DAVID. GORDON (Adam), Reverend Sir: The Psalms of David for the Use of Parish Churches, The Words selected by the Rev. Sir Adam Gordon, Bart, M. A. The Music selected, adapted, and composed, by Dr. Arnold, Organist and Composer to His Majesty. Assisted by J. W. Callcott, Organist of St. Paul,. Covent Garden
London Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadeilly, and George Goudling, James Street... [no date], [1791]. Folio, 355 x 152 mms., pp. [iv], [2], [3] - 245 [246 adverts], engraved frontispiece (by TA. Medland after Stothard), engraved title-page (by Wilson after Stothard) and engraved throughout except for two leaves of preface by the compiler and the composer after the title-page and before the text, contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards (worn); spine worn and lack label, joints cracked and tender. With the following inscription on the top margin of the recto of the front free end-paper: "John Gore. Cloisters Windsor Castle & [?Sholburn]/ Vicarage, Berks & Wilts." Samuel Arnold (1740 - 1802) and John Wall Calcott (1766 - 1821) were established and well-known 18th and early 19th century English composers, both with considerable experience in composing secular as well as sacred songs and hymns for mixed (SATB) choirs. Adam Gorrdon (1748/49 - 1817) is a bit more elusive, and, unlike his title-page colleagues, apparently unknown to ODNB, though he was likely a descendant of the distinguished 15th century family of Gordon. Stockdale published some of his books, including Repentance and Reformation, the Conditions of Mercy (1797), ESTC T187717 locates copies in BL (2), York Minster Library; St. Mark's Theological Library, Pittsburgh. Rochester (2), Yale; Catholic Institute of Sydney. Copac adds Glasgow, Cambridge, Royal College of Music, and Bodleian in UK libraries. (Book ref. 8036)
Perth: Printed by Crerar and Son, 1827. 12mo (in 6s), 184 x 111 mms., pp. [v], vi - viii [ix Contents, x blank, xi drop title, xii blank, xiii], 14 - 295 [296 blank], including half-title, uncut, bound in waste-paper boards, paper label on spine; spine slightly defective at top and base, joints a little worn, some general wear to binding, but a rather nice survival of a practice of reusing discarded leaves for a temporary binding. James I (1394–1437) was known as the author of The Kingis Quair, a poem of 197 seven-line verses, dealing principally with the theme of philosophy and fortune after the manner of Boethius was known as the author of The Kingis Quair, a poem of 197 seven-line verses, dealing principally with the theme of philosophy and fortune after the manner of Boethius. His works were edited by various scholars. The "Dissertation on the Scottish Music" is at the end of the volume (pages 245 - 293) and begins, "The genius of the Scots has, in every age, shone conspicuous in Poetry and Music." So much, then, for Mozart and Handel. WorldCat locates copies at Harvard, Cincinnatti, Michigan, South Carolina; National Library of Australia; Leipzig; in the UK, Copac locates copies at BL, National Library of Wales, Manchester, and Newcastle. Copac also lists a copy at the National Library of Scotland, but gives the printer/publisher as G. Clark. The copy at Harvard has the imprint Perth: Printed by Crerar and Son, for G. Clark, Aberdeen, 1827. (Book ref. 7974)
London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley..., 1760. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 200 x 122 mms., pp. [iv], 208, including half-title, engraved portrait of Handel as frontispiece, contemporary calf, neatly rebacked, with gilt spine and red morocco label, with armorial bookplate, with motto "Avancez" (?Hamilton Hill) on front paste-down end-paper. The blank leaf before the half-title has the contemporary autograph "R. Chambre" on the top margin of the recto, and below, "Contents/ Account of the Magdelen [sic]/ Charity/ The Life of Handel." The first item has clearly been excised from the volume at some stage, with slight dislocation of the text block against the spine, hence the rebacking, but a very attractive copy. Mainwaring (1724 - 1807) studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, and was ordained in 1748. He had several collaborators for this work; some of the factual information is from John Christopher Smith, some of it was written by Robert Price, and the list of compositions is by James Harris. It was reviewed and quoted extensively in various contemporary periodicals and is a useful source of information about Handel's life and activities. There is a footnote in the "Observations" to James Harris's Hermes, citing Harris' discussion "with great judgment and accuracy" the "imitative power in Music...." (Book ref. 7953)
London: Printed for J. Wilcox..., 1743. 12mo, 156 x 88 mms., pp. xviii [xix contents, xx adverts], 184, 6 folding engraved plates of music, contemporary calf, recently rebacked with raised bands between gilt rules, red morocco label; boards a little worn, but a good copy with the armorial bookplate of Park Nelson on the front paste-down end-paper. Tosi (1653 - 1732) was one of the best castrati of his day and first sang in London in 1692. The above work was first published in 1723 as Opinioni de' Cantori Antichi e Moderni. As New Grove notes, the work remains "a valuable source of information about Baroque performing practice, particularly regarding the interpretation of appoggiaturas, trills and other vocal ornaments and the use of tempo rubato." John Ernest Galliard (c.1687 - 1749), a German composer who worked in London, had a reasonable success as a composer of operas and incidental music for the stage. His translation of the work by Tosi, whom he knew, adds a number of notes and observations to Tosi's original. (Book ref. 7938)
London Printed for Dean & Munday..., 1821. 12mo (in 6s), pp. [iii] - xxiv, [13] - 186, engraved frontispiece and engraved title-page (no letter-press title-page), original printed boards, neatly restored, uncut; covers a bit soiled. The London Minstrel opens with, curiously, "Scots wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled." The songs are printed with both words and music. The front printed cover attributes the work to "A Professional Gentleman." (Book ref. 7935)
London Remington and Co Publishers..., 1888. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. Large 8vo, 220 x 132 mms., pp. [viii], 320; [viii], 302, original cloth, spine blocked in gilt; slightly shaken in casing, spines a bit darkened, but a very good set. The journalist and author Henry Sutherland Edwards (1828 - 1906) began his career writing for Pasquin a rival to Punch and later produced a drama, Mephistopheles, or, An Ambassador from Below. Having been educated in France, he was fluent in French, and later added Russian to his languages when he married in Moscow the daughter of a Scottish engineer working in Russia. He also wrote music history and criticism. A History of Opera (2 vols.) appeared in 1862; The Lyrical Drama and Rossini and his School, both in 1881; together with lives of Rossini (1869) and and of the tenor Sims Reeves (1881). The present book is a page-turner for those interested in the anecdotal lives of famous sopranos. (Book ref. 7825)
London Remington & Co..., 1888. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 213 x 130 mms., pp. xi [xii blank], 327 [328 blank]; vii [viii blank], 319 [320 advert], including half title in each volume, portrait in volume 1, contemporary half sheepskin, marbled boards, gilt title on spines. A very good set. The opera manager James Henry Mapleson (1830 - 1901) began his career as an opera singer, but his one and only performance in London in Auber's Masaniello ended that aspiration. His career was checkered, but, as ODNB notes, "In 1856 Mapleson opened a concert and dramatic agency, using his Italian contacts and his knowledge of the language to supply artists for Covent Garden and Her Majesty's, and in 1858 was engaged by E. T. Smith, a jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur and lessee of Drury Lane, to manage a season of Italian opera there. Three years later Mapleson took the Lyceum Theatre for a season of his own, and then moved on to Her Majesty's, where he remained until the theatre burnt down on 6 December 1867. These were his most prosperous and significant years as an opera impresario." Bernard Shaw in London Music described these memoirs as entertaining, but unreliable, covering "a period of hopeless decay" exhibiting "want of life, purpose, sincerity and concerted artistic effort." (Book ref. 7822)
London: William Reeves..., [no date], [1926]. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 215 x 133 mms., pp. xx, [2], 208; [4], 209 - 369 [370], lithographed portrait of Liszt as frontispiece in each volume, with two further portraits of Liszt in volume 1, another as a youth in volume 2, and portraits of Schubert and Beethoven in volume 2, original brown cloth, blocked in gilt. A fine set. Des Bohémiens et de leur musique en Hongrie was first published in 1859 and as Die Zigeuner und ihre Musik in Ungarn in 1861. Liszt was assisted in the preparation of this work by Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, who added a great deal of anti-semitic material to the second edition. Evans (1871 - 1945) was a music journalist and wrote for the Musical Times. So far as I can tell, he does not indicate whether his translation is from the French or German edition, or if he used the material Pricess Carolyne incorporated into the second edition. (Book ref. 7813)
London Printed & Sold by C. Wheatstone..., [no date], [1817]. Large 8vo, 248 x 162 mms., four parts in one volume, pp. [2], 80, [2], 80. [2], 80, 80 [81 Index, 82 blank], engraved title-page, separate title-pages to second and third parts, and engraved throughout with music and words, contemporary half red morocco, gilt spine, marbled boards (rubbed); some leaves frayed at outer margin, one leaf detached at inner margin. A total of nine volumes of glees was published over several years, and this volume comprises the first four volume. The present of the index for the four volumes suggests that it was issued in this form. (Book ref. 7785)
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1869. FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 188 x 114 mms., pp. xii, 318; viii, 336 [337 Errrata, 338 blank], including half-title in each volume, engraved portrait of Schubert as frontispiece in volume 1, contemporary half maroon calf, spine gilt in compartments, marbled boards; spines a little rubbed, but a very good set. Kreissle von Hellborn (1812 - 1869) published his biography of Schubert, Aus Schuberts Leben, in 1861, followed by an expanded second edition in 1865; this is the first English translation. Although Kreissle was a great admirer of Schubert and extolled the quality of his music, he more-or-less said that his music was great but his life was dull. A friend of Schubert's, Josef von Spaun (1788 - 1865) disagreed, saying, "The biography contains too little light and too much shadow regarding Schubert as a human being." There are, not surprisingly, many inaccuracies in the biography, but it is one of the most frequently-cited sources in Schubert biographical scholarship. (Book ref. 7782)
London: Printed by Clementi & Co..., [no date] [?1805]. 4to, 235 x 160 mms., pp. 130, engraved throughout with music and text, with index pages at page 1, 41, and [109], contemporary calf, gilt spine (slightly rubbed); joints very slightly cracked, top and base of spine chipped, but a good to very good copy with the bookplate of Harry Colin Miller on the front paste-down end-paper and the autograph "E A Lowe" on the top margin of the title-page. The latter is possibly Elias Avery Lowe (1879 - 1969), the distinguished paleographer. The English firm of music publishers and instrument makers probably started up in the 1790s, went bankrupt in 1789, and re-emerged in conjunction with other publishers and printers. The Magdalen Hospital was founded in 1758, and this is one of many publications of hymns and sacred music associated with it. The first hymn is "Awake my Soul" by Philip Doddrige (1702 - 1751), sometimes sung to music from Handel's opera Ciroë. A manuscript notation of the title page after printed "Book" adds "1 to 4" and also in ms is the price, "10/6". (Book ref. 7699)
London: Printed for J. Dodsley..., 1767. 3 volumes. 8vo, 177 x 108 mms., pp. [iii], viii - lxxvi [lxxvii - lxxx Contents and epigraph], 370 [371 - 372 Errata for all three volumes]; [ii], iii [iv epigraph], 340 [i. e., 400, last page misnumbered], [401 music, 402 blank]; [ii], iii [iv epigraph], [i] - xxxii, [1] - 398 [399 - 400 adverts], engraved frontispiece in volume 1, engraved plate of music at end of volume 2, engraved head- and tail-pieces, TA3 and T4 in volume 2 in cancelled state, contemporary calf, spines ornately gilt in compartments to a musical motif, red and olive morocco labels; rear cover volume 2 scored with small pieces of calf missing, top of spines volumes 2 and 3 slightly chipped, but generally a very good and attractive set. Dodsley printed 1500 copies of the first edition in 1765, and in six months he had sold 1100. In April 1765, Thomas Warton wrote to Percy to say, "I think you have opened a new field of Poetry, and supplied many new and curious Materials for the history and Illustration of antient English Literature.... At Oxford it is a favourite Work; and I doubt not, but it is equally popular in Town." Describing Percy as "our curious and correct editor," the reviewer in the Monthly Review for 1765 concluded that the word was a "very elegant, instructive, and entertaining compilation." (Book ref. 7656)
London: Printed and Publisher by J. Duncombe..., [c. 1825]. 12mo, 181 x 105 mms., pp. [iv], iv, [3] - 74, 73 - 184, engraved frontispiece, 3 full-page engraved plates of singers (Mr. Wood, Miss Hughes, Mr. H. Phillips), 11 steel-engraved vignettes, contemporary half calf, marbled boards (rubbed), red morocco label. A good copy, with manuscript note in pencil on the recto of the front free end-paper and on the recto of the following leaf in ink (probably contemporary) a verse poem, "The Light of Other Days". This is probably not the source for the science-fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, but the poem by Thomas Moore. The text also appears in the opera The Maid of Artois by Balfe, with words by Bunn The last page is marked "End of Volume 1," but I haven't located a text with "End of volume 2" on the last page. There were two subsequent volumes published, with the titles Popular Vocalist and Universal Songsters The works seems to have been issued in weekly or monthly numbers, with various engraved plates. As is usual with collections of this word, there is no music, only texts. (Book ref. 7641)
London: Boosey & Co..., [no date]. [?1868]. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. 4to, 285 x 202 mms., pp. [iv], 279 [280 blank], a piano-vocal score, finely bound in full contemporary English red morocco, with fine gilt borders and gilt panel with "Evelyn" in centre of front boards, spine ornately gilt in compartments, all edges gilt; inner margin of title-page stained, front joint and corners slightly rubbed but a very good to fine and attractive copy. Offenbach (1819 - 1880) could count La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867) as one of his most successful operettas. This English version by Kenney (1821 - 1881) was performed at Covent Garden in November, 1867; and Boosey issued an English libretto in 1868. ODNB notes that the concert promoter John Russell produced "the first faithfully adapted English version of a full-sized opéra bouffe by Offenbach to be produced in Britain. He entrusted the adaptation of La grande-duchesse to Kenney. Russell's production proved a landmark, opéra bouffe became the rage of the English and American stage for a decade, and productions of Kenney's highly praised version of La grande-duchesse were seen throughout the English-singing world for many years." (Book ref. 7559)
Undated, but circa 1900. The painting measures 340 x 260 mms., the frame, 462 x 378. The painting was restored in May, 2011, by Julia Nagle, who records her work as follows: It was surface cleaned and the bottom edge was re attached using BEVA 371 heat seal adhesive and a warm spatula. The painting was then given a brush coat of MS2A cyclohexanone resin varnish. Losses were filled and then retouched with gouache base coats, followed by glazes of pure ground pigment in MS2A resin. The painting was given a final spray coat of MS2A resin varnish and photographed after treatment. It was refitted into its frame using brass strips. Losses on the frame were retouched with gouache, with the exception of small chip on the top of the frame. (Book ref. 7512)
A Paris Chez Boyer et Naderman, facteur de harpe et d'autres instrumens: au Magazin de musique, R. [i.e., Rue] de la Loi, à la Clef d'Or, Passage de l'ancien Caffé de Foy, [1790] [1790]. Folio, 331 x 246 mms., pp. [ii], 166, folding engraved plate of keyboard at end and otherwise engraved throughout, contemporary quarter green sheepskin, boards; front free end-paper creased, binding a little rubbed, but a good copy with the autograph "Mm Julie Mallet" on the top margin of the recto of the front free end-paper. Jean Joseph Rodolphe (1730 - 1812), also as Johann Joseph Rudolph, was an Alsatian composer, violinist, and horn player; his early career was in Stuttgart, where several of his operas and ballets were performed. This work, first published in 1784, proved very popular with performers and students and was regularly reprinted until the 1850s. From 1798 he was a professor at the Paris Conservatory. He popularized the horn as a solo instrument and was probably the first in Paris to use the technique of hand-stopping, by which a natural horn can be made to produce notes outside of its normal harmonic series. (Book ref. 7480)
Dublin: Printed for Messrs. Moncrieffe, Jenkin, White, H. Whitestone, Burton, and Byrne. 1785. FIRST IRISH EDITION. 8vo, 212 x 123 mms., pp. vii [viii blank], xvi, 74, 145 [146 blank], contemporary calf, gilt spine, red morocco label; joints and spine expertly restored. A very good copy, with the autograph and date "J. D. Horwood/ Hull/ 15th July 1844" on the recto of the front free end-paper and another note, in an earlier hand, at the end of the Preface. Burney's enthusiasm for these musical performances led to an invitation to prepare this account, though he was rather surprised not to be paid for it. Two thousand copies of the work were printed in London, and it was widely praised in the journals. Samuel Johnson wrote the dedication. Fleeman does not record the number of Dublin copies printed, which was issued without plates. Fleeman 85.2BH/2. Hazen 31 (Book ref. 7429)
BEMETZTRIEDER (Anton): Music made Easy to every Capacity, In a Series of Dialogues; Being Practical Lessons for the Harpsichord, laid down in a new Method, So as to render that Instrument so little difficult, that any Person, with common Application, may play well; become a thorough Proficient in the Principles of Harmony; and will compose Music, if they have a Genius for it, in less than a Twelvemonth. Written in French by Monsieur Bemetzrieder, Musick Master to the Queen of France. And published at Paris, (with a Preface) by the Celebrated Monsieur Diderot, The Whole Translated, and adapted to the Use of the English Student, by Giffard Bernard. Perused and approved of by Doctor Boyce and Doctor Howard.
London: Printed by R. Ayre and G. Moore...and sold by W. Randall..., 1778. FIRST EDITION. 4to, 266 x 205 mms., pp. [ii], vi, [iii] - vi, iv, 87 [88 blank], [2], [89] - 198, [2], [199] - 249 [250 blank], with pp. 41 - 44 repeated in the pagination, including list of subscribers at the beginning of Part III, and drop-titles (with complete imprint and dated 1779) for Part II and Part III, numerous music illustrations in text, contemporary half calf, marbled boards, red morocco label, a very good copy with the spine and joints expertly and sympathetically restored. Anton Bemetzrieder (1743 - 1817) was trained as a Benedictine monk but went to Paris at an early stage to teach music. There, he made the acquaintance of Diderot no later than November, 1769, when his name appears in Diderot's correspondence. Diderot's interest in Bemetzrieder was no doubt prompted in part by his admiration for his musically gifted daughter, Angelique and by his own loved of music. He liked Bemetzrieder's practical teaching approach and offered to put into literary form his method. Lecons de clavecin et principles d'haromonie was first published in 1771, and, despite Diderot's disclaimers, that he did more than act as redacteur. Charles Burney also met Bemetzrieder and thought well enough of his book to use it for the musical education of his daughters. Bemetzrieder left Paris to live in London, settling there in 1781. New Grove notes that his "principal contribution to theory lay in his practical, systematic and pedagogical presentation of the prevalent music ideas of the time. He divided the learning process into five basic parts, which he intended to serve as a framework for musical training: the art of reading music, accompaniment, execution, musical composition and (later) musical erudition. His harmonic theory was built on a firm knowledge of acoustics and mathematics, and on the work of Rameau, but compromised to embrace the thinking of other theorists of the day." A second edition of the work was published in 1785. The subscribers include the composer Arnold, Hook, Jackson, and Kent, as well as other musicians and musicologists, e. g. Charles Davy, Philip Hayes, John Randall, and William Tibbs. ESTC T96492 locates copies at the BL, Cambridge, Bodleian (2) Queen's University of Belfast, Durham Cathedral Library, Glasgow University Library, Manchester Central Library; and in North America, the Huntington Library. University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University Music Library, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Baylor University Moody Memorial Library. There are also copies at Yale, the Spencer Library, Kansas, and McGill. (Book ref. 7428)
London: Printed & Sold by Preston..., [1815.] 3 volumes. Oblong folio, 343 x 244 mms., pp. [vi], 134; [iv], 127 [128 blank]; [iv], 143 [144 blank], engraved portrait of Handel as frontispiece in volume 2, engraved throughout, contemporary hard-grain green morocco, marbled boards; spines a little defective, with top and base panels chipped or missing. With the inscription "Agnes Maria Smith/ from her loving Husban Feb. 15 1855." The singer and organist Joseph Corfe (1740 - 1820) made several arrangements of songs and chamber music, which were great drawing-room favourites in the 19th century. Probably his most important work was not his compositions or arrangements, but two books, A Treatise on Singing (1799) and his manual Thorough Bass Simplified (1805). (Book ref. 7417)
MUSIC MANUSCRIPT. [GAIL (Sophia)]: A rectangular volume of 55 leaves of manuscript music of songs, with lyrics in French, on recto and verso, in the same hand throughout, measuring 220 x 140 mms., with a blank leaf before the first leaf of music, and another blank leaf at the end, with two leaves (one folded) of verse in English (one dated 1840) of in rectangular format, with neatly drawn and coloured ownership label on front paste-down endpaper, and another coloured drawing on rear end-paper, attractively bound in green morocco, with lyre in gilt on both covers and gilt roll borders, all edges gilt.
[France] C. 1840 One of the earliest compositions is attributed to "Mme. Gail," and there are other attributions including "Mm S. Gail" on other leaves. Sophia Gail (nee Garre, 1775 – 1819) published her first composition at the age of 19, and she composed a number of other works. The songs in the volume appear to have been transcribed by its 19th century owner, whose name appears on the ownership label, "Lucy [?Rosslyne Campibile]" (Book ref. 7415)