The bibliographies listed here are a representative sample of reference books available on the open shelves of the Rare Books & Music Reading Room.
Brass instruments
Keyboard instruments
Percussion instruments
String instruments
Woodwind instruments
Brass instruments
| Baines, Anthony | Brass instruments, their history and development (London, 1976). |
| Brüchle, Bernhard | Horn-bibliographie (Wilhelmshaven, 1970-83), 3 vols. |
| Fasman, Mark J. | Brass bibliography: sources on the history, literature, pedagogy, performance and acoustics of brass instruments (Bloomington, 1990). |
| Herbert, Trevor (ed.) | The British brass band : a musical and social history (Oxford, 2000). |
Keyboard instruments
| Arnold, Corliss Richard | Organ literature: a comprehensive survey (3rd ed., Metuchen, 1995). 2 vols. |
| Bicknell, Stephen | The history of the English organ (Cambridge, 1996. |
| Boalch, Donald H. | Makers of the harpsichord and clavichord 1440-1840 (3rd ed., Oxford, 1995). |
| Brookes, Virginia | British keyboard music to c.1660: sources and thematic index (Oxford, 1996). |
| Clinkscale, Martha Novak | Makers of the piano (Oxford, 1993, 1999). 2 vols. |
| Gellerman, Robert R. | Gellerman's international reed organ atlas (2nd ed., Lanham, 1998). |
| Harley, John | British harpsichord music (Aldershot, 1992-4). 2 vols. |
| Palmieri, Robert | Encyclopedia of keyboard instruments. Vol. 1: The piano (New York, London, 1994). |
| Palmieri, Robert | Piano information guide: an aid to research (New York, London, 1989). |
| Praet, Wilfried | Orgelwoordenboek (Zwijndrecht, 1989). |
| Reuter, Rudolf | Bibliographie der Orgel: Literatur zur Geschichte der Orgel bis 1968 (Kassel, 1973). |
| Russell, Raymond | The harpsichord and clavichord: an introductory study (2nd ed., rev. by Howard Schott, London, 1973). |
| Schaefer, Marc (ed.) | Das Silbermann-Archiv: der handschrifliche Nachlass des Orgelmachers Johann Andreas Silbermann 1712-1783 (Winterthur, 1994). |
| Sumner, William Leslie | The organ: its evolution, principles of construction and use (4th ed., rev. and enlarged, London, 1973). |
| Williams, Peter | The European organ, 1450-1850 (London, 1978). |
| Wolters, Klaus | Handbuch der Klavierliteratur: Klaviermusik zu zwei Händen (dritte, revidierte und erweiterte Auflage, Zürich, 1985). |
Percussion instruments
| Bajzek, Dieter | Percussion: an annotated bibliography, with special emphasis on contemporary notation and performance (Metuchen, London, 1988). |
| Barnhart, Stephen L. | Percussionists : a biographical dictionary (Westport, Conn., 2000). |
| Beck, John H. | Encyclopedia of percussion (New York, 1995). |
| Blades, James | Percussion instruments and their history (new and rev. ed., London, 1975). |
Strings
| Altmann, Wilhelm | Literaturverzeichnis für Bratsche und Viola d'amore: eine Vollständigkeit anstrebende, auch ungredruckte Werke berücksichtigende Bibliographie (Wolfenbüttel, 1937). |
| Ashbee, Andrew, Wainwright, Jonathan, Thompson, Robert (eds.) | The Viola da Gamba Society index of manuscripts containing consort music, Vol. 1 (Aldershot, 2001). |
| Berck, Heinz | Viola d'amore Bibliographie: Verzeichnis gedruckter und ungedruckter Werke (Kassel, 1986). |
| Boyden, David D. | The history of violin playing from its origins to 1761 (London, 1975). |
| Edlund, Harry | Music for solo violin unaccompanied: a catalogue of published and unpublished works from the seventeenth century to 1989 (High Wycombe, 1989). |
| Harvey, Brian W. | The violin family and its makers in the British Isles: an illustrated history and directory (Oxford, 1995). |
| Henley, William | Universal dictionary of violin and bow makers (Brighton, 1973). |
| Homuth, Donald | Cello music since 1960: a bibliography of solo, chamber, & orchestral works for the solo cellist (Berkeley, 1994). |
| McCutcheon, Meredith A. | Guitar and vihuela: an annotated bibliography (New York, 1985). |
| Markevitch, Dimitry | The solo cello: a bibliography of the unaccompanied violoncello literature (Berkeley, 1989). |
| Prat Marsal, Domingo | Dicconario biográfico, bibliográfico, histórico, crítico de guitarras... guitarristas... guitarreros (Buenos Aires, 1934). |
| Regazzi, Roberto | The complete luthier's library: a useful international critical bibliography for the maker and connoisseur of stringed and plucked instruments (Bologna, 1990). |
| Schwarz, Werner | Guitar bibliography: an international listing of theoretical literature on classical guitar from the beginning to the present (München, 1984). |
| Straeten, E. S. J. van der | The history of the violin, its ancestors and collateral instruments from earliest times. Unabridged republication of the first edition, 1933 (New York, 1968). 2 vols. |
| Vannes, René | Dictionnaire universel des luthiers (Troisième édition revue et augmentée, Bruxelles, 1975). 2 vols. |
| Vannes, René | Dictionnaire universel des luthiers (Troisième édition revue et augmentée, Tom III, Bruxelles, 1985). |
Woodwind instruments
| Baines, Anthony C. | Woodwind instruments and their history (3rd ed., London, 1967). |
| Bulling, Burchard | Fagott-Bibliographie I (Wilhelmshaven, 1998). |
| Gillaspie, Jon A. | The wind ensemble catalog (Westport, Conn., 1998). |
| Haynes, Bruce | Music for oboe, 1650-1800: a bibliography (2nd ed., rev. and expanded, Berkeley, 1992). |
| Hosek, Miroslav | Oboen-bibliographie (Wilhelmshaven, 1975- ). |
| Koenigsbeck, Bodo | Bassoon bibliography (Monteux, 1994). |
| Pellerite, James J. | A handbook of literature for the flute (rev. 3rd ed., Bloomington, 1978). |
| Vester, Frans | Flute music of the 18th century: an annotated bibliography (Monteux, 1985). |
| Warner, Thomas E | An annotated bibliography of woodwind instruction books, 1600-1830 (Detroit, 1967). (Detroit studies in music bibliography. no. 11) |
Guide to music reference books
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