Bow & Bridge

Booth, William

born 1779

As printed

  1. A dictionary of violin makers (1896)

    As printed on this page: “Booth, William, b. 1779; believed to have died 1857 or 1858. At first a hairdresser, but 1809 commenced to make and repair violins. Label: “Wm. Booth, maker, Leeds, 1828.””

    p. 11

  2. A dictionary of violin makers (n.d.)

    As printed on this page: “Booth, William, b. 1779; believed to have died 1857 or 1858. At first a hairdresser, but 1809 commenced to make and repair violins. Label: “Wm. Booth, maker, Leeds, 1828.””

    p. 11

  3. The violin: its famous makers and their imitators (1875)

    Booth, William, 1779, Leeds.

    scan page 236, line 4See the scan

    Read the transcript line

    This is what the software read off the scan, not the page itself. The cited line is marked, and three lines either side are shown for context.

    scan page 236, line 4

    1. Betts, Edward, also a pupil of Richard Duke, copied his master with considerable skill. Of course in trying to imitate Duke he was copying Amati, Richard Duke having spent his life in working after the Amati pattern, without attempting to model for himself. The care bestowed by Edward Betts on his instruments was of no ordinary kind. The workmanship throughout is of the most delicate description; indeed, it may be said that neatness is gained at the expense of individuality in many of his works. Each part is faultless in finish, but when viewed as a whole the result is too mechanical, giving as it does the notion of its having been turned out of a mould. Nevertheless, this maker takes rank with the foremost of the English copyists, and in his instruments we have as good specimens of undisguised work as can be readily found. They will be yearly more valued.
    3. Bolles. Made Lutes and Viols.
    4. Booth, William, 1779, Leeds.
    5. Booth, son of the above, Leeds.
    6. Boucher, London, 1764.
    7. Brown, James, London, born 1670, died 1834. Worked with Thomas Kennedy.

Named in 3 books printed between 1875 and 1896. Read by software from scans of those pages, not yet checked by a person against the page. Entries from 3 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

This record exists because one or more sources name this maker. Printed in: The violin: its famous makers and their imitators (1875). Nothing else on this site confirms this record beyond what those sources state — no claim is invented here. Not established is the honest state of this record; if you can change that, we want to hear from you.

What the books say

Places and dates of work
Booth, William, 1779, Leeds. reported1
Places and dates of work
As printed on this page: “Booth, William, b. 1779; believed to have died 1857 or 1858. At first a hairdresser, but 1809 commenced to make and repair violins. Label: “Wm. Booth, maker, Leeds, 1828.”” reported1
Born (date and place)
Born 1779. As printed in the cited source: “Booth, William, b. 1779” reported1
Places and dates of work
As printed on this page: “Booth, William, b. 1779; believed to have died 1857 or 1858. At first a hairdresser, but 1809 commenced to make and repair violins. Label: “Wm. Booth, maker, Leeds, 1828.”” reported1

How the pages were read

4 of the 4 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: “SECTION XII.—GERMAN AND DUTCH 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 3 sources, all 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. Hart, George, 1839-1891. [from old catalog], The violin: its famous makers and their imitators (London, Dubau and co. [etc.], 1875). archive.org, violinitsfamous01hartgoog. https://archive.org/details/violinitsfamous01hartgoog.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 236, line 4

  2. Stainer, C. (Cecie), 1867-1937, A dictionary of violin makers (London: Novello, n.d.). archive.org, dictionaryofviol00stai. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol00stai.machine textcited for 2 linessource record

    p. 11

  3. Stainer, C. (Cecie), 1867-1937, A dictionary of violin makers (London ; New York: Novello, Ewer, 1896). archive.org, dictionaryofviol00stai_0. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol00stai_0.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    p. 11