xiii, 417 pp. Probable first. Printed and bound in Great Britain. DJ sunned, with tears ,folds, mostly present. Cloth stained at foot, but no evidence of moisture in text block, which is clean and white, vg or better. Contents: 1. Beginnings; 2. The early quartets; 3. The contemporary scene; 4. Investigatin Opus 3; Form and Technique in Opus 9; 6. Quartet and symphony: The emergence of a chamber style; 7. The sonata principal in Opus 17 and Opus 20; 8. Fugue in Opus 20 and in contemporary string quartets; 9. The early quarrtets of Mozart; 10. A new and special way, Opus 33; 11. Odds and Ends; 12. Mozart: The six quartets dedicated to Haydn; 13. Monothematicism, Opus 50; 14. Early sources and autographs; 15. The Tost quartets: Opus 54 and Opus 55; 16. The end of an era, Opus 64; 17. Mozart: Sublime or in decline?; 18. Towards romanticism: Opus 71 and Opus 74; 19. The harvest: Opus 76; 20. The Viennese classical school; 21. The consummation: Opus 77 and Opus 103; 22. Theme and variations; 23. Beethoven; 24. Conclusion.