Music: Philadelphia Rare Books

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MUSIC & DANCE

A-B • C-D • E-K • L-S • T-Z

“What is a Chord?”

“Teacher of Music, A.” First steps to thorough base [sic], in twelve familiar lessons between a teacher and a pupil. By a teacher of music. Revised from the London edition. Boston: James Loring, 1833. 12mo (15.5 cm, 8.125"). 110 pp.
$200.00

Single-click the image for an enlargement.

• NSTC 2S3882. Contemporary quarter roan over marbled paper, front cover almost detached; corners bumped, edges chipped, spine rubbed with front joint open and some loss of leather at base. A little fine chipping of paper and some leaves dog-eared; light foxing with a little waterstaining. Inked ownership inscription on recto of front free endpaper and title-page.

BALLET

Terry, Walter. Ballet guide. Background, listings, credits, and descriptions of more than five hundred of the world's major ballets. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1976. 8vo. Illus.
$17.50

• Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, in a very good dust jacket; price clipped from front flap of dust jacket.

Music Overview

(Very Thorough). Sachs, Curt. Our musical heritage: A short history of music. New York: Prentice Hall, 1948. 8vo.
$15.00

• Publisher's cloth. Good-plus condition.

If You Like Opera — Simply & Entirely a TREASURE!

Victor Talking Machine Company. The Victrola book of the opera. Camden: Victor Talking Machine Co., © 1921. Large 8vo. 433, [1] pp.; illus.
[SOLD]

Click the interior images for enlargements.

Published in our neighbor-city Camden, home of the Victrola (and Nipper).

• Publisher's terra cotta cloth, front cover and spine decoratively gilt-stamped; light shelf wear to joints, edges, and corners. All edges gilt. Lovely. (22047)

Boccaccio on Chestnut Street — English Libretto

Von Suppe, Franz. Boccaccio. Opera comique, in three acts...performed for the first time in the English language by H.B. Mahn's comic opera company, at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, April 5th, 1880. [Philadelphia]: H.B. Mahn, [1880]. 8vo. 37, [1] pp.
$65.00

• Good in original printed paper wrappers, faintly waterstained; pages with small edge tears and chips. (2485)

“Pretty Gitana tell us,
What the Fates decree?”

Wallace, W.V. Maritana. A grand opera, in three acts...correctly printed from the most authentic and approved acting copy, as now performed by the Richings English Opera Company. Philadelphia: Ledger Job Printing Office, 1868. 8vo. 32 pp.
$80.00

• Good in printed paper wrappers, front cover and some page edges chipped. (1003)

You, Too! Can Play

the Parlor Organ

Whitney, W. W. Improved easy method for the parlor organ. Harrisburg, PA: J. H. Troup Piano & Organ House, (1886). Oblong 4to. 99, [1] pp.
$25.00

• Publisher's quarter cloth with printed and illustrated sides. Endpapers printed. Covers soiled, worn over edges, corners bumped. Hinges (inside) reinforced, covers a bit wobbly. Complete. Good overall. (6090)

Do-It-Yourself . . .

Wohlfahrt, Heinrich. Guide to musical composition. For those who wish, in a short time, and without the aid of a teacher, to acquire the power of inventing melodies, and of providing them with suitable accompaniments... Boston: Oliver Ditson, (copyright 1859). 12mo. 96 pp.
$30.00

Single-click the image, for an enlargement.

• Publisher's cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title; spine faded and cloth lightly worn. Pages clean. (10646)

FIRST Music Book PrintedTypographically in AMERICA

The Worcester collection of shared harmony. Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1786. Long 8vo (14.2 cm, 5.6"). [4], 104 pp. (pp. 93/94 bound in after 95/96).
[SOLD]

Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

• First edition of the most popular music book of its period, an oft-imitated hymnal with a prefatory “Introduction to the Grounds of Music: Or, Rules for Learners.” Pioneering printer, publisher, and historian Isaiah Thomas was most likely the compiler, but “no ostensible editor appears until the sixth edition, published in 1797, when Oliver Holden was engaged by Thomas to supervise that edition” (Evans).

This isthe first music book printed typographically in America: All previous music books had been engraved.

Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription reading “Warren Burr's Booke 1786.”

Uncommon: Only seven U.S. institutions report holdings of this first edition.

At top of the title-page: “Laus Deo!”

• Evans 19752; Amer. Sacred Music 533; Sabin 95414c (under “Also”); ESTC W15184. Contemporary limp sheep, covers framed in blind double fillets; ownership stamps effaced on both covers, spine and edges rubbed, foot of spine with paper shelving label. Front pastedown partially removed, with bookplate remnants beneath; back free endpaper lacking and front one with inscription as above; title-page with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margin; back pastedown rubber-stamped. Pages age-toned and foxed. Sewing loosening, text block pulling away from spine, leaves starting to separate. Occasional tiny, unobtrusive early inked “rec'd.” marks, witha very few measures of music corrected or added to in an early hand. (24016)

Collecting going on 40 Years Ago . . .

Maggs Bros., booksellers, London. Music: A catalogue of manuscripts & printed books. Part two: Late 18th to end of the 19th century. London: Maggs Bros., 1970. 8vo. 180 pp.
$10.00

• Original printed wrappers. Some damage to spine paper.

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