The definitive work on the structure and capabilities of the organ throughout history, presenting a discussion of the organ's wind collecting and sound-producing portions as well as tuning and pitch and the individual characteristics of hundreds of organs in existence in famous cathedrals and elsewhere. The book also includes details on the structure and capabilities of the organ, with specifications and suggestive details for instruments of all sizes, intended as a handbook for the organist and the amateur. Edward J. Hopkins was Organist to the Honourable Societies of the Inner and Middle Temple. When originally published in 1877 this work contained an introduction, New History of the Organ by Edward F. Rimbault, which has now been published as a separate book instead of being included in this edition.