Books › The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925 › scan 73
Scan 73
The reminiscences of a fiddle dealer, 1925
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 49. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Famous Vuillaume
3from the fiddles he had varnished in the greenhouse, every drop of varnish he had put on, and at last I asked him why he did this. He laughed uproariously at my amazed looks, and said that, while the varnish he sold was good varnish and would make a fine job of a fiddle if put on according to the directions given, it could hardly be expected that he would give away his own varnish. I thought to myself that his customers when they used this summer-house varnish must have been greatly astonished at the result as it was as little like Vuillaume's varnish as their fiddles were like his, I suppose, in workmanship.
5M. Vuillaume invited me to stay and dine with them and, having no other engagement, I did so. During dinner he again, in answer to some remark I made, repeated his compliment by calling me a grand connoisseur. This I begged him not to do as he gave me credit for greater abilities than I possessed, and I told him that I was both ready and willing to learn of any who would take the trouble to teach me. "My friend," he said, "you are much too modest, I know all about your remarks on the violoncello of M. Jansen of Brussels, which I, as well as my brother, said was Italian of the Amati school. You said it was by an English maker and you were proved correct." Thus was honour thrust upon me and almost a reputation made through a very trivial incident that I had quite forgotten.
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