Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria & Albert Museum: Part I : Keyboard Instruments

by Victoria and Albert Museum, Howard Schott, Anthony Baines

This is a single-volume reissue of the catalogues of keyboard and non-keyboard musical instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It covers all the musical instruments in the V&A's collection, reissued with additional entries covering three important recent acquisitions of keyboard instruments. Each instrument is fully described and illustrated and an updated bibliography and notes have been added for this edition. The V&A holds the National Collection of Musical Instruments, which was started in 1851 following the Great Exhibition. The instruments were collected as works of art, and among them are examples of early stringed, keyboard and wind instruments. This catalogue should be a useful resource for scholars and for anyone with a serious interest in the history of musical instruments. The pieces are fully documented, with detailed descriptions of makers, techniques and provenance.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A,), in London, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects.

It was founded in 1852 as the South Kensington Museum, and re-named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1899. The V&A is located in the Brompton district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.