Scan 389
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
8 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 319. See the scan on archive.org.
1JOHNSON, John, London, 1750. The Violins bearing his label are dated from Cheapside.
3Made and sold by John Johnson, at the Harp and Crown, in Cheapside, London.
5Johnson was a music and musical instrument seller. In "The Professional Life of Dibdin," written by himself, we have the following reference to this City music-seller: "My brother introduced me to old Johnson, who at that time kept a capital music-shop in Cheapside.1 I soon, however, grew tired of an attendance on him. He set me down to tune Harpsichords, a mere mechanical employment, not at all to my taste." "I saw plainly that I might have screwed up Harpsichords in old Johnson's shop to all eternity, without advancing my fortune; and as to the songs and sonatas that I brought him for sale, they had not been performed at the theatres nor Vauxhall, nor any other place, and Johnson would not print them." "The Thompsons, however, of St. Paul's Churchyard, published six ballads for me, which sold at three-halfpence a-piece, and for the copyright of which they generously gave me three guineas." Though we may not feel disposed to apply the term "generous" to a payment of half-a-
71 Dibdin's brother was captain of a merchant vessel, and was intimate with Johnson the music-seller. On the death of Captain Dibdin his brother composed "Tom Bowling," the music and words of which bespeak the fraternal love of the composer.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.