Bow & Bridge

Newton, Isaac

As printed

  1. Old violins (1905)

    NEWTON, Isaac. London about 1775-1825. He made fairly good instruments, but used a dingy yellow varnish. Sometimes made violins and violoncellos for Betts, but these were always varnished by the latter.

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    1. NAYLOR, Isaac. A pupil of Richard Duke; worked at Headingly, near Leeds, 1778-92.
    2. NERMEL, J. M. Paris, 1777-89.
    3. NEUNER, Ludwig. 1840, Mittenwald (Bavaria). Grandson of Mathias Neuner, also a clever maker of violins, who worked for some time in London; worked for J. B. Vuillaume, Paris; settled in Berlin; accomplished maker; sends out from his firm 20,000 instruments a year; very cheap and good money's worth; can do better quality when he chooses.
    4. NEWTON, Isaac. London about 1775-1825. He made fairly good instruments, but used a dingy yellow varnish. Sometimes made violins and violoncellos for Betts, but these were always varnished by the latter.
    5. NEZOT. Paris, 1730-60; transition maker from viols to violins; only a few violins.
    6. NICOLAS, Didier, l'aîné (known as "deaf Nicolas"), 1757-1833, Mirecourt; clever workman and large employer; large pattern, loud tone; suitable for orchestra.
    7. NICOLAS, François Nicolas Fourrier (was known simply as "Nicolas"), b. Oct. 5, 1758. 1816, Paris. Made all the instruments used in the private orchestra of Napoleon I.; careful choice of wood; good proportions; closely copied from beautiful specimens of Cremona; not much in fashion now, but good violins of his still about.

  2. Dictionary of Violin makers (1928)

    NEWTON (Isaac) — London end of xviii th century. Son of one preceding. Same class of work. Pleasantly effective yellow varnish.

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    2. NEWTON (Thomas) — London middle of xviii th century. Make not lacking in interest from the point of view of workmanship. On the whole, the aspect is somewhat Tyrolese. Varnish devoid of colour and brilliancy. He was established at Southampton St., Covent Garden.
    4. NEWTON (Isaac) — London end of xviii th century. Son of one preceding. Same class of work. Pleasantly effective yellow varnish.
    6. 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.

  3. British Violin Makers (1920)

    NEWTON, ISAAC, London: 1775-1825. He made mostly for the trade, particularly for Betts. Fairly good work.

    scan pages 254, 256 · line 7See the scans: 254, 256source record

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    scan page 254, line 7

    2. NEWCOMBE, GEORGE, Leicester: nineteenth century.
    4. NEWTON, ISAAC, London: 1775-1825. He made mostly for the trade, particularly for Betts. Fairly good work.
    6. NICHOLAS, EDWARD, Bristol: c. 1800. I have seen his name in a catalogue of old instruments.

Named in 3 books printed between 1905 and 1928. 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

Not established is the honest state of this record: it rests on one or more sources naming this maker, and nothing else on this site confirms it. Printed in: 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); Old violins (1905). 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. No claim beyond what those sources state has been invented here; if you can add to it, we want to hear from you.

What the books say

Places and dates of work
NEWTON, ISAAC, London: 1775-1825. He made mostly for the trade, particularly for Betts. Fairly good work. reported1
Places and dates of work
NEWTON, ISAAC, London: 1775-1825. He made mostly for the trade, particularly for Betts. Fairly good work. reported1
Places and dates of work
NEWTON (Isaac) — London end of xviii th century. Son of one preceding. Same class of work. Pleasantly effective yellow varnish. reported1
Places and dates of work
NEWTON, Isaac. London about 1775-1825. He made fairly good instruments, but used a dingy yellow varnish. Sometimes made violins and violoncellos for Betts, but these were always varnished by the latter. 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. 2 of them rest on a section heading above a list of names, not on a trade word printed on their own line: “VIOLIN MAKERS.”, “DICTIONARY OF 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 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. 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 7

  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 7

  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 5

  4. Haweis, H. R. (Hugh Reginald), 1839-1901, Old violins (Edinburgh, Grant, 1905). archive.org, oldviolins00hawe. https://archive.org/details/oldviolins00hawe.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

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