201pp, illustrations. A mid-19th century overview of the development of the piano and earlier forms of keyboard instruments from the Ancients until the 1870s. Examines the forerunners of the piano, including the clavicytherium, virginals, spinet and harpsichord, and the fundamental acoustic properties they have in common, to the invention and development of the modern instrument and the work of significant European and British makers. Facsimile reprint.