許健先生，原籍河北省磁縣，一九二三年出生於天津。一九四二年開始就讀於重慶青木關國立音樂院，畢業後在重慶任音樂教師。新中國成立後參軍，抗美援朝時，從事戰地音樂活動，一九五四年復員返北京，任職中國音樂研究所至退休；其間，從楊蔭瀏、查阜西及管平湖修習古琴及樂學研究。一九五六年，任北京古琴研究會副會長，同年又與王迪參加查阜西先生領導的三人小組，向全國琴人進行採訪及錄音存檔。一九六二年及一九八三年，與王迪匯編《古琴曲集》，成正、續二集分年出版；一九八二年，又出版《琴史初編》，自一九八Ｏ年代開始，許先生又對傳統琴曲進行發掘及打譜，卓有成績。
XU Jian was born in 1923 in Tianjin, Hebei Province. His ancestral home was in County Ci, Hebei Province. In 1942, he studied in the National Conservatory of Qing Mu Guan, Zhongqing. After his graduation, he became a music teacher in Zhongqing. In 1954, he was admitted to the Music Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Arts and worked there until his retirement. After his joining the music research institute, he learned the qin and music theories under GUAN Ping-hu and YANG Yin-liu respectively. In 1956, he became the vice chairman of the Beijing Qin Society. In the same year, he and WANG Di joined ZHA Fu-xi to travel around China to have the qin players’ sound recording. In 1962 and 1983, he and WANG Di together published the Book of Qin Music respectively. In 1982, he published his own article the History of Qin.