F. Couperin. L'art de toucher le clavecin, [1722 or later]

Couperin, François

L'art de toucher le clavecin, Paris: L'Auteur, Boivin, 1717 [1722 or later]

[3 leaves,] 71, [1,] [1 leaf] pages, 4to (32 x 24cm), engraved music and musical examples, dedication, preface, advertisement ('Prix des livres de Clavecin de L'auteur... 3.^eme livre...'), with 'Approbation' (dated 1716) and privilege (dated 1713) at end, Dolmetsch Library stamp and pencil shelfmark ("II D 1") to verso of title, contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label gilt to spine, old repairs to first two leaves, browning, covers scuffed and worn with small loss of leather in places

Copies of Couperin's seminal treatise on the art of keyboard playing are very rare at auction, whether of the 1716 first edition, the 1717 second edition or subsequent contemporary editions, such as the present one (dated to 1722 or later by the advertisement, which mentions the Troisiéme livre de piéces de clavecin of 1722).

LITERATURE:

Cf. RISM Écrits, i, p.240; TNG, vi, p.594