Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire

Publication: Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005 Formatting: Large 8vo, pp. 724. Condition Report: Near Fine. This copy presents exceptionally well, featuring a square, tight binding with sharp corners and immaculately clean cream boards. The black spine lettering remains entirely crisp and unrubbed. The text block is firm, and the page edges are exceptionally bright and free from the spotting or dustiness often found in hefty academic volumes of this age. Internally, the pages are uniformly clean, bright, and free from any foxing or conspicuous reading wear. It is housed in a Near Fine, unclipped dust jacket that retains its original gloss and vivid colour, showing only the most trivial, barely perceptible signs of shelf-wear to the extreme upper edges. An altogether handsome, collector-quality copy. Catalogue Note: This is a true first edition, first printing of Fifieldâs exhaustive history of the legendary British concert agency. It is presented in the original primary binding of cream cloth-style boards and features the iconic dust jacket with portraits of Robert Leigh Ibbs and John Tillett. Because the text was later acquired and reissued by Routledge (who subsequently released it as both a highly expensive academic hardcover and a standard paperback), original 2005 Ashgate hardcovers in such superlative, untouched condition have become increasingly uncommon on the open market. It serves as a vital reference work for those researching the twentieth-century British classical music industry. For the greater part of the twentieth century, Ibbs and Tillett was to the British classical music profession what Marks & Spencer was to the high street. Founded in 1906, the London-based concert management agency dominated the industry, shaping the careers of legendary artists such as Clara Butt, Sergei Rachmaninov, Myra Hess, Kathleen Ferrier, and Jacqueline du Prà . In this deeply researched and engaging history, Christopher Fifield traces the extraordinary trajectory of the firm from its origins under Narciso Vert to its final demise in 1990. Drawing upon extensive archival material, unpublished memoirs, and artists' correspondence, this book offers a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the evolving tastes, triumphs, and daily mechanics of a musical empire.…