Books › The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925 › scan 46
Scan 46
The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 22. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER IV
3AN UNPROMISING PURCHASE
5When I began to go abroad in the early 'sixties, there was a great lull in the dealings in Italian instruments and more especially in high class ones. This was no doubt due to a kind of reaction after the boom which had begun at the end of the eighteenth century and continued up to 1840. About that time several men of mark in the violin world died, among them Paganini, and amateurs were considerably discouraged from making fresh acquisitions. Besides this the prevailing vogue for the Stainer and Amati instruments began to undergo a change, but perhaps the greatest cause of all was the loss of several large collectors whose places were not filled for many years.
7Needless to say I only discovered these facts after I began to import instruments into this country; indeed my first trial at importation very nearly became my last. It happened in this way. Calling one day on Mons. N. F. Vuillaume in Brussels, I found him ruefully examining some violins which he had just unpacked from a large wooden case bearing railway labels of various
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