Orgelbuchlein, BWV 599-644: Faksimile der autographen Partitur, and: Ballade F-Dur Opus 38: Faksimile nach dem Autograph, im Besitz der Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris, and: Fantasien fur Klavier Opus 116: Faksimile nach dem Autograph, im Besitz der Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Hamburg, and: Wie die Zeit lauft! fur Klavier: Faksimile und Ubertragung, and: Das Jahr: Zwolf Charakterstucke (1841) fur das Fortepiano. Illustrierte Reinschrift mit Zeichnungen von Wilhelm Hensel. Faksimile nach dem Autograph aus dem Besitz des Mendelssohn-Archivs der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, and: "Dutch" Keyboard Variations "Laat ons juichen, Batavieren!" K. 24, "Willem van Nassau" K. 25 (review)

Say the words "keyboard facsimile" and what comes to mind? For many musicians, probably images of forearm-sized, slender volumes holding famous compositions in manuscript form, the occasional page corrupted by scratched-out passages and other signs of creativity at work. How far from accurate this single impression can be is illustrated by the six facsimile editions here, which collectively offer a useful primer on the great variety that exists in the facsimile world—variety of appearance, of course, but also variety of purpose, quality, usefulness, and inspiration to a reader's imagination. Each captures the state of a composition somewhere along the road from conception to completion. Together they remind us that the act of musical creation, in its myriad forms, often involves many stages, many layers of thought and work, that take place before a composition is rendered into finished state. A facsimile can capture the music at any one of these points in time. Rather than review these six publications chronologically, therefore, it will be a useful exercise to view them ahistorically, as six snapshots that reveal the multitude of approaches now being used by publishers of these often captivating volumes.

Bach's Orgelbüchlein is one of the cornerstones of the organ repertory. As Heinz-Harald Löhlein writes in his descriptive preface to the new facsimile edition, the forty-six numbered chorales in this...