Bow & Bridge

Nicol, Thomas

As printed

  1. Dictionary of Violin makers (1928)

    NICOL (Thomas) — Glaterlaw end of xix th century. A skilled workman who has left good violins after Guarneri or Stradivari. He varnished indiscriminately with an oil or spirit varnish.

    scan page 214, line 7See the scan

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    scan page 214, line 7

    2. NEWTON (Isaac) — London end of xviii th century. Son of one preceding. Same class of work. Pleasantly effective yellow varnish.
    4. NICOL (Thomas) — Glaterlaw end of xix th century. A skilled workman who has left good violins after Guarneri or Stradivari. He varnished indiscriminately with an oil or spirit varnish.
    6. NORBORN (John) — London circa 1720.

  2. British Violin Makers (1920)

    NICOL, THOMAS, Glasterlaw: 1840 to about 1910. He made about seventy or eighty violins on the models of Stradivari and Guarneri. Careful work.

    scan pages 254, 256 · line 11See the scans: 254, 256source record

    Read the transcript line

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    scan page 254, line 11

    2. NICHOLAS, EDWARD, Bristol: c. 1800. I have seen his name in a catalogue of old instruments.
    4. NICOL, THOMAS, Glasterlaw: 1840 to about 1910. He made about seventy or eighty violins on the models of Stradivari and Guarneri. Careful work.
    6. NICOLSON, JAMES, Stirling: 1770-90. His name appeared in a Scottish catalogue some years ago.

Named in 2 books printed between 1920 and 1928. Read by software from scans of those pages, not yet checked by a person against the page. Entries from 2 books stand under this name, and the software judged them likely the same person. Tell us if that is wrong and we will split the record.

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Details and sources

Record note

If you can add to this record, we want to hear from you. As it stands, one or more sources name this maker and nothing else on this site confirms it: British Violin Makers (1920); British Violin Makers: A Biographical Dictionary of British Makers of Stringed Instruments and Bows and a Critical Description of Their Work (1920); Dictionary of Violin makers (1928). Entries from 2 books stand under this name, and the software judged them likely the same person. Tell us if that is wrong and we will split the record. No claim beyond what those sources state is invented here, so not established is the honest word for it.

What the books say

Places and dates of work
NICOL, THOMAS, Glasterlaw: 1840 to about 1910. He made about seventy or eighty violins on the models of Stradivari and Guarneri. Careful work. reported1
Places and dates of work
NICOL, THOMAS, Glasterlaw: 1840 to about 1910. He made about seventy or eighty violins on the models of Stradivari and Guarneri. Careful work. reported1
Places and dates of work
NICOL (Thomas) — Glaterlaw end of xix th century. A skilled workman who has left good violins after Guarneri or Stradivari. He varnished indiscriminately with an oil or spirit varnish. reported1

How the pages were read

3 of the 3 lines here were read from machine text (software that turns a photo of a page into words), not by a person looking at the page image. 1 of them rests on a section heading above a list of names, not on a trade word printed on its own line: “VIOLIN MAKERS.”.

Notes

  1. Read from machine text (software that turns a photo of a page into words, or a typed transcription), not by a person looking at the page image. ↩

The books behind this record

This record draws on 2 sources, both read from machine text. The count weighs how well each source was read, not just how many are cited. A stack of half-read sources does not outweigh one page read properly.

  1. W. Meredith Morris, British Violin Makers (London: Robert Scott, 1920). archive.org, bwb_W9-CSA-426. https://archive.org/details/bwb_W9-CSA-426.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 256, line 11

  2. W. Meredith Morris, British Violin Makers: A Biographical Dictionary of British Makers of Stringed Instruments and Bows and a Critical Description of Their Work (R. Scott, 1920). archive.org, britishviolinmak0000wmer. https://archive.org/details/britishviolinmak0000wmer.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 254, line 11

  3. Arnold Sewell, Dictionary of Violin makers (1928). archive.org, dictionaryofviol0000arno. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol0000arno.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 214, line 7