From the inside front dustcover flap of the original hardcover edition:

"As the title implies, this is not primarily a book on the orchestra, but rather on the orchestration of music originally written for some other medium, normally the piano. Its aim is to help the student to think in terms of orchestral idiom and to understand how passages conceived from a purely pianistic point of view must be dealt with in order to make them orchestrally effective.

"The various departments of the orchestra are dealt with progressively and in detail, with continual insistence on the fact that 'orchestration' is not just a matter of more or less literal transcription from two staves to, say, twenty, but that it involves consideration of the musical content of the piece concerned and the implications which arise from it.

"The instructional text is highly concentrated. There are 131 musical examples, ranging from a single stave up to full score, the latter being extensively annotated. Most of the examples are taken from Schumann's 'Album for the Young'. Chapters are included on the handling of examination questions, reduction from full orchestra to small orchestra, and on scoring for school orchestras.

"Clear instruction is also given on laying out a score, a matter in which many young musicians are apt to be careless.

"Although written largely with the examination candidate in mind, this book cannot fail to be of the utmost use to all who are concerned with writing or arranging for orchestra."