[Music] Zarlino, Gioseffo. Le Iistitutioni Harmoniche...

Venice: Francesco Senese, 1562. Second edition. Folio. (xii), 347 pp. Illustrated with woodcut device on title-page, woodcut initials, in-text and some full-page woodcut diagrams, as well as in-text musical scores. Full limp vellum, title in manuscript on spine, split in front joint; all edges trimmed; contemporary ownership inscriptions on title-page (one partially erased); light dampstaining in top edge and top corner of several leaves (largely at front); scattered minor spotting to text; a few scattered marginal repairs.

A fine copy of the second edition of one of the most important works on music theory. First published in 1558, "Zarlino's treatise had the most far-reaching effects in music theory, in the practice of composition, and in the construction of musical instruments. 'The Rules of Harmony' opened the way for the new tonality which has governed music from the seventeenth century to the present day." (Printing and the Mind of Man 81)