Scan 11
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1some little anxiety as to the reception awaiting them. I have lived in the atmosphere of Fiddles all my days, and have, perhaps, possessed peculiar advantages for learning much about them; but whether I have succeeded in conveying to the reader information at once new and interesting remains to be seen. The task was undertaken by me at the suggestion of several friends, who felt that there was room for a more detailed work on the subject than as yet existed, and thus induced me to take the pen in hand. Upon your verdict wholly depends the issue whether I shall have reason to feel indebted to my friends for their counsel.
3And now a word or two with regard to the contents of the book. For years I have been impressed with the idea that a work of this kind, illustrated with specimens of the productions of the chief Cremonese makers, would be received with delight by connoisseurs. To know how to carry out this idea with any degree of success was a problem I was long unable to solve. Not to trouble you with the various processes which I brought to bear on the subject, I may say that it at length occurred to me that a combination of photography and wood engraving would ensure the double requisites of correctness and durability. By this process all the points in the outline of the work could not fail to be in accordance with the original. As many of the instruments were photographed at different times and places, a uniform scale has not been attempted; indeed, the small size of the engravings would preclude the possibility of its adoption forming any safe guide in the matter, the calculation being too minute. In the selection of specimens, I have taken those instruments that I deemed would show the various styles to the best advantage; it must be borne in mind,
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