Scan 439
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
5 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 347. See the scan on archive.org.
1you will recollect that I have shown you all the tools I have, and also the box containing the patterns. . . .
2I place all at your disposal, and as it is simply a friendly matter (Paolo Stradivari appears to have had large dealings in cloth and other goods with the firm of Anselmi di Briati, of Casale, a small city on the Pò), I will give you everything for twenty-eight giliati."* It does not appear that Paolo's correspondents were moved in their answer by any feelings of sentimentality or of friendship: on the contrary, the tone of the letter was clearly commercial, they having made an offer of twenty-three giliati less than demanded. Paolo Stradivari in his reply, dated June 4th, 1776, says: "Putting ceremony aside, I write in a mercantile style. I see from your favour of the 13th ultimo, (which I only received by the last courier) that you offer me five giliati for all the patterns and moulds which I happen to possess, as well as for those lent to Bergonzi, and also for the tools of the trade of my late father; but this is too little; however, to show you the desire I have to please you, and in order that not a single thing belonging to my father be left in Cremona, I will part with them for six giliati, providing that you pay them at once into the hands of Domenico Dupuy & Sons, silk stocking manufacturers. I
4*A giliati was a Tuscan gold coin bearing the arms of Florence. The value of which was 9s. 6½d. Its present purchasing power would probably be three times as much, and therefore the sum asked by Paolo Stradivari would be equal to £38 12s. 10½d.
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