COUPERIN (François) Paris, Mr Couperin, Boivin, Le Clerc, 1717. The Art of playing the harpsichord. In-4 (33.2 x 24.9 cm), red granulated half parchment, Annonay paper boards, handwritten title label on the first board, spine with mute nerves (early 19th c. binding). [4] ff, 71, [1] p., [4] manuscript ff. Second edition, published one year after the first and just as rare as this one. Entirely engraved on copper. François Couperin, known as Couperin the Great, was undoubtedly the master of the harpsichord in France during the reign of Louis XIV. He produced 240 pieces for the instrument. His method, l'Art de toucher le Clavecin (The Art of Touching the Harpsichord), is the most important teaching work in this field in eighteenth-century France, both in terms of technique and the aesthetic notions of the instrument that emerge from it. The last four leaves are handwritten and offer a Treatise on the composition of parts on a subject. It is illustrated with 4 double staves. Slight foxing, some soiling to certain pages. Oxidation of the paper on the manuscript pages.