TABULATED BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF MUSIC

New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1936. Hardcover. Very Good in like Dustjacket. Quarto. 11 1/4 in. x 9 in. Handsome dark blue cloth-over-boards, with inset rectangular title label to front board, lettered in green. Light rubbing to extremities, and bumped corners. Essentially a mid-1930's spreadsheet of handy, easily retrievable reference points on composers and their works and lives, arranged historically. 13 large, multi-paneled foldout sheets with tabulated information. Simple green dustjacket of thick card stock, printed in black. Edgewear and several closed tears to dustjacket, with one 1.5 in. x 3 in. chip missing from bottom of dustjacket; only the publisher's full name (Harcourt & Brace) is missing, and at that, only partially; the dustjacket has done a creditable job in protecting this lovely (if a bit quirky) quick reference for those who need to know and
don't want to take the deep, slow dive into more "analog" research.

104 composers, covering the period A.D. 995 through time of publication (1936). "FOR INSTANT INFORMATION in condensed and accurate form regarding the lives and works of the world's greatest composers, or for the study of musical history from infancy to the present day by the survey of simultaneous events in its progress, no book ever published approaches this volume, conceived and written by Oscar Thompson, well-known music critic, and Editor of "Musical America". Indispensable for students, teachers, radio announcers, lecturers and all others seeking information without extensive research." (From front of Dustjacket)

"Everyone interested in the history of music -- which is primarily a chronicle of the careers and works of important composers -- has felt the need for a volume which could supply the salient facts regarding any great composer or any particular period in condensed tabulated form, obviating the need for time-consuming and frequently laborious research in voluminous encyclopedic works.

"This volume is designed to serve exactly such a need. If its columns are read downward, the reader secures biographical outlines containing the important events and works of great composers. If read acreoss, the simultaneious events and music works of a given year are found tabulated side by side, providing a record for quick reference of contemporaneous fact and achievement.