Partbook

A partbook is a format for printing or copying music in which each book contains the part for a single voice or instrument, especially popular during the Renaissance and Baroque.

This format contrasts with the large choirbook, which included all of the voice parts and could be shared by an entire choir.

The production of partbooks appears to have been a cost-cutting measure, as large-scale printing was much more expensive.

The reduced cost also allowed each performer to have his own copy, and partbooks were more portable than a choirbook.

While instruments continue to use parts for ease of page turning, these are rarely bound into "books" and are no longer so called.