Haydn, Franz Joseph
£4,500
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 14 February 2018 at 10:00 GMT
Description
Dr Haydn's VI original Canzonettas, for the Voice with an Accompaniment, for the Piano-Forte. Dedicated to Mrs. John Hunter … [London,] Printed for the Author, & sold by him at No. 1, Bury Street, St. J. Corri, Dussek & Co. Music Sellers to her Majesty, No. 67 Dean Street, Soho, & Bridge Street, Edinburgh. [1794.] [Bound with:] Second Sett of Dr Haydn's VI original Canzonettas, for the Voice with an Accompaniment, for the Piano Forte. Dedicated to the Right Hon.ble Lady Charlotte Bertie … London; Printed & sold for Messrs. Corri Dussek & Co. Music Sellers to her Majesty & their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales & Duchess of York … [1795], Folio, pp. 31, [1]; [2], 23, [1]. First edition of both sets, the first signed by Haydn on the title-page (as usual), ink ownership inscription, "Osborne Wight, 1795", to each title; bound with five other contemporary works, near-contemporary half calf, marbled sides, rebacked and recornered
Footnote
Note: First edition of both sets of Haydn's English Canzonettas, the first signed by Haydn on the title-page (as usual). This is an early issue of the first set, with the fifth song untitled. Anne Hunter (née Home, 1742-1821), wife of the great surgeon John Hunter, provided Haydn with all the texts for the first set of six songs and selected a further six (Shakespeare, Metastasio, and at least one by herself, 'The Wanderer') for the second. The present copy of the first set is the trade edition (the work also exists without Corri, Dussek & Co. on the title; RISM lists only 6 copies worldwide). RISM H 2656 and 2678; British Union-Catalogue of Early Music, pp. 457 and 458.
Provenance: From the library of the Rev. Osborne Wight (d. 1800), Fellow of New College, Oxford, whose bequest laid the foundations for the music manuscript collections at the Bodleian.