I just finished reading The Illustrated History of the Guitar by Alexander Bellow which was published in 1970. It was a good and interesting read. It starts with the earliest known (at the time of publishing, anyway) stringed instrument from 2500 BC Sumeria and goes through the concurrent evolution of guitar-like instruments in ancient Babylon and Egypt, their fusion in Egypt around 1400 BC, the separate development of a guitar-like instrument in northern Europe by the ninth century AD, the importation of the Egyptian guitar-like instrument to Europe around the sixth century AD, the eventual fusion of the Egyptian and European instruments after the twelfth century leading to something resembling modern classical guitars by the 1600s. One thing I liked about the book is that it’s not just a description of the technical evolution of the guitar as an instrument. It also demonstrates how essential the musicians, composers, and (in more recent centuries) the publishers of music were to the development and widespread adoption of the guitar. I had no idea how important Italy was to the development of the guitar in the 1600s and later, nor did I know that Stradivarius built guitars. It was also interesting to see how as the musicianship and quality of guitar music increased, there was a gradual shift from ridiculously elaborate ornamentation of guitars to an emphasis on sound quality and cleaner aesthetics instead. The book has quite a few photos including some great color plates of some pretty amazing instruments,
The one deficiency of the book is that the author basically gave up trying to continue with his history at the start of the explosion of guitar design that happened in the hundred years leading up to when he wrote his book. It’s as if anything outside the classical guitar world didn’t happen. No mention at all of things like archtops, resonator guitars, dreadnoughts, or electric guitars. The only allusion to any of it is a passing mention of factory scale guitar production established by an immigrant named Christian Freidrich Martin. This may be in part to the fact the author was a classical guitar player, composer, and teacher and that was what he had the most affinity for. To be fair though, describing the continued evolution and diversification of the guitar from the mid 1800s would require another book.
Anyway, it was worth reading, IMO. I recommend it if you are history inclined.
Here's a copy of a photo from the book showing the oldest evidence of a guitar-like instrument in a Babylonian terra cotta relief from 1800 BC.
