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Robert Cocks & Co.

bygone London publisher who worked with Maria Lindsay

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ18636799 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert Cocks & Co. was a London-based music publisher founded in 1823 by Robert Cocks (12 October 1797, in Norfolk, England – 7 April 1887, in London). The catalog of publications, before Robert Cocks died, is said to have exceeded sixteen thousand, and included many important treatises. When Cocks died, he was believed to be the oldest music publisher in the world. The firm introduced in London pianists Carl Czerny, Julius Schulhoff, and Alexander Dreyschock and published Rimbault and Hopkins' history of the organ and also published pedagogical repertoire for the so-call "Schools" of Spohr, Czerny, Marx, Albrechtsberger, Reicha, and Cherubini.

Succession of ownership

In 1868 Robert Cocks took into partnership his two sons, Arthur Lincoln Cocks (1830–1863) and Stroud Lincoln Cocks (1832–1907). Since Arthur's partnership was acquired posthumously, Arthur's son, Robert Macfarlane Cocks (1852–1934) carried on Arthur's interest. Robert Macfarlane Cocks and Strould Lincoln Cocks began selling the firm in the last quarter of 1898. George Augener (1830–1915) was the buyer. The acquisition was completed in 1904 and from henceforth was known as Augener & Co., Ltd.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Robert Cocks & Co.” is bygone London publisher who worked with Maria Lindsay. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Robert, Cocks and bygone, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1823, 1797, 1887, 1868—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1823. For this dossier, Robert, Cocks and bygone is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “bygone London publisher who worked with Maria Lindsay” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18636799. VIAF identifies the subject as 124881851. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1823, 1797, 1887 and 1868.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert Cocks & Co.”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Robert Cocks & Co. primary sources, Robert Cocks & Co. archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert Cocks & Co.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.