[Trade Catalogue]

Wm. Kuhnel & Co., Limited. 134 and 136 Rundle Street, Adelaide. Importers of High Grade Pianofortes and Organs. Established 1866 [cover title]

Adelaide, Printed C.G. Röder G.m.b.H., Leipzig (for the Company), [1908].

Oblong quarto, 38 pages with 51 illustrations from photographs (31 of pianos, pianofortes and organs, 18 of small portraits of prominent European musicians and composers, and one larger portrait of William Kuhnel).

Flush-cut quarter cloth and red papered card covers, with both sides extensively lettered and decorated in gilt; a large two-colour illustration on the front cover; extremities slightly bumped; a near-fine copy (it appears to be uncirculated).

'Sole agents for Julius Feurich, Leipzig; R. Lipp & Sohn, Stuttgart; R. Görs & Kallmann, Berlin; Carl Faust & Sohn, pianos; the "Waldorf" pianos; also Estey-Organs (over 400,000 sold)' (subtitle). 'In 1898, Albert Conrad, designer of Austral Buildings in Hindley Street, was commissioned to create Kuhnel's emporium that expanded to house 400 pianos, at 136 Rundle Street, opposite Adelaide Arcade ... By the 1920s, Kuhnel's was the largest piano and organ store in Australia' (AdelaideAZ website). The only copy of this lavish catalogue located in Trove is in the National Library of Australia: 'A finely printed trade catalogue intended for this Adelaide piano importer's wealthier clients ... The catalogue was produced in Germany, which at that time considered itself home to the most accomplished printers in Europe'.

Item #129979

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