268
��NOTES BY THE WAY.
��Fell Puttick
and William
Simpson.
��Sale of violins.
��Copyrights
of
Cramer & Co. Leicester Square.
Sir Joshua Reynolds.
��Important sales.
��Hodgson's, Christie's, and Puttick & Simpson's. Of the first three much has been written ; but little has been said as to the last, so that I think the following notes may prove of interest.
The firm was founded by Mr. Stewart hi 1794, just twenty years later than Sotheby's ; but while Sotheby's sales were confined to books, Mr. Stewart conducted his business as a general auctioneer. There were also periodical sales of wines, many of the wines being of the choicest kind. In 1825 Stewart took Benjamin Wheatley, a member of the staff at Sotheby's, and Mr. Adlard, a son of the printer of that name, into partnership. After several changes the firm came into the hands of Fell Puttick and William Simpson, who abandoned the plan of promiscuous sales, and devoted much attention to the sales of musical instruments and copyrights. In this line the firm has a worldwide reputation, and those who seek a violin by Stradivarius or other historic maker watch for a sale at the great house in Leicester Square. In reference to such sales The Publishers' Circular, in an article on the Centenary of the firm, on the 5th of March, 1894, stated :
"As early as 1846, in the collection of Frangois Cramer, a Joseph Guarnerius violin sold for 66Z., an Andrew Guarnerius for 251., and a Nicolo Amati for 251. ; but these figures have been left behind since then in the dim distance. Curiously enough, in 1883, four violins and a violoncello, dated between 1687 and 1739, by Stradivari and others, made 1,615., against 6121. for the intervening library of a gentleman. The violin by Stradivari headed this list by 5001. , but in 1893 one completely beat the record by fetching 860Z."
In 1871 Messrs. Puttick & Simpson sold the music plates and copyrights of Cramer & Co., which brought a total of 35.000Z.
In 1859, after having been in Piccadilly for sixty- three years, the firm moved to their present quarters, 47, Leicester Square the house in which, as Mr. Beresford Chancellor reminds us in his valuable work on the squares of London, Sir Joshua Reynolds went to live in the summer of 1760, " being then thirty-six and at the height of his fame." This he took on a forty-seven years' lease, for which he gave 1,650?. He lived there until his death, which took place on the 23rd of February, 1792. On the 29th the body was removed to Somerset House, then the home of the Royal Academy ; and on the 3rd of March it was borne to St. Paul's, the funeral procession being of such length that when the first carriage reached the Cathedral the last was leaving Somerset House. While the other houses in Leicester Square have been rebuilt out of all recognition, Mr. Chancellor states that the front of Reynolds's house remains virtually the same.
In the year in which Puttick & Simpson moved to Leicester Square they sold the famous Dawson Turner Collection. This included the catalogue of Dr. Seaman's library. Other important book- sales included the Emperor Maximilian's Mexican library in
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