Collection of 453 pieces of Scots bagpipe music, mostly written in the same hand, and dated by John Murdoch Henderson, to the 1820s, on account of the early versions included therein.
William Donaldson attributes the collection to William Ross (d 1891), author of Ross's Collection: Pipe Music (London, 1869), and successor to Angus MacKay (d 1859) as first piper to Queen Victoria. In it he has leaned heavily on MacKay's work, most of the pieces appearing to be transcripts from his papers (originals in National Library of Scotland MS 3753 - 3754; microfilm copy in the University GB 231 MS 3590). (William Donaldson, Reports and Surveys of Archives in Northern Scotland, Northern Scotland, 20 (2000), 167 - 178 (171)).
From p. 80, other hands are evident: The signature of Edward A. Ross (dated 27th January 1883), after whom the collection is named, appears on the flyleaf; though the relationship between Edward A. Ross and William Ross has not been established.
This is one of several significant music manuscripts gifted to the University by John Murdoch Henderson, and contains minor annotations, in his hand, throughout. The tunes have been numbered by him, but not indexed.