Mr. P.J.S. Richardson, O.B.E., founder and editor of the Dancing Times, built this famous collection of 48 rare books on dancing, choreography, and related arts. The collection was bequeathed to the Royal Academy of Dancing in London.

With one exception, the Richardson Collection contains original and rare printed books, several of which are not even in the British Museum. The original printed books in the collection range from 1549 to 1852, and include such well-known authors as Feuillet, Rameau, and Weaver. The collection also contains the 1912 facsimile of Le manuscrit dit des "Basses Danses" de la Bibliotheque de Bourgogne c. 1450.

Titles in this collection include:

• A treatise on the art of dancing, 1762
• Dictionnaire de Danse, 1787
• Grand Bal de la Douairiere de Billebahault, 1626
• Le Mariage de la Musique avec la Dance, 1664
• Nuove inventioni di balli, 1604
• Recueil de Contredances, 1706
• The Judgement of Paris, 1733
• and many more