1860, Wilhem, Manuel de lecture musicale et de chant élémentaire, cours 1 et 2.

Condition : very good, slightly rubbed, faint foxing except for the first 3 leaves of vol. 2 with stronger foxing. A fine copy.
Illustrations : engraved frontispiece (portrait of Wilhem) and 2 folding tables.
Binding : green half-chagrin, spines decorated with gilt fillets.
Volume : 2 volumes.
Format : In-8.
Pages : VIII, 264 pp. and 2 ff, 234 pp. 1 f.
Publisher : Paris, Perrotin, Editeur de l'Orphéon et Hachette.
Date : 1860 and 1857. 
References : Brunet VI, 10193 (for other editions).

Guillaume-Louis Bocquillon, known as Wilhem (1781 - 1842) was one of the first promoters of the teaching of singing in French primary schools and the founder of the Orphéon.
Until 1815, it had hardly been imagined that singing would ever be part of primary school teaching. The first idea came to Wilhem when he learned of the attempts at mutual education made by the founders of the Society for Elementary Education. One of the creators of this education," wrote Jomard, "showed him the new experiment already transported from a modest room to a large theatre; it was the elementary normal school of Saint-Jean-de-Beauvais, opened for 325 pupils and almost filled in a few days. Wilhem's fair mind was struck by the spectacle, hitherto unknown in France, of three hundred children observing the greatest silence, teaching each other without the direct participation of the teacher, studying on boards, doing everything at a given signal, and all in continuous motion, similar to the work of the beehive, but regulated by the most perfect order.
Wilhem published numerous works for the teaching of singing in schools: Méthode élémentaire et analytique de musique et de chant, conforme aux principes et aux procédés de l'enseignement mutuel, adopted by the Société pour l'instruction élémentaire (160 tableaux in-fol. ); various series of Tables de lecture musicale et de chant élémentaire; Guide de la méthode élémentaire et analytique de musique et de chant (in-8°, 1821); Guide complet, on Instructions pour l'emploi simultané de tableaux de lecture musicale et de chant élémentaire [Complete guide, with instructions for the simultaneous use of tables for music reading and elementary singing] (in-8°, 1839, 4th edition); Manuel musical à l'usage des collèges, des institutions, des écoles et des cours de chant [Musical manual for the use of colleges, institutions, schools and singing classes] (1839 and 1840); Orphéon, repertoire of vocal music in choir, unaccompanied by any instruments (5 vols. in-8°, 1840); he also published, at the request of the Reformed Church of Paris, Douze leçons hebdomadaires à l'usage des jeunes élèves qui suivent le cours de chant sacré institué par le Consistoire, and a Choix de psaumes et de mélodies à l'usage des églises protestantes.
Wilhem's works, which were for a long time classics, are today somewhat forgotten in the schools. Wilhem's work has survived, less complete and less rational than he had dreamed.