For Subscribers

‘To my surprise I found it to be a splendid Strad’ - From the Archive: April 1925

2025-04-11T09:00:00

GettyImages-158730215

In his recently published memoir, the Scottish instrument dealer David Laurie (1833–97) recalls finding a Stradivari cello in the attic of one of his friends, and obtaining it for a song

My friend N. F. Vuillaume had removed to a large self-contained house. His new house was a large one of four flats, but only partly furnished, he himself occupying two rooms, while the attics, which were cramped and inconvenient, were arranged as workrooms for his man Nicholas. In these attics, between the heat in summer and the intense cold in winter, poor Nicholas put in rather a rough time. I called one afternoon to see M. Vuillaume but he had gone out, and no one knew when he would be back, so I mounted the four flights of stairs to have a chat with Nicholas…

Already subscribed? Please sign in

Subscribe to continue reading…

We’re delighted that you are enjoying our website. For a limited period, you can try an online subscription to The Strad completely free of charge.

  • Free 7-day trial

    Not sure about subscribing? Sign up now to read this article in full and you’ll also receive unlimited access to premium online content, including the digital edition and online archive for 7 days.

    Free trial

    No strings attached – we won’t ask for your card details

  • Subscribe 

    No more paywalls. To enjoy the best in-depth features and analysis from The Strad’s latest and past issues, upgrade to a subscription now. You’ll also enjoy regular issues and special supplements* and access to an online archive of issues back to 2010.

    Subscribe

 

* Issues and supplements are available as both print and digital editions. Online subscribers will only receive access to the digital versions.