Books › De fidiculis bibliographia: being an attempt towards a bibliography of the violin and all other instruments played with a bow in ancient and modern times, 1890 › scan 24
Scan 24
De fidiculis bibliographia: being an attempt towards a bibliography of the violin and all other instruments played with a bow in ancient and modern times, 1890
6 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1found it difficult to express to my readers, my full sense of the inadequacy of the result of my labours, and of the many faults, both of commission and of omission, that are to be found in every part of it. But I am fortunate in that you, Sir, in common with the other votaries of the violin whose interest in the instrument has led them to study a work so mechanical in compilation as this, and for whom it has been compiled, are fully aware that perfection in any branch of the study of the violin can be approached by but few, and perhaps achieved by none.
3Monsieur Fétis, in discussing the work of the early writer, Jules Caccini, in his monumental "Biographie Universelle des Musiciens et Bibliographie Générale de la Musique" (2nd Edition, Vol. II. p. 140), has very truly and very encouragingly said, "Nul commencement n'est ni grand ni beau, disent ils, mais n'y a-t-il pas un immense mérite à commencer," and if my work proves to be what it claims to be, namely, the basis of a Bibliography of the Violin, a foundation upon which later students may construct a work that shall, at any rate, approach completeness, I shall feel, if I live to see that work, that my prolegomena, so to speak, have not been compiled in vain, whilst future lovers of the violin will have cause to be grateful to you, Sir, for the encouragement you have given me in my labours connected with the instrument, an encouragement now of more than ten years' duration, and which I am proud to acknowledge in the present dedication of this, the magnum opus of my life hitherto.
5It is hardly necessary to say that the compilation of this work has been a labour of love, and a labour of a
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