Kreutzer's Celebrated Capricios, For the Violin. with Additions From a practical Treatise by F. Rodolphe - WITH INTRIGUING PROVENANCE

Used; Like New/Used; Like New. Disbound upright folio. Engraved. London: C. Wheatstone, n.d. [1808?]. 49 pp. Edition with title and all instructions in English. 12.5 x 9.75 inches (32 x 24.5 cm). Engraved throughout, no PN. Annotations in pencil in and blue crayon to head of title, partly illegible but twice containing the name "Blagrove" (once "Mr. Blagrove") and the second, perhaps an inscription to "J. Ela," which we believe to have been the eminent British violinist, critic and concert manager John Ella. Occasional marks in pencil, light foxing, else fine.
Rare. WorldCat lists only one copy, at the University of Colorado in Boulder (tentatively dated "1808"). The first 40 studies are Kreutzer's original set. The authorship of the final ten is not known; "F. Rodolphe" sounds like a pseudonym. The present copy seems to have been belonged to English violinist Henry Blagrove (1811-1872), who enjoyed some fame in his lifetime, both in England and on the European continent. He was one of the students from the opening class of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Later he completed his studies in Germany with Louis Spohr and Bernhard Molique.  
A student of Thomas Atwood and François-Joseph Fétis in Paris, John Ella (1802-1888) performed as a member of major orchestras of London, such as the Philharmonic and the Ancient Concerts and played in the orchestra on the occasion of Carl Maria von Weber's funeral, 21 June 1826. Around this time he was appointed to a subordinate post at the Royal Academy of Music, and became musical editor of the Athenæum and other papers. 
The French violinist and composer Rodolphe Kreutzer was one of the most famous and influential virtuosos of his time. From 1795 he was professor at the Paris Conservatory, and from 1801 to 1821 he was concertmaster and director of music of the Paris Opera. At this time, Kreutzer wrote about 40 operas and numerous works for violin. In 1803, he published together with Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode and Pierre Marie François Baillot the "Méthode de violon" ("System for the violin"), which soon after had become the official manual of exercises for the violin at the Paris Conservatory. Kreutzer befriended Ludwig van Beethoven during his visit to Vienna in 1798 and Beethoven later wrote that he was "a good and nice person, it was indeed a pleasure to spend time with him". Seven years later (1805), Beethoven dedicated his Violin Sonata in A Major, op. 47 to Rodolphe Kreutzer, now known as the "Kreutzer-Sonate".

"Kreutzer's 42 études ou caprices (originally 40) for unaccompanied violin occupy an almost unique position in the literature of violin studies; Kreutzer met the challenge of the modern violin by aiming partly at fluency in contraction and extension of the left hand. As Szigeti (1969) pointed out, extensions and unisons were easier on the old short-necked violin; in the 'practically unknown nineteen Etudes-Caprices … it is obvious that the great teacher was already conscious of the need for the "opening up" of the hand'." (David Charlton, Grove Online)