Originally the "" was a bound volume comprising forty-eight pages of blank music paper, with eight staves on each page. Inscribed with the words "Pour le clavecin" (French: "For the harpsichord"), it was presented to Nannerl on the occasion of her eighth name day on 26 July 1759 (or possibly her eighth birthday, which fell on the 30th or 31st day of the same month). Over the course of the next four years or so, the notebook was gradually filled with pieces written out by Leopold and two or three anonymous Salzburg copyists. Wolfgang is thought to have written out four pieces. Curiously none of the pieces were inscribed by Nannerl herself.