Music Please

The Fine Books music issue By Rebecca Rego Barry

Through the years, Fine Books has occasionally published excellent “theme” issues; of particular note was the film issue. We never tried a music-themed issue, and May seemed as good a time as any to present our readers with the fascinating world of collecting music books and manuscripts, musical autographs, and music-related ephemera. It’s entirely coincidental that Sotheby’s of London is holding a major music auction in early June. I read about that in Ian McKay’s column, which previews a handful of lots from that sale and also offers insights on musical material sold at various recent auctions. McKay never misses a beat!

Between the auction report and Joel Silver’s terrific feature on the depth and breadth of music collecting—from the Mainz Psalter to modern sheet music—interested readers will learn enough about the antiquarian music market to go bidding at Sotheby’s, or anywhere else. A column on writer Stefan Zweig’s amazing music collection uncovers the treasures he collected, even as he fled the Nazis. The ballad-collecting jaunts of Sir Walter Scott are put into focus for us by ‘our man in Scotland,’ Nate Pedersen.

Changing key, we review the groovy new Grateful Dead exhibit at the New-York Historical Society and chat with Holly George-Warren, author of numerous books about music and musicians and co-author of the bestselling The Road to Woodstock.

Sound good to you? Me too. Enjoy!

Rebecca