[PRELLEUR, Peter.]
The Compleat Tutor for the Harpsichord or Spinnet wherein is shewn the Italian Manner of Fingering with suits of lessons for beginners & those who are already proficient on that instrument & the organ: with rules for tuneing the harpsichord or spinet.
London, Peter Thompson, musical instrument maker [1755?]
8vo, pp. [2, engraved title], 32 [engraved text and music], with a frontispiece (a man playing a harpsichord, by Henry Roberts), and a folding engraved plate of the gamut on a keyboard with text above and below; frontispiece and title-page window mounted, some stains to final few leaves, else a good copy in modern half calf.
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The Compleat Tutor for the Harpsichord or Spinnet wherein is shewn the Italian Manner of Fingering with suits of lessons for beginners & those who are already proficient on that instrument & the organ: with rules for tuneing the harpsichord or spinet.
First edition thus?, an abridgment of part 6 of Prelleur’s Modern Musick-Master (1731) but with different musical examples. The examples, printed on pp. 5–32, include popular tunes and dances alongside pieces adapted from Handel and Corelli.
Peter Thompson was active c. 1751–8, succeeded by other members of the family through to the end of the century. There was also an edition printed for Thompson’s direct contemporary John Johnson, which features a near-identical though entirely re-engraved title-page – perhaps they had a partnership in the work.
RISM B/II, p. 140.
