Orchestral Instruments and Their Use: Giving a Description of Each Instrument Now Employed by Civilised Nations, a Brief Account of Its History, an Idea of the Technical and Acoustical Principles Illustrated by Its Performance, and an Explanation of Its Value and Function in the Modern Orchestra by Elson, Arthur - 1909

Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1909. Fourth Impression. Hardcover. Good. Fourth Impression. Hardcover. 7 7/8" X 5 1/4". 299pp. Bound in full red cloth, with decorations stamped in gilt to upper board and spine, designed by artist Amy M. Sacker (1872-1965), with her monogram in gilt to upper board. Moderate wear to binding, with fading to spine, fraying to head and tail of spine, rubbing to upper board, and fore-edge protruding past board edges. Rear hinge tender. Binding remains sound. Bookplate of H. L. Babcock to front pastedown and small newspaper clipping about the Boston Society of Early Music pasted in to front free endpaper, mentioning a performance by Ralph Kirkpatrick, Georges Laurent, Lois Shaefer, and Alfred Zighera. Pencilled note to List of Portraits, else pages unmarked. A very attractive 1909 printing of this beautiful tribute to the orchestra, illustrated in frontispiece and 14 portraits of famed composers. Contents include: Primitive and Savage Instruments, The Growth of the Orchestra, The Violin, Other Bowed Instrumetns, The Harp, The Flute and Piccolo, The Oboe, English Horn, and Bassoons, The Clarinets, Horns, Trumpets, and Cornets, Trombones and Tubas, Instruments of Percussion, and The Orchestra, with an appendix on The Acoustics of Tubes.