Please see my About Me page for standard definitions of size, condition, and general book terminology.

Binding: full leather, large octavo (11 by 8 1/2)

Author: Burney, Charles

Condition: new spines with new title labels and all over gilding, original boards (worn and rubbed) pages clean and bright, very good or better

If you have any questions or concerns about a book's condition, please email me before you bid. I will be happy to assist.  

Edition: London, Printed for the Author, by Payne and Son, Vols 1, second edition, 1789,Volume 2, 1782 (date first published, but is usually found with this date, whether a first or second edition), 3 and 4 dated 1789, first editions.

Illustrations: frontispiece of Burney, many illustrated plates of music

First complete set of Burney's reknowned History of Music. Very nice set, no reserve.

Bio:

"This four volume set (1776-1789) was written by the English musician and historian Dr. Charles Burney (1726-1814) and published in 1789. Its first volume, completed in 1776, was the first History of music ever published. The fourth volume is of particular interest as it discusses the state of music in Burney's own lifetime. He observed the music, and musicians that he wrote about first hand. In fact, Burney was close friends with composers such as Haydn and Handel, he even played violin in Handel's orchestra, and lived with Dr. Thomas Arne for two years in London, as his apprentice. The fourth volume, to Dr. Charles Burney, was the most interesting as he preferred the music of the current time, finding no interest in "antiquarianism."

Charles was also the father of Fanny Burney, a famed authoress of her time, whose works are quite collectible today.