Grand Piano, warranted by Dibdin

With a silver plaque engraved ‘Warranted by Mr Dibdin’ Acquired by the Cobbe Foundation with a grant from the Manifold Trust and given to the Cobbe Collection Trust The restoration was supported by Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS. Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) was a composer of songs and pieces for the theatre. His use of ‘a new instrument called piano forte’ to accompany a song in Covent Garden Theatre in 1767 is thought to be the earliest recorded public appearance of the piano in England.