbrian pipe tunes are close to the versions in Peacock's Collection from about 1800, but others, including Dorrington Lads, and Cut and Dry Dolly, are in versions not found in print. Dorrington Lads, in 5 strains, is similar to the larger version in the William Dixon manuscript, of 1733, and identical to a version found in the later 19th century Fenwick manuscript, where it is stated to be the version from the Reid family. Cut and Dry Dolly, while broadly similar to Peacock's version, has a range going higher than the single octave compass of the unkeyed smallpipe chanter, and an extra strain not found in Peacock; two very similar versions are found in a manuscript compiled by the Ancient Melodies Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne it is known that James Reid and his sister Elizabeth Oliver were two of the informants when the Committee was collecting the music. It is thus very likely that Rook had direct contact with the Reids. While he lived some 80 miles from their home in North Shields, communication would have got much easier after 1837, when the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway opened between Gateshead and Carlisle.

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