(Early Imprints : Music) 5 Vols. Hawkins, John. The...

(Early Imprints : Music) 5 Vols. Hawkins, John. The General History of the Science and Practice of Music. London: Payne and Son, 1776. First edition. 4to, modern buckram; spines occasionally scuffed. With frontispiece, numerous engraved and woodcut illustrations in the text of musical instruments, portraits of noted musicians and composers, engraved musical examples, tables. Frontispiece, general title page and dedication moderately to heavily toned, offsetting on general title page, some dampstaining at edges of frontispiece, first signature in volume 1 sprung, scattered but generally light foxing, a few leaves in volume 3 sprung. Complete with half titles.
Hawkins, John (1719-1789), English music historian, antiquarian and attorney. "For many years Hawkins had been accumulating material for a General History of Music from his own research in the British Museum... his own extensive collection of manuscripts... The Bodleian and college libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, information supplied by Horace Walpole." [et al.] (see New Grove 8:323-325).