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The publisher John Sainsbury produced this two-volume biographical dictionary of musicians in 1824. The book, as he acknowledges on his title page, borrows from the previously published works of Choron and Fayolle (in French), Gerber (in German), Orloff (Russian, writing in French), and his two notable English predecessors, Dr Burney and Sir John Hawkings. It contains a 'summary of the history of music', as well as biographies and memoirs of musicians. The range of the information provided is immense, including the most obscure as well as the most famous: fourteen pages on Mozart are followed by paragraphs on his wife Constanza and on the now completely forgotten B. F. Mozin, a French piano teacher and composer, while Beethoven is described when still living and composing, albeit afflicted by deafness. This work is a mine of information on musical life and perceptions of music history in the early nineteenth century.
John Wilkes remains one of the most colourful and intriguing characters of eighteenth-century Britain. While his political career has been much explored, much less has been written about his private life. This biography provides a more comprehensive examination of Wilkes throughout his long life than has hitherto been available. Taking a thematic rather than chronological approach, it is divided into six main chapters covering family, ambition, sex, religion, class and money, which allows a much more rounded picture of Wilkes to emerge.