Edwin M. Ripin

Edwin M. Ripin (21 April 1930, Manhattan, New York — 12 November 1975, Queens, New York) was a notable American expert on antique musical instruments, editor, and museum curator. Ripin published numerous authoritative articles, including his seminal "Instrument catalogs of Leopoldo Franciolini" (1974), tracing misdeeds of an infamous Italian antique dealer and fraudster, Leopoldo Franciolini (1844—1920), and co-authored the "Keyboard instrument" article for Encyclopædia Britannica with Cecil Clutton and Laurence Libin. As a longtime collector and restorer of musical instruments, Edwin Ripin was one of the founders and the director of the American Musical Instrument Society. He died prematurely, aged only 45, from a heart attack. Ripin graduated from Williams College with his Bachelor's degree in 1952 and worked as a senior editor at Random House. In 1970, he became an assistant curator at Metropolitan Museum Of Art's Musical Instruments Department. During his three-year tenure, Edwin planned and helped to mount a permanent exhibition of historical musical instruments at MET's Andre Mertens Galleries. Between 1973 and 74, Ripin taught at State University of New York at Purchase. He was a major contributor and one of the principal editors of the sixth edition of "The New Grove Early Keyboard Instruments" dictionary, published posthumously in 1978.