I'm starting a running series here of rare and unusual music scores that I notice from time to time at various online sites, in case anyone here a) would like to join with me to purchase an item (either singly or in groups), which could then be scannned and uploaded to IMSLP. While these items are not necessarily of tremndous rarity (and thus expense!), the following item is uncommon enough that it might be worthy of attention, and thus first on the list:
It's a first edition (Choudens, ca. 1874), of the full orchestra score and parts for Geroges Bizet's "Premiere Suite" from his incidental music to L'Arlesienne. The Danish antiquarian music dealer Dan Fog presently has this for sale for about $135 USD. Here's a URL that will (hopefully) take one there: http://www.ilab.org/db/detail.php?booknr=337423075
The Dover and Kalmus scores of this piece are reprints of a later score, issued by Breitkopf & Hartel, that was edited by Fritz Hoffmann. The Choudens material has the benefit of being something that was issued in the composer's lifetime under his supervision, even if French music engraving of the early 1870s was less graphically desireable than Breitkopf work from ca.1900.
Interesting finds in the used bookstores
Moderator: kcleung