the Alfred Slotnick Collection of rare violin books JAMES CUMMINS bookseller 699 Madison Ave, New York, 10065 | tel: (212) 688-6441 | fax: (212) 688-6192 | jamescumminsbookseller.com large and useful collection of violin books for the connoisseur of rare and important violins. A With over 100 titles ranging from the 18th to the 20th century, the collection includes works of reference and scholarship, biographies and memoirs of famous luthiers and violinists, catalogues of notable collections of rare violins, rare violin dealer catalogues, violin method books, the ico- nography of the violin, and works on the construction and maintenance of violins. The collection was formed over many years by rare book dealer and collector Alfred Slotnick. 1] Illustrated. 85, [1] pp. 8vo. London: William E. Hill, 1962. First ALTADILL, Julio English edition. Publisher’s green cloth. Near fine. $20 Memorias de Sarasate Frontispiece, musical examples. 8vo. Pamplona: Aramendía y 6] Onsalo, 1909. First edition. Contemporary tree-stained sheep, red BOLANDER, John Alfred morocco spine label. Spine scuffed. $100 Bow Making. 1000 Bows and a Tribute 37 pp. 8vo. San Jose, California: Bow de Fiddle, n.d., ca. 1950. Copy 2] no. 152 of an unknown limitation. Printed wrappers. APIAN-BENNEWITZ, Paul Otto A privately printed manual and appreciation of bow making, by Die Geige, der Geigenbau und die Bogenverfertigung the bow maker John Alfred Bolander. $50 xii, 415, [1] pp., without atlas volume. 8vo. Weimar: Bernhard Frie- drich Voigt, 1892. First edition. Publisher’s brown cloth, stamped 7] in gilt. Pages toned. Contemporary owner’s name to title-page BOLTSHAUSER, Hans and ffep. $100 Die Geigenbauer der Schweiz Mit 59 Portraits und 38 Kunstdrucktafeln. 4to. Switzerland: 3] Haelg-Verlag Degersheim, (1969). First edition. Publisher’s gray BACHMANN, Alberto cloth. Fine in lightly shelfworn dust-jacket. Les Grands Violonistes du Passé Reference work on Swiss violin makers, with short bios and pho- Fold-out chart, musical examples throughout. vi, 468 [2] pp. 4to. tographs of violins and labels. $150 Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1913. First edition. Publisher’s wrap- pers with printed French-fold jacket. Covers loose from spine, 8] spine ends worn. $100 BOYDEN, David D Catalogue of The Hill Collection of Musical Instruments in the Ash- 4] molean Museum, Oxford BALLARD, Francis Drake Illustrated. 4to. London: Oxford University Press, 1969. First The Appreciation of Rare Violins edition. Publisher’s beige cloth. Near fine in edgeworn dust-jacket. xxiv, [ii], 103, [1] pp. 8vo. Troy, Pennsylvania: Francis Drake Ballard, $20 1945. Gift edition, numberd 21 and signed by the author on the ffep. Publisher’s dark red cloth. Very good in chipped dust-jacket. 9] Bookplate. $50 [BUONANNI, Filippo] Traité des Vernis. Où l’on donne la maniere d’en composer un, qui 5] ressemble parfaitement à celui de la Chine, & plusieurs autres qui concer- BARUZZI, Arnaldo nent la peinture, la dorure, la gravure à l’eau forte, &c La Casa Nuziale. The Home of Antonio Stradivari. 1667-1680 Illustrated. [xii], 206, [2] pp. 12mo. Paris: Laurent d’Houry, 1723. 2 | James Cummins bookseller First French edition. Contemporary sheep, red morocco spine 16] label. Covers worn, with boards showing through in spots, light DE WITT, Paul spotting and staining to text. Contemporary manuscript annota- Geigenzettel alter Meister. Vom 16 Bis Zur Mitte des 19 Jahrhunderts tions to ffep. 78 plates showing luthiers labels. 4to. Frankfurt/Main: Verlag das First French edition of this treatise on varnish, published first in Muskinstrument, 1976. Facsimile of the 1910 edition. Publisher’s Italian in 1720. $850 blue cloth. Near fine. Violin makers from the 16th to 19th century, with illustrations of 10] labels. $150 Catalog of Rare Old Violins, Violas and Violoncellos. Also Bows of Rare Makers. Collection of Lyon & Healy, Chicago 17] 9 plates (most in color). 63 pp. 8vo. Chicago: Lyon & Healy, Au- DOLMETSCH, Nathalie gust, 1919. Publisher’s printed wrappers. Near fine. The Viola da Gamba. Its Origin and History, its Technique and Musical Rare violin dealer Lyon & Healy’s catalog no. 31. With a typed list Resources of famous violinists and their violins tipped-in at title-pagei. $35 Illustrated. 4to. New York: Hinrischsen Edition Ltd, (1962). First edition. Green cloth. Very good in printed dust-jacket, toned and 11] edgeworn. $30 Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ancient Musical Instruments, MDCCCLXXII [1872] 18] Illustrated with sixteen 7 x 8 in. albumen print photographs DRÖGEMEYER, Herm[ann] Aug[ust] of musical instruments. xi, [i], 48 pp. 4to. London: Science and Die Geige Art Department, South Kensington Museum. Printed by John Frontispiece. 204 pp. 12mo. Bremen: A. Meinhardt, 1892. Later half Strangeways, 1873. First edition. Original printed wrappers. Re- cloth and paper-covered boards. $75 backed, spine cracked, covers worn and soiled, some foxing and soiling throughout, albumen prints fine. $200 19] EHRLICH, A 12] CHEKHOV, Anton P Berühmte Geiger der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Eine Sammlung von 88 Biographien und Portraits Rothschild’s Fiddle and Other Stories Illustrated. 8vo. Leipzig: A.H. Payne, 1893. First edition. Publish- 12mo. New York: Boni and Liveright, Inc, n.d. Publisher’s brown er’s decorated cloth. Spine darkened, very good. Previous owner’s leather-patterned cloth. Extremities rubbed. $15 stamp on title-page. Biographies of 88 violinists with portraits. $50 13] COUTAGNE, Henry 20] Gaspard Duiffoproucart et les Luthiers Lyonnais de XVIe Siècle FERRIS, George T Frontispiece. 79, [1] pp. 8vo. Paris: Librarie Fischbacher, 1893. Re- Great Violinists and Pianists moved from binding and bound in plain card covers. $30 12mo. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1891. Publisher’s half brown cloth and printed paper boardss. Covers worn, very good. 14] $25 DAVIDSON, P[eter] The Violin: Its Construction Theoretically and Practically Treated 21] Frontispiece. viii, 301, [1] pp. 8vo. Loudsville, White Col. Ga., FÉTIS, F.J U.S.A: Peter Davidson. Bernard Goodwin, 24 Crawford Street, Pat- Antoine Stradivari, Luthier Célèbre Connu sous le Nom de Stradivarius rick, Glasgow, Scotland, 1895. Fifth edition. Publisher‘s embossed Frontispiece facsimile of Stradivarius letter, illustrations to text. red cloth. Light wear to binding, front hinge cracked. [vi], 128 pp. 8vo. Paris: Vuillaume, Luthier, 1856. First edition. Fifth edition of this violin making manual with a dual Geor- Contemporary half red morocco and marbled boards by Pouget. gia-Scotland imprint. $50 Binding rubbed, staining to top margin of text, some foxing. $150 15] 22] DE COGAN, Philip FLEMING, James M The Violin: How to Construct and How to Graduate It, According to the Old Violins and Their Makers: Including Some References to Those of Nature and Growth of the Wood Modern Times Photographic frontispiece, two plates showing patterns for violin Frontispiece. viii, 331, [1] pp., + publisher’s catalogue, ads on front construction. [ii], 19, [1] pp. 8vo. Providence, R.I: Press of Whitte- pastedown. London: I. Upcott GIll, n.d., ca. 1883. Reprint. Publish- more & Colburn, 1893. First edition. Original brown cloth, titled er’s decorated cloth. Near fine. $35 in gilt on front cover. Light wear to covers. A short essay on construction of violins by Providence, Rhode Island, luthier Philip de Cogan. $100 the alfred slotnick violin collection | 3 23] 30] FOUCHER, G. HAMMA, Walter Repairing, Restoring and Adjustment of the Violin Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst. Italian Violin Makers. Maitres Illustrated. 12mo. London: 1896. Publisher’s brown cloth. Very Luthiers Italiens good. $35 Illustrated throughout. 728 pp. Text in German, English and French. 4to. New York: Baerenreiter Music Publishers Inc, (1964). 24] No. 1333 of 2400 copies. Publisher’s quarter black leather and beige FOUCHER, G cloth. Near fine in pictorial dust-jacket, lightly shelfworn. Treatise on the History & Construction of the Violin A much expanded edition of Fridolin Hamma’s Meisterweke London: College of Violinists, 1894. Publisher’s brown cloth. Light italienischer Geigenbaukunst (1931) by his son Walter Hamma, wear to covers, previous owners’ ink stamps to title-page. himself a master violin maker. $400 A textbook on the construction of violins written specifically for students preparing for entrance to the College of Violinists. $75 31] HANKS, F.J A Complete System for the Violin 25] FRY, George Printed musical notation throughout. 101, [3] pp. 4to. Boston: John P. Jewett & Company. Cincinnati: Timothy B. Mason, 1846. The Varnishes of the Italian Violin-Makers of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth Publisher’s quarter green cloth and illustrated paper over boards. and Eighteenth Centuries and Their Influence on Tone Light wear to covers. Contemporary owner’s signature to ti- London: Stevens & Sons, 1904. First edition. Publisher’s green tle-page and a few annotations to text. cloth. Light shelfwear. $50 A violin method aimed specifically at the “American Violinists.” With a page of contemporary manuscript musical notation on the 26] rear free end paper showing the hand positions and names of the GOODKIND, Herbert K. notes on each string for each position. $100 Violin Iconography of Antonio Stradivari Color frontispiece and 1,500 b/w photographs. 780 pp. Larchmont, 32] New York: Published by the author, 1972. First edition. Publisher’s HART, George brown cloth, spine label, color illustration to front cover, in yellow The Violin and its Music card slipcase. Near fine. Illustrated. xi, [i], 484 pp. Thick 8vo. London: Dulau and Co. No- A comprehensive reference work on the violins of Stradivari, with vello and Co, 1881. First edition. Publisher’s green cloth, stamped a census of 700 known instruments, index of 3,500 past and pres- in gilt. Covers worn and soiled, rear hinge cracked. ent owners, and 1,500 photographs. $400 Inscribed “with the author’s kind regards” on the ffep. $75 27] 33] GOSLING, Henry F. HART, George The Violinist’s Manual The Violin: Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators Illustrated. 12mo. London: William Reeves, n.d.