British and European publications

British Publications

Since the Legal Deposit Act came into force in 1911, the Library has the right to receive music scores and books from British publishing houses. Although everything hasn’t reached us we have a very comprehensive collection.

The variety within the collection is striking. When the legal deposit boxes come to us, we see Benjamin Britten arriving with Boyzone and William Walton with Ella Fitzgerald.

There are academic books on music e.g.

• performers’ memoirs
• biographies e.g. of Bach and Mozart
• studies of brass bands
• text books
• dictionaries

The world of entertainment is also represented and there are books on subjects such as:

• popular groups
• gypsy music
• the lives of the stars
• dance
• jazz music, rock and reggae

European Publications

The Library has bought books from Europe, especially scholarly editions of great composers such as

• Bach
• Beethoven
• Handel
• Haydn
• Mendelssohn
• Mozart
• Rossini
• Schubert
• Shostakovich
• Verdi