Dictionnaire Aristocratique, Démocratique et Mistigorieux de musique vocale et instrumentale; dans lequel on trouve des digressions sur l’hippiatrique, la gastronomie et la philosophie hermétique et concentrée, pour consoler les personnes qui du vent de bise ont été frappées au nez, et recréer celles qui sont en misérable servitude du tyran d’Argencourt ; le tout aussi à l’usage des gens qui veulent raisonner de l’art musical à tort et à travers sans blesser les lois ridicules du bon sens. Mis en ordre par Philhârmonïàlectryônoptékhèphâliokïngôovadib dïnn, publié en lanternois par Krisostauphe Clédeçol … Traduit par Ydâlôhtiistiphèjâldenpéàb, Racluer de boyau.

Quérard ‘Supercheries littéraires dévoilées’ (2. éd.); III, p. 103. According to Worldcat only registred in 5 libraries worldwide. Added title page ‘Dictionnaire burlesque’. The only edition of this whimsical work is attributed sometimes to J-M Meifred, horn player and composer, professor at the Paris Conservatory, and sometimes to Adolphe Ledhuy (born in 1803), guitarist and musicologist. This ‘burlesque dictionary’, dedicated ‘to music lovers’, depicts, throughout its alphabetical entries, the microcosm of Parisian musicians at the height of the Romantic movement. The work is one of those texts extremely difficult to understand outside the context of the time, even though its allusions were transparent to contemporaries. It is, moreover, peppered with humorous touches, bizarre dialogues, and unpronounceable neologisms that serve a bubbling and delightful verve, but do not make it any more accessible. The typography complements the whimsical nature of the text, both through the audacious form of the text on certain pages and through the five curious woodcut plates depicting grotesque musicians.