Scan 370
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
10 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 302. See the scan on archive.org.
1are the work of John Lott and Bernard Fendt.
3T. Dodd,
4Violin, Violoncello
5and Bow Maker,
6New Street,
7Covent Garden.
9The merit of these instruments is of the highest order, and they are justly appreciated by both player and connoisseur. Thomas Dodd deserves to be mentioned in terms of high praise, notwithstanding that the work was not executed by him, for his judgment was brought to bear upon the manufacture during its various stages, and more particularly in the varnishing, in which he took the liveliest interest. He had a method of mixing colours, the superior qualities of which he seems to have fully known, if we may judge from the note on his labels, which runs thus: "The only possessor of the recipe for preparing the original Cremona varnish. Instruments improved and repaired." This undoubtedly savours of presumption, and is certainly wide of the truth. Nevertheless there is ample evidence that the varnish used by Thomas Dodd was very excellent, and had a rich appearance rarely to be met with in instruments of the English school. Dodd was encouraged in the art of varnish-making by persons of taste, who readily admitted the superior qualities of his composition, and paid him a handsome price for his instruments. He was thus enabled to gratify his taste in his productions by sparing no means to improve them. He ultimately
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