John Playford

John Playford (1623–1686) was a London bookseller, publisher, minor composer and member of the Stationers’ Company. He published books on music theory, instruction books for several instruments and psalters with tunes for singing in churches. He is perhaps best known today for his publication of The English Dancing Master in 1651.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on John Playford.

From the period sources

John Playford, a London music-seller and printer who flourished in the reign of Charles II., significantly advanced the art of music printing in England. According to A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (1875), no improvements in music printing were made after earlier figures like Vautrollier and Day “till the time of John Playford.” He is credited with introducing “more beautiful types” that featured fewer breaks in continuity and had the hooks of quavers and semiquavers cast in one piece with the note stems, a departure from older characters, as noted in Biographie universelle des musiciens (1837).

Playford was also a prolific publisher of musical collections and instructional works. His “Introduction to the Skill of Musick,” first printed in 1655, was a foundational elementary treatise, drawing from earlier authors like Morley and Butler (Biographie universelle des musiciens, 1837). This work saw numerous editions, with the eighth edition (1679) notably incorporating Thomas Campion’s treatise on composition, “The Art of Descant,” with annotations by Christopher Simpson. Playford’s publications also included collections of catches and rounds, such as “Catch that Catch can, or the Musical Companion” (1677), and “Court Ayres” (1655), featuring works by composers like Dr. William Child and Dr. Rogers. His “Musical Companion” (1673) also contained Thomas Brewer’s celebrated song “Turn Amarillis to thy swain.” Playford died in 1693 at the age of eighty, and his son, Henry Playford, continued the family’s publishing legacy.