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FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 204 x 130 mms., pp. iv, 290 [291 Corrections, 292 blank], 19 large folding engraved plates, 8 between pages 151 and 152, the rest at the end of the volume, 20th century library cloth; ex-library, with various library stamps, and bookplate of City of Liverpool Public Libraries on front paste-down end-paper; title-page slightly soiled. A rather unsightly binding. This work has also been attributed to Francis Kelly Maxwell (ESTC retains this attribution), but New Grove assigns it to John Maxwell (died 1806). a Scottish writer on music, based on manuscripts of Maxwell's in the Huntington Library. Five hundred copies of this first edition were printed, and a second edition was published in 1794. Charles Burney, assisted by Thomas Twining, reviewed the work in the April, 1782, issue of the Critical Review, praising it as a "work of singular merit., [presenting] in a very strong and clear point of view, the imperfections of temperament, and errors of the best performers. It therefore deserves the attention of every practical musician, not only as a curious but useful production; as it will convince him of the importance of improvements in intonation, and stimulate a desire to counteract the influence of tempered instruments and systems of temperament, which have certainly introduced into practice an indifference and insensibility to intonation; corrupted our ears; [and] prevented our search after true harmony." The work is a major contribution to the development of equal temperament. Gregory and Bartlett: Catalogue of Early Books on Music before 1800, p. 176;Kassler: The Science of Music in Britain, II, 760 - 761. RISMB, VI, 566. Seller Inventory # 8917
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