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Divided into two parts, Organa Britannica provides in the first: a short history, a description of source material, a detailed glossary of terms, indexes of short and long biographies on organ builders and groups of organ builders, and a classification of species of organ cases by type.
The second part provides a detailed inventory of early British organs, organized geographically. Illustrated.

This important book provides a comprehensive survey of English organ building during the most innovative fifty years in its history.

The organ has unique characteristics that bind it more closely than any other instrument to its location, to social and economic changes, and to fluctuations in musical taste. In this volume, Orpha Ochse provides descriptions and specifications of instruments representative of the various periods of organ building. She shows how the design is affected by the intended use of the organ and by the music written for it.

Here, for the first time in a single volume, is a comprehensive study of registrational practices from circa 1550 to 1800. Each of the four parts of the book - the Renaissance and the Early, High, and Late Baroque - starts with a brief description of the political and religious climate of the period and the way it affected organ building and the music composed at the time. Within each historical period, Owen provides for each country a list of the active composers and information about representative organs, including their locations, dates, builders, and stoplists. She then discusses the registrational practices in each area in relation to contemporary musical styles and forms, referring to sources such as scores and treatises. In light of the historical evidence, Owen advises organists on adapting the earlier principles and practices to modern instruments in order to perform Baroque organ works in a style appropriate to their period and region.

Of the competing American editions, it is the 1909 Schirmer edition prepared by F.FlaxingtonHarker--retained in the present Dover reprint--that has the best graphics.