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The Musical Courier,
Vol 51 #16 October 18, 1905, page 6.
The historical museum of the famous Leipsic connoisseur, Paul de Wit, is to be removed from its present situation and to pass out of the possession of Leipsic. It has come into the hands of a Cologne music lover, who intends to bestow it upon the Cologne Conservatory. Rumor says that De Wit closed the sale only after he had failed in his attempts to obtain from the Leipsic municipality a free site for the museum. As his collection comprises a very valuable set of old instruments, as well as interesting souvenirs of Leipsic musical life, the town, doubtless, will have cause to regret its shortsighted parsimony in regard to the matter.
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The Musical Courier,
Vol 18 #17 April 24, 1889, page 333.
Every since the Prussian Government purchased the collection of ancient musical instruments (formerly in the possession of Mr. de Wit), old keyboard instruments have become quite the rage. Not only are they sought after by opulent virtuosi, but many of the manufacturers make it a point of honor to possess one or more such curios, in order to be able to point out to an acquaintance or good business friend the various stages of development which the queen of instruments has undergone. Hence it come that an old, handsomely pointed harpsichord or clavichord of the seventeenth or eighteenth century, in good condition, cannot not be purchased for much less than a first-class grand by one of our famous modern makers. Probably the best next collection in Germany to that owned by the government is in the possession of Rud. Ibach Sohn, in Barmen. Reprinted from the London "Exchange."