SAINSBURY, JOHN S.: A Dictionary of Musicians, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time... Together with upwards of a Hundred Original Memoirs of the most Eminent Living Musicians; and a Summary of the History of Music.

London, Sainsbury and Co.and sold by Longman., 1827.

2 volumes. 8vo, pp. lxxii, 401]; [iv], 561, [1], bound in contemporary full calf, spine gilt panelled with raised bands and double maroon/olive labels, a bit rubbed and scuffed externally but internally sound throughout, SECOND EDITION; first published 2 years earlier, a compilation by the London publisher John Sainsbury in which he sought to unite biographical information on musicians of earlier times from published sources such as Hawkins and Burney, as well continental dictionaries by Gerber and Choron. Such information was thus available in English for a first time, and perhaps more importantly supplemented by biographical notices of contemporary English musicians, thus providing an invaluable, if not always completely accurate, resource for later musical research. No further editions were published after this second, and the date of its publication, of course, recalls that of Beethoven's death. Undoubtedly considered the greatest composer of the age, Beethoven, remains still alive in Sainsbury's effusive account which is perhaps the most complete and detailed published to that date in England, concluding with a summary account translated from Gerber. Naturally, an emphasis is placed on those works most familiar to English audiences ' his piano-forte concerto in C Minor Op 37, would alone be sufficient to immortalize him...' £125.00