Books on Music

• Corredor, Jose Maria Conversations with Casals E. P. Dutton: New York, 1956. first edition. Octavo. 240 pp. Cloth boards. Fine. BKS-09565 $25Inquire
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  Coward, Noël (1899-1973) The Lyrics of Noël Coward Overlook Press: Woodstock NY, 1973. first edition. Small quarto. 418 pp. Black buckram with minor spotting. Cover a little soiled from top to bottom from shelf wear. Original dustjacket with small tears at top of spine, corners slightly rubbed and waterstain on back left corner; inside tight and clean, overall fine.
  BKS-12664 $10Inquire
• Cowling, Elizabeth The Cello Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1975. Octavo. 224 pp. 28 plates of instruments, musical examples, 3 diagrams of the cello. Boards with D/J. As new. BKS-09919 $50Inquire
• CREMONA 4a Triennale internazionale degli strumenti ad arco Centro Culturale Città di Cremona: Cremona, 1985. Quarto. 84 pp. 140 black and white illustrations. Decorative paper binding. BKS-13990 $35Inquire
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  Cremona L'Esposizione di Liuteria Antica a Cremona nel 1937: Per La Celebrazione Del Bicentenario Stradivari Comitato Stradivariano: Cremona, 1938. No. 376 of 500. Quarto. 257 + xxvii (French & German foreword, index). Black and white pictures of 121 instruments and a letter of Stradivari. Quarter-bound vellum with buckram boards and gilt crests. Attractively bound and in good condition overall. Cover sprung, spine tips and corners bumped. One page detached. Two small manuscript markings on title page.

  Much sought after in the violin world, this is a good copy of this rare and historically important book with pictures of instruments in the famous 1937 Cremona exhibit. The exhibition was organized to pay tribute to Antonio Stradivari during the bicentennial of his death. Each instrument includes a brief description with ownership and in some cases, a note about restoration. Some of the noted violin makers who collaborated on the book include Fridolin Hamma, Max Moller, Emil Francais and Fernando Sacconi.
  BKS-05621 $2,000More Images/Inquire
• CREMONA Liuteria classica: un metodo; Stradivari e la Scuola cremonese Museo S. Agostino: Geneva, 1980. Large octavo. 64 pp. Illustrated throughout: maps, instruments, labels, etc. Stiff wrappers.
  In Italian and English
  REF-12173Inquire for PriceInquire
• CREMONA Liuteria classica: un metodo; Stradivari e la Scuola cremonese, La bottega del liutaio, Dall'alberto al violino, Otto capolavori Teatro alla Scala: Milan, 1980. Large octavo. 68 pp. Illustrated throughout: maps, instruments, labels, etc. Stiff wrappers. As new.
  In Italian and English
  BKS-07576 $45Inquire
• D'Auvergne, Edmund B. Lola Montez: an Adventuress of the 'Forties T. Werner Laurie: London, nd. Second impression. Small quarto. 375 pp. Frontispiece portrait. Cloth. Fine. REF-04287 $40Inquire
• Davies, Laurence César Franck and His Circle  First American edition (same time as the English first edition). Houghton Mifflin: Boston, 1970. Quarto. 380 pp. Cloth with d/j. Excellent condition. BKS-04537 $40Inquire
• Day, Lillian Paganini of Genoa The Macaulay Company: New York, 1929. Octavo. 318 pp. 31 plates: portraits, programs, documents, etc. Cloth boards with decorative endpapers showing Paganini caricatures. Very good. BKS-01729 $50Inquire
• Day, Lillian Paganini of Genoa The Macaulay Company: New York, 1929. Octavo. 318 pp. 31 plates: portraits, programs, documents, etc. Cloth boards with decorative endpapers showing Paganini caricatures. Spine missing, covers detached. Internally very good. BKS-05051 $25Inquire
• Day, Lillian Paganini of Genoa The Macaulay Company: New York, 1929. Octavo. 318 pp. 31 plates: portraits, programs, documents, etc. Cloth boards with decorative endpapers showing Paganini caricatures. D/j slighty ragged on edges, covers a little spotted; otherwise fine.
  Inscribed by the author on title page
  BKS-05052 $50Inquire
• De Wit, Paul (1852-1925) Geigenzettel Alter Meister. Volume I of II De Wit: Leipzig, 1910. Large Quarto. 16 + 38 pages of labels. Volume one only, of two. Limp boards. Slightly sprung, spine tips worn, otherwise very good. BKS-10010 $150Inquire
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  De Wit, Paul (1852-1925) Perlen aus der Instrumenten-Sammlung von Paul de Wit in Leipzig. Leipzig, 1892. Oblong quarto. 14 pp. text + 16 chromolithographed plates. Blue-gray pebbled leather boards with decorative string tie at spine (original tassel not present). Ivy-patterned end-papers. Portrait of seventeenth-century musicians laid down inside gilt tooled border at front. Boards somewhat dusty and worn with chips around edges, but internally very clean. A good copy.

  A bound collection of beautiful, chromolithographed images of selected seventeenth-century instruments from the collection of author and viol enthusiast Paul de Wit. Descriptions of each image are provided in German, French, and English.

  An interesting volume from the emergence of organology as an independent and systematic field of study at the close of the nineteenth century.

  Paul de Wit was a Dutch-born viol player who tirelessly promoted the study and performance of early instruments. He published the periodical Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, gave viol recitals, and made his substantial instrument collection publicly available in Leipzig.
  BKS-16010 $250More Images/Inquire
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  Debussy, Claude (1862-1918) Monsieur Croche: Antidilettante. Librairie Dorbon-Ainé: Paris, 1921. first edition. Quarto. 150 pp. No. 8 of 50, special edition on Japanese paper. Three-quarter purple calf. Raised bands and gilt tooling at spine. A very good, clean copy. Boards unevenly sunned and just a bit of wear to spine corners, but a handsome binding nonetheless.

  To supplement his income, Debussy wrote for the art and literary magazine La Revue Blanche under the pen name Monsieur Croche throughout 1901. He pithily expressed his negative views on a host of musical topics relating to performers, conductors, composers, and theater spectators. On the Paris Opéra, for instance, he remarked: A stranger would take it for a railway station, and, once inside, would mistake it for a Turkish bath.

  Debussy collected all of Monsieur Croche's musings with intentions to publish them as a book. This collection was the result, though it was not issued until 1921, three years after the composer's death.

  BKS-13427 $300More Images/Inquire
• Dent, Edward J. Foundations of English Opera: a Study of Musical Drama in England during the Seventeenth Century Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1928. Octavo. 241 pp. Cloth. Spine sunned, otherwise very good. BKS-04989 $15Inquire
• Dent, Edward J. Mozart's Operas: a Critical Study Oxford University Press: London, 1955. Second edition. Quarto. 276 pp. Frontispiece portrait. Cloth. Top of spine starting to open, otherwise very good. BKS-04934 $15Inquire
• Dickson, Harry Ellis "Gentlemen, More Dolce Please"; An Irreverent Memoir of Thirty Years in the Boston Symphony Beacon Press: Boston, 1969. Small quarto. 162 pp. Several b/w photos and caricatures. Cloth spine with paper boards and d/j (a little frumpled). Otherwise as new except for dust jacket. BKS-10005 $25Inquire
• Donington, Robert Wagner's 'Ring' and its Symbols: The Music and the Myth Faber & Faber: London, 1963. Octavo. 324 pp. Cloth with d/j. Underlining throughout, d/j tattered, otherwise very good. BKS-05276 $25Inquire
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  Donizetti, Gaetano (1797-1848) Three Early Librettos: La Favorita, Linda di Chamounix, and Poliuto 16mo. All with original paper wraps. Set in good condition and quite clean internally. Many corners creased or slightly chipped (the paper is quite thin). Favorita front wrapper with dealer stamp and loss to upper-right corner; Poliuto front wrapper a bit stained with small tear at right.

  A nice set of three early librettos for three popular Donizetti operas:

  La Favorita. Dramma in Quattro Atti. F. Lucca: Milan, [likely c. 1841, based on plate number]. 36 pp. Pl.n. 1945. [Premiered Paris, 1840; date of Milan premiere unclear].

  Linda di Chamounix. Melodramma in tre Atti. Giuseppe Molinari: Venezia, 1843. 31 pp. [Premiered Vienna, 1842; first reached Venice during the Carnival season of 1843].

  Poliuto. Tragedia Lirica in Tre Atti. F. Lucca: Milan, [1848, as per WorldCat]. 32 pp. Pl.n. 3023. [Italian version premiered posthumously in Naples, 1848; date of Milan premiere unclear].

  BKS-16033 $250Inquire
• Doring, Ernest N. The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers: a Treatise Presenting Conclusions Concerning the Origins and Lives of this Famous Family Derived from Lifelong Study of Their Works and Diligent Research Among Relevant Data from Early to Recent Times…. William Lewis & Son: Chicago, 1949. first edition, no.775 of 1,500. Quarto. 335 pp. 66 pp. of plates. Quarter leather with buckram boards, top edge gilt. Spine a little cocked and very slighly rubbed on edge, owner's name on titlepage, otherwise fine. BKS-10002 $500Inquire
• Doring, Ernest N. The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers: a Treatise Presenting Conclusions Concerning the Origins and Lives of this Famous Family Derived from Lifelong Study of Their Works and Diligent Research Among Relevant Data from Early to Recent Times…. William Lewis & Son: Chicago, 1949. first edition, no.775 of 1,500. Quarto. 335 pp. 66 pp. of plates. Quarter leather with buckram boards, top edge gilt. BKS-12314 $1,000Inquire
• Doring, Ernest N. The Guadagnini Family of Violin Makers: a Treatise Presenting Conclusions Concerning the Origins and Lives of this Famous Family Derived from Lifelong Study of Their Works and Diligent Research Among Relevant Data from Early to Recent Times…. William Lewis & Son: Chicago, 1949. first edition, no.775 of 1,500. Quarto. 335 pp. 66 pp. of plates. Quarter leather with buckram boards, top edge gilt. BKS-12315 $1,000Inquire
• DU PRÉ, JACQUELINE Jacqueline Du Pré: Impressions William Wordsworth. The Vanguard Press: New York, 1983. Quarto. 141 pp. Profusely illustrated. As new, with d/j. BKS-07451 $50Inquire
• Eames, Emma Some Memories and Reflections D. Appleton & Co.: New York & London, 1927. Octavo. 310 pp. Frontispiece portrait. Cloth. Fine. BKS-09656 $45Inquire
• Eaton, Quaintance The Miracle of the Met: An Informal History of the Metropolitan Opera 1883-1967 Meredith Press: New York, 1968. first edition. Large octavo. 490 pp. Frontispiece photo. Cloth with d/j. Fine. BKS-04945 $20Inquire
• Engel, Carl Researches into the Early History of the Violin Family Novello, Ewer & Co.: London, 1883. Octavo. 168 pp. 34 illustrations. Music examples. Cloth. Spine missing, covers starting to detach, pages evenly browned. BKS-05063 $35Inquire
• Fairfield, John H. Known Violin Makers Harold Chaitman: Athens, GA, 1973. Reprint of 1942 first edition. Octavo. 201 pp. Buckram. As new. BKS-09719 $45Inquire
• Fairfield, John H. Known Violin Makers Bradford Press: New York, 1942. first edition. Octavo. 192 pp. Buckram. Paper wrapper glued to cover, front hinge detached, sprung, some penciling. BKS-09542 $15Inquire
• Faner, Robert D. Walt Whitman and Opera University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1951. Large octavo. 249 pp. Cloth with d/j chipped, otherwise very good. BKS-04958 $35Inquire
• Farga, Franz Violins & Violinists, with a Chapter on English Violin Makers by E.W. Lavender Translated by Egon Larsen. Rockliff: London, 1955. 223 pp. 10 illustrations. Cloth. Fine with d/j (a little frayed). BKS-09492 $65Inquire
• FARRAR SIGNED BOOK Wagenknecht, Edward Geraldine Farrar: an Authorized Record of her Career University Book Store: Seattle, 1929. Limited edition, no. 266 of 350. Quarto. 91 pp. Frontispiece portrait. Photographs. Cloth. Slight water damage to back cover and last signature, otherwise very good.
  Signed "Geraldine Farrar".
  BKS-04980 $110Inquire
• Fétis, François-Joseph (1784-1871) Antoine Stradivari, Luthier célèbre, connu sous le nom de Stradivarius, précédé de recherches historiques et critiques sur l'origine et les transformations des instrument à archet et suivi d'anayses théoriques sur l'archet et sur François Tourte, auteur Vuillaume: Paris, 1856. Octavo. 128 pp. Raised frontispiece color portrait, facsimile of Stradivari letter. Buckram. Spine tips slightly bumped, light foxing, bookplate & newpaper photos pasted inside cover; otherwise fine. BKS-05070 $250Inquire
• Fétis, François-Joseph (1784-1871) Antoine Stradivari, Luthier célèbre, connu sous le nom de Stradivarius, précédé de recherches historiques et critiques sur l'origine et les transformations des instrument à archet et suivi d'anayses théoriques sur l'archet et sur François Tourte, auteur Vuillaume: Paris, 1856. Octavo. 128 pp. Raised frontispiece color portrait, facsimile of Stradivari letter. Paper wrap. Rear cover missing, disbound, fascicles separated. BKS-09539 $35Inquire
• Fétis, François-Joseph (1784-1871) Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the Celebrated Violin-Maker, known by the name of Stradivarius: preceded by Historical and Critical Researches on the Origin and Transformations of Bow Instruments; and Followed by a Theoretical Analysis of the Bow... Robert Cocks & Co.: London, 1864. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Octavo. 132 pp. Raised frontispiece color portrait, facsimile of Stradivari letter. Cloth with blind-stamping. Corners bumped, covers a bit faded; otherwise fine. BKS-09535 $120Inquire
• Fétis, François-Joseph (1784-1871) Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the Celebrated Violin-Maker, known by the name of Stradivarius: preceded by Historical and Critical Researches on the Origin and Transformations of Bow Instruments; and Followed by a Theoretical Analysis of the Bow... William Reeves: London, c 1864. Octavo. 132 pp. Facsimile of Stradivari letter. Burgundy buckram. Back cover detached from spine; otherwise fine. BKS-14348 $10Inquire
• Finck, Henry T. (1854-1926) My Adventures in the Golden Age of Music Funk & Wagnalls: New York, 1926. Quarto. 462 pp. Cloth. Very good. BKS-04929 $50Inquire
• Fischer-Dieskau, Dietrich Nachklang: Ansichten und Erinnerungen Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart, 1987. Octavo. 319 pp. Buckram with d/j. As new. BKS-09641 $35Inquire
• Fleming, James M. Old Violins and their Makers: Including some References to Those of Modern Times. L. Upcott Gill: London, [1890]. Second edition. Octavo. 31 pp. Illustrations. Decorative cloth cover. Spine slightly bumped, otherwise, very good.
  Originally appeared as a set of articles in the newspaper 'Bazaar, Exchange and Mart'. Included at end is Gill's 'Catalogue of New and Practical Books', 32 pages, including advertisements for fountains, hair restorers and insect powders.
  BKS-05073 $60Inquire
• Fleming, James M. The Fiddle Fancier's Guide: a Manual of Information Regarding Violins, Violas, Basses and Bows of Classical and Modern Times, together with Biographical Notices and Portraits of the Most Famous Performers on these Instruments, Illustrated with Facsimiles Haynes, Foucher & Co.: London, 1892. Third edition. Small octavo. 310 pp. 3/4 leather, boards. Spine absent, covers rubbed, a little sprung; internally fine. BKS-07459 $110Inquire
• Flesch, Carl (1873-1944) [The Art of Violin Playing]: Iskusstvo skripichnoy igrï, vol. 1 Izdatel'stvo Muzika: Moscow, 1964. Quarto. 268 pp. Music examples. Soft boards. Corners bumped, otherwise very good.
  In Russian. A nice copy of this rare method.
  BKS-07512 $75Inquire
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  Foster, Stephen (1826-1864) My Old Kentucky Home Ticknor and Company: 1888. Small Octavo. 34 pp. Mary Hallock Foote and Chares Copeland, illustrators; A. V. S. Anthony, engraver/printer. Brown pebbled buckram. Inscription on first blank, stating as a Christmas gift from Joe, 1893. Good condition with slight bumping to corners and small crack on bottom spine; internal pages very clean.

  Each page offers an illustration and a line of the song provided on the last page.
  BKS-13553 $60Inquire
• Foucher, George Treatise on the History and Construction of the Violin, with a Short Account of the Lives of its Greatest Players and Makers, Written Especaily for the use of Students Preparing for the College of Violinists and Other Examinations Haynes: London, 1899. Second edition, revised. Small octavo. 82 pp. Cloth. Fine condition. BKS-05078 $40Inquire
• Francais, Jacques The Dr. Herbert Axelrod Stradivari Quartet Paganiniana Publications, Inc.: Neptune City, NJ, 1985. Quarto. 48 pp. Hardcover. As new.
  Illustrates the decorated instruments "La Greffuhle', the "Spanish", the "Axelrod" viola and the "Marylebone" cello.
  BKS-07967 $60Inquire
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  Fromageot, Paul (1837-1914) Les Compositeurs de Musique Versaillais, 1re Série Imprimerie Aubert: Versailles, 1906. Small octavo. 84 pp. 10 plates of composers. Paper plates, some spotting and disbound. Overall fair. Binding extremely loose; cover detaching and some pages disbound. Occasional penciled marginal notes but pages clean on the whole.

  Rather uncommon.
  BKS-12888 $20Inquire
• Fry, George Italian Violin Varnishes: The Varnishes of the Italian Violin Makers of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and their Influence on Tone Stevens & Sons, Limited: London, [1904]. first edition. Octavo. 128 pp. Diagrams. Cloth. Fine. BKS-07477 $85Inquire
• Fuchs, Albert Taxe der Streich-Instrumente: Anleitung zur Einschätzung der Geigen, Violen, Violoncelli, Kontrabässe usw. nach Herkunft und Wer. Neu bearbeitet von Otto Möckel Merseburger: Leipzig, 1929. Fourth edition. Octavo. 208 pp. Several b/w plates and diagrams. Cloth. Very good, spine tips slightly thumbed.
  Ex libris Jay C. Freeman (of the Wurlitzer Co.), with his bookplate.
  BKS-09493 $65Inquire
• Fuchs, Albert Taxe der Streich-Instrumente: Anleitung zur Einschätzung der Geigen, Violen, Violoncelli, Kontrabässe usw. nach Herkunft und Wert, Neu bearbeitet von Otto Möckel Merseburger: Leipzig, 1929. Fourth edition. Octavo. 208 pp. Cloth. Spine tips bumped, but very good. BKS-07456 $60Inquire