George Hatton Buckman

He was born in Snargate Street, Dover, on Oct. 23, 1845, and he works en amateur at Kearsney. He was educated at a private school in his native town, called the "Dover Collegium," which was then under the tutorship of one Herr Hawkerkamp. He has made very many instruments on the Stradivari and Guarneri models. Some of the Guarneri copies have been made after a fine Joseph which is in the possession of C. M. Gann, Esq., of Canterbury, and they are in every way excellent instruments. The Strad copies are of rather full dimensions, some being 14 1/4 in. long. In the latter the greatest width across the upper bouts is 6 5/8 in., and that across the lower bouts 8 3/8 in. full. The height of the sides in a specimen I examined was 1 1/4in., diminishing to 1 3/16in., but in the majority it is maintained at 1 1/14in. throughout. The C openings are 3 in. from corner to corner, and the sound-holes 2 1/2 in. from wing-angle to wing-angle. These latter, together with the scroll, form the crux of the imitator's art. They form also the two abutments of the asses' bridge in fiddle-making. Suffice it to say that Mr. Buckman has crossed this bridge in a chariot drawn by a strong contingent of the Naiadian nymphs. He stoops to imitate, but stoops to conquer at the same time. His is not the servile imitation so frequently observed even in high-class work of the modern French school. It is the imitation which produces the salient points and which also bears the impress of originality. In his sound-holes (I speak now of those in his Joseph copies), Buckman has succeeded in creating through and in spite of imitation. The Gothic quaintness of the master is there, but it is gently toned down by the graceful sweep of the outer line. The same might be said of the scroll. Joseph's scrolls are sometimes described as being of the "bull-dog" type. Buckman's copies have the " bull-dog " face also, but minus a great deal of the usual ferocity. Some years ago, a MS. of the Federal Constitution of the United States was so written that, when held at a distance, the shading of the letters and their arrangement showed the countenance of George Washington, but close at hand it looked like a copy of the fundamental law of the United Statesthat is, the face of the Father of his country and the laws of the great Constitution were represented by one and the same thing. So in Mr. Buckman's work. View it broadly, and you see the sign-manual of the living artist ; view it closely, and you discover the dicta of the great classical epoch. Several of this maker's instruments are made with a slab back. In one of these the archings are rather flatter than usual, owing to the wedge from which the back was cut being somewhat thin, but the "correct" cubic capacity is maintained, and the tone is both large and brilliant. In nearly all the instruments with a slab back, the curl of the maple runs at an angle of forty-five degrees to the longitudinal axis, giving a very pretty effect to the whole. Mr. Buckman has played the violin from his youth, but he now suffers from nerve-deafness, and loses during its recurring attacks all perception of melody. Facsimile label : — GEO. H. BUCKMAN, DOVER, 1899.