Scan 488
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
6 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 334. See the scan on archive.org.
1professional hands in the whole kingdom; and where the owner bought it, if he did buy it; and what he gave for it, or from whom he inherited it, if it came to him as an heir-loom. Of those of them which have passed through his hands, he has got fac-similes taken in plaster, which serve as exemplars for his own manufactures. Upon the death of the owner of one of these rarities, Schnapps takes care to learn particulars; and if the effects of the deceased come under the hammer, he starts off to the sale, however distant, where, unless some of his metropolitan rivals in trade have likewise caught the scent, he has the bidding all his own way, and carries off the prize.
3"The inundation of German Fiddles, which may be bought new for a few shillings, have swamped English makers of cheap instruments, of which there are by this time five times as many in the market as there is any occasion for. Hence it is that Fiddles meet us everywhere; they cumber the toy-shop; they house with the furniture-dealer; they swarm by thousands in the pawnbroker's stores, and block out the light from his windows; they hang on the tobacconist's walls; they are raffled at public-houses; and they form an item in every auctioneer's catalogue.
5"Meanwhile the multiplication of rubbish only enhances the value of gold; and a Fiddle worthy of an applauding verdict from old Borax is more difficult of acquisition than ever. So I shall keep my Cremona."—Edinburgh Journal, 1848.
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