Scan 290
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 220. See the scan on archive.org.
1England, by several workmen, each taking a portion, one making the backs, another the sides, another the bellies, and so on with the other parts of the instrument, the whole being arranged by a finisher. Such work must necessarily be void of any artistic nature; they are like instruments made in a mould, not on a mould, so painfully are they alike. This Manchester of Fiddle-making has doubtless been called into being by the great demand for cheap instruments, and has answered thus far its purpose, but it has certainly helped to destroy the gallant little bands of makers who were once common in France, Germany, and England, among whom were men who were guided by reverential feelings for the art, irrespective of the gains they reaped by their labours. The number of instruments yearly made in Mirecourt amounts to many thousands, and is yearly increasing. They send forth repeated copies of Amati, Maggini, Guarneri, and Stradivari, all duly labelled and dated, to all parts of the world, frequently disappointing their simple-minded purchasers, who fondly fancy they have thus become possessed of the real article at the trifling cost of a few pounds. They have recently sent forth a new kind of modern antique in Violins, which is causing a revolution in the Mirecourt manufacture, and is more deceptive than the stereotyped article which has been so long in the market. It has the appearance of having been boiled in some mixture of acids, giving it the aged look of the genuine thing to the inexperienced
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