John Ward and His Magnificent Collection

Golden Legend Inc. of Beverly Hills, California, has just published a limited edition of John Ward and His Magnificent Collection, which looks at Ward as an educator, collector, and curator. Ward devoted his life to collecting rare music scores and original editions, all of which are now at Harvard.

From the book's introduction: "The purpose of John Ward and His Magnificent Collection, call it another festschrift, is to examine and celebrate John Ward's labors since his retirement. In these twenty five years, his second career continues the first and expands his work as a collector and curator of a vast and internationally important collection of original music and dance material for the Harvard University libraries."

Edited by bookseller Gordon Hollis, the 168-page book contains an introduction by Hollis and a transcription of an engaging interview between Hollis and Ward. It also contains chapters by noted antiquarian music dealers John and Jude Lubrano ("La Chasse et Le Professeur; or, Reminiscences of Four Decades on the Prowl"), Sir Curtis Price ("Origins of the King's Theatre Collection"), and Professor D.W. Krummel ("Lutebooks on the Loose"), among other curators and librarians.

The edition of 200 in hardcover costs $75 and may be ordered directly from Golden Legend. All profits will go to the Harvard Theatre Collection.

To read more about antiquarian music collecting, check out the feature written by Joel Silver from FB&C's May issue.