Henry Purcell (1659-1695) - photo 1
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) - photo 2

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Lot 252
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1109052
Lot 252 | Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Estimate value
£ 1 500 – 2 500
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Orpheus Britannicus. A Collection of all the Choicest Songs for One, Two, and Three Voices. London: J. Heptinstall for Henry Playford, 1698
Folio (308 x 190mm). Title printed in red and black. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Purcell by White after Closterman (marginal repairs to frontispiece and final leaf, repaired tears just into text in a1-2 and 2b1, a few signatures and page numbers just trimmed, light soiling or staining). 18th-century speckled calf, green morocco spine label lettered in gilt (front board nearly detached and partial splitting to lower joint, spine ends just chipped, some staining, rubbing to extremities). Provenance: ‘J Salb[?] 1698. Ex dono viduae’ (contemporary inscription on title recording gift from Frances Purcell and, possibly in the same hand, ‘Musarum Sacerdos’ inscribed on frontispiece) – Sotheby’s, London, 26 & 27 May 1983, lot 65.

First edition, presentation copy from Purcell’s widow, under whose direction the work was prepared. Purcell ranks as the most important English composer between William Byrd and George Friedrich Handel, and this extensive posthumous collection is the first attempt to gather together all of his songs. RISM P 5979.
Place of origin:United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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