First edition of the English music historian's monumental history of music, which took more than twenty-five years to write and print. A fine set, with the frontispiece portrait of Burney after Sir Joshua Reynolds in Volume I and the first edition of Volume II, both often lacking in other sets. With plates, engraved music and the Reynolds portrait. Vol. I: frontis. port., 20 pp., [6] ff., 522 pp., [1] (errata), 9 plts. Vol. II: frontis., [2] ff., 597 pp., [1] (errata), plt. Vol. III: frontis., 622 pp., [6] ff. Vol. IV: frontis., [2] ff., 688 pp., [7] ff. Quarto. Contemporary tree calf with modest gilt ruling to spines. Joints starting to open or opened (I, front joint split but holding; II, front joint split but holding; III, front joint fully separated; IV, front joint split but holding), else bindings still sound. Occasional spotting, almost wholly confined to the preliminaries. RISM B VI, p. 190; Gregory-Sonneck, p. 47; Brunet I, 141.

In search of material not found in England, Burney toured Belgium, France, Germany and Italy in 1770, publishing his account as The Present State of Music in France and Italy, later incorporated into the General History.