Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1949. The MGG is the standard German-language music encyclopedia and is a reference work of the highest scholarly quality. A complete set of 17 volumes published 1949-1986 (vols. 15-16 are supplements updating the work to 1986; vol. 17 is a complete index). Contains approximately 12,000 articles (over 15,000 pages of dense text) on all aspects of world music (history, terminology, composers, musicians, instruments, etc.), generously supplemented with detailed illustrations, plates, and extensive bibliographies. An expanded--but expensive--Second Edition is currently being published (1994-present), but the First Edition remains a very valuable resource. Whereas the new 2nd edition has been strictly reorganized into "subjects" and "people," the 1st edition provides a more integrated and concrete presentation. CONDITION: Green quarter leather bindings with green cloth boards. Each volume was originally published in five parts with a separate cover for later binding (only vol. 14, the last of the regular volumes, was completed in four parts). Vols. 1-8 and 17 are bound (all bindings tight and sound); vols. 9-16 have not yet been bound in their covers (all parts and volume covers are present and in excellent condition). 3 pages loose in vols. 1-2; heads of leather spines of vols. 2-3 pulled and partially torn; very occasional, minor pencil annotations in endpapers and text of several bound volumes; bound volumes show normal shelf rubbing (only vols. 1-5 have very minor fraying to bottom cloth edges of boards); some light foxing (primarily on plates) in several early volumes. OVERSIZED (set weighs approx. 110 lbs).. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jackets (as issued). 28 x 20 cm. (more information)

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