Scan 32
A Treatise On The Structure And Preservation Of The Violin, 1875
10 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1very fine, the fibres are perfectly equidistant, both in the middle and near the edges. The f-holes are beautifully shaped and stand rather near each other, so that the space between the upper little turns is only the breadth of the bridge; they are particularly narrow at the upper and lower turns, and by no means wide in the middle. The edges and purfling are like those of the back.
3The neck is made of the same beautifully-figured wood as the back and sides, and the cheeks of the peg-box are very strong and full. The scroll, which is admirably rounded, is very broad from the central point on one side to that on the other, and is indisputably the most beautiful form which has been adopted for violins; indeed, of all the Italian violins which have come under my notice, those of Jerome Amati are the handsomest in shape and the most carefully made. They are covered with amber varnish mixed with a light reddish-brown colour (kirschbraunen Lasurfarbe), which has greatly peeled off the majority of them. There are some which have a mahogany colour mixed with the varnish.
5These are the oldest Cremona violins, as they were made during the years 1614—1620, and are now therefore (in 1817) two hundred years old. From their firm and good construction, however, they may retain their excellence half a century longer.
7The above maker was followed by Anthony Amati, who was perhaps his son,* but of whose violins I have seen only a few; so that probably most of them exist in Italy, France, and England. They are not very differently made from his
9* This error of the Author has been duly corrected in the 1828 edition of his work, where Anthony Amati is properly named as the brother of Jerome.—Tr.
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