Books › The history of the Violin, and other instruments played on with the bow from the remotest times to the present: also, an account of the principal makers, english and foreign, with numerous illustrations, 1864 › scan 376
Scan 376
The history of the Violin, and other instruments played on with the bow from the remotest times to the present: also, an account of the principal makers, english and foreign, with numerous illustrations, 1864
4 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 355. See the scan on archive.org.
1learned to make instruments of his father; but, when about twenty years of age, he quitted the business to play the contra-basso at theatres; and it is believed he now has some professional engagement in Australia, as success did not attend his exertions at "the Diggins."
3In the early part of the eighteenth century there were three persons of the following names: Edmund Airton, or Aireton, Henry Hill, and Joseph Hill, who became violin-makers, but it is not known for certainty which of them claims the seniority, nor can it be told who instructed them; but the style of work is remarkably similar, also the colour and quality of the varnish the same on most of the instruments which have been seen; therefore it is probable all three learned of the same master. From a circumstance which occurred in removing a label, dated 1735, out of a genuine violoncello made by Peter Wamsley, on the underneath side of which was written Edmund Airton, it is probable that the father of the first of the above three names was a workman in the employ of Wamsley, although nothing is known of him, who surreptitiously wrote his name on the master's label previous to attaching it to the violoncello. The date will not allow of its being the person first named, therefore it will be considered that Edmund Aireton claims the priority from family connections. Little is known of this maker, although he was an excellent workman, and produced instruments of a high order, both for tone and neat finishing. About 1805, he was residing in Hog Lane, now better known as Crown Street, Soho; and Thomas Kennedy says, "he was about eighty years of age, and that the shop had more the appearance of a general dealer than a maker of violins, tenors, and violoncellos;" also, he further positively stated the name was spelled "Aireton."
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.