Ledgers of the London firm of Erard, harp makers

Item date: 1798 - 1917
(this is an approximate date)
Grant Value: 3,000
Item cost: 14,820
Item date acquired: 1994
Item institution: Royal College of Music
Town/City: London

These ledgers provide unique information on the development of the harp by Sbastien Erard, one of the most gifted inventors in musical history, who also devised the double escapement for the pianoforte as well as the single and double action harp. The ledgers list 6862 harps, a large proportion of which were puchased by royalty and the aristocracy in Britain and abroad. The client list included the families of George IV, the Duke of Wellington, Louis Phillippe, Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen and Sir Joseph Paxton

Item Provenance
Bought with surviving stock by J George Morley, harp maker in 1890, lent by his descendants to the V&A