It must be remembered that Dodd worked before foreign importation annihilated the English violin and bow making industries, and he turned out a large number of bows at prices ranging from a few shillings a dozen upwards. Thus it will be readily understood that there are many genuine Dodds in existence that are not worth looking at. His tenor bows are often excellent, and, as I said above, his 'cello bows represent him the best.
CHAPTER VI.
DR. SELLÈ'S RECOLLECTIONS OF DODD—HIS WORK AND POVERTY—DODD AND TOURTE—THE CALCULATION OF FÉTIS AND VUILLAUME.
It has been my great good fortune to be favoured with an interview with the veteran violinist, Doctor Sellè, of Richmond. This gentleman, now well on in his eighties, knew John Dodd most intimately, and gave me many interesting details about him. I have endeavoured to obtain a portrait of Dodd, but there does not seem to be anything of the sort in existence. However, Dr. Sellè gave me a graphic description of his personal appearance. In stature he was short and of a shuffling gait. As he affected nether garments of extreme brevity, very broad-brimmed hats, and was excessively negligent in the matter of clothing, etc., his habitual aspect was quaint and eccentric to a degree.
He was unfortunately very illiterate, and, according to Dr. Sellè, it is doubtful whether he could sign his own name.
In his work—the artistic excellence of which is remarkable under these circumstances—he was very secretive, giving as his reason for taking no apprentice, his desire that no one else should ever know or perpetuate his methods.
It has been said, and, I believe, on good authority, that he was once offered the sum of £1,000 for his "secret," a temptation that, despite his great poverty, he steadfastly resisted.
Doctor Sellè tells me that he distinctly remembers seeing Dodd cut out a bow from the rough plank with a curiously constructed double saw.
This is very remarkable as none of the bow makers now working know of such a tool, or can conceive the possibility of using one. Whether this may have any connexion with the much talked of "secret," it is impossible to say. It is probably another of those points in the history of the bow that seem doomed to remain shrouded in mystery.