Harpsichords and More: Harpsichords - Spinets - Clavichords - Virginals: Portrait of a Collection: The Beurmann Collection in the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg and at the estate of Hasselburg in East Holstein, Germany

Keyboard instruments are living witnesses of past times. Their aesthetic and tonal appeal produce an almost mystical attraction which has endured for centuries. All this, with his love of music and his passion for historic instruments, was the incentive for Andreas Beurmann to assemble this collection, piece by piece. Steadily, many precious instruments were acquired over the years, and the collection grew to one of the most significant of its type. It contains a plethora of especially rare treasures including the oldest French harpsichord, and many other artifacts; in fact, about 100 instruments are treated here. The book is a pictorial account of the famous collection, and the reader is asked to learn more from the pictures than from the text. Nonetheless, it is still a catalogue, with notes on both the structure of the instruments as well as their history.