The collection contains about 2700 books and pamphlets, of which about 200 are Australian imprints. It mostly relates to Western music from medieval times to the twentieth century, but there are also some books on Indonesian music and on ballet and the performing arts generally. Its great strength is in biographical and critical works on composers and musicians. There are also many works on musical history, theory, technique and interpretation. It includes works by critics such as:

• Hector Berlioz
• Eric Blom
• MD Calvocoressi
• Edward Dent
• Alfred Einstein
• Eduard Hanslick
• Gordon Jacob
• Henry Krehbiel
• Ernest Newman
• Ebenezer Prout
• Percy Scholes
• Robert Schumann
• Donald Tovey
• Francis Toye
• Richard Wagner

Most of the books date from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, but there are some earlier imprints. They include:

• Thomas Billington, Pope’s Messiah: Opera XIII (1784)
• Thomas Busby, A Complete Dictionary of Music [1801]
• Calliope or English Harmony, a Collection of the Most Celebrated English and Scots Songs (2 vols, 1739)
• James Green, A Book of Psalmody: Containing Chanting-tunes (1751)
• Richard Neale, Pocket Companion for Gentlemen and Ladies: Being a Collection of the Finest Opera Songs & Airs in English and Italian [1730?]
• The Poetry of Various Glees, Songs etc. as Performed at the Harmonists (1798).

The collection also contains a large number of concert, recital and opera programs. Most of them date from the twentieth century, but there are a small number documenting Australian performances in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The original collection contained about 1200 albums and pieces of sheet music published in Australia and 2200 albums and pieces of sheet music published overseas. A further 1700 items were received in the later instalments.

The Australian music includes a considerable number of:

• 19th-century salon songs
• patriotic songs
• ballads
• opera libretti
• waltzes
• polkas
• marches
• piano sonatas
• chamber works
• orchestral works

Among the composers represented in the collection are:

• John Antill
• Nicholas Boscha
• Vera Buck
• Leon Caron
• Cesare Cutolo
• Paolo Giorza
• Alfred Hill
• Dulcie Holland
• William James
• Louis Lavater
• Carl Linger
• GW Marshall-Hall
• Alfred Plumpton
• Peter Sculthorpe
• Margaret Sutherland
• GW Torrance

The overseas component consists primarily of published editions of orchestral, piano and operatic works of major European composers such as:

• Bach
• Handel
• Haydn
• Mozart
• Beethoven
• Rossini
• Mendelssohn
• Schumann
• Liszt
• Berlioz
• Debussy
• Ravel
• Elgar

While the composers represented range from Henry Purcell to Benjamin Britten and William Walton, the main strength is in 19th-century works, particularly vocal works. They include:

• operas
• operettas
• sacred music
• italian and irish songs
• lieder
• salon songs
• children’s songs
• sacred music.

As well as a group of manuscript scores, especially works of Frederick Earp and WG Price, the collection contains letters by:

• Hector Berlioz
• Percy Grainger
• Fritz Hart
• Sir Bernard Heinze
• Fritz Kreisler
• GWL Marshall-Hall
• Henry Tate
• and others

There are documents concerning the Verbruggen Orchestra, the Lady Northcote Permanent Orchestra and other Melbourne orchestras. There are also photographs of Percy Grainger and other musicians and albums of newspaper cuttings relating to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, music criticism by Henry Tate and Harold Robb, and music in Melbourne and Sydney between 1900 and 1967.

The most substantial group of manuscripts relate to the Australian composer and violinist Hermann T Schrader (1860–1934). They include:

• reminiscences of his student years in Leipzig, where he studied under Hans von Bulow
• diaries
• reviews
• programs
• family papers
• photographs
• printed manuscript scores.

The core of the personal papers is a lengthy series of files documenting the work of Hince as a music critic from 1955 to 1994. They contain:

• letters
• interviews
• typescripts by Hince
• biographical notes
• concert schedules
• music catalogues
• record releases
• photographs.

They include files on composers such as:

• Don Banks
• Nigel Butterley
• Frank Callaway
• George Dreyfus
• Keith Humble
• Peter Sculthorpe
• Larry Sitsky

They also include files on:

• performers
• orchestras
• writers
• music societies
• music publishers
• record companies
• music festivals
• educational institutions
• music magazines
• government bodies. 

In addition, there are:

• invitations to concerts and recitals
• reviews of concerts
• operas
• records and books
• and publicity material
• press releases
• programs and catalogues.

The Hince Collection of books, music and manuscripts was purchased from Hince in 1969. Further substantial instalments were purchased in 1974, 1986 and 1988. 

In 1994, the Library acquired a large collection of his personal papers, manuscripts and printed ephemera.

The books and pamphlets in the Hince Collection have been catalogued and integrated in the Music and general collections, while the programs have been added to the Australian Ephemera Collection. The accession slips for the books acquired in 1969 have been bound in two volumes. Australian albums and sheet music have been catalogued individually and added to the Australian Music Collection. The overseas music has been kept together as a formed collection within the Music Collection.

The manuscripts and personal papers are held in the Manuscripts collection. Finding aids are available. The papers of Hermann Schrader are held separately.

This guide was prepared using these references:

• Warren Bebbington (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Australian Music, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1997, pp. 269–70.
• Anthony Clarke, Fond Farewell to a Constant and a Polished Performer, The Age, 26 August 1994, p. 19.