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A Selection from the Workshop of Andrew Fairfax - 30th October

Start date Friday 16 October 2026 End date Friday 30 October 2026

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A Selection from the Workshop of Andrew Fairfax

Andrew Fairfax (1953-2025)

Andrew Fairfax was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, on 28th May 1953, the son of a police officer. He was proud of the family’s descent from Sir Thomas Fairfax, Cromwell’s commander in the Civil War, and later named his own sons Thomas and Oliver.

Andrew trained at the Newark School of Violin Making, where in his final year he met a Dutch student, Anneleen van der Grinten, whom he later married.

His first job was in the van der Grinten family workshop in Amersfoort, in the Netherlands. In 1982 he returned to London to join the workshops of Charles Beare, where he stayed for more than thirty years. Those years gave him daily contact with some of the finest instruments in existence, Stradivari and Guarneri among them, and with players such as Nicola Benedetti and Pinchas Zukerman. He became known in particular for his set-ups.

In January 2014 he left Beare’s to concentrate on making new instruments. He and Anneleen had built a house in Tunbridge Wells with a shared workshop, where he made and she restored. He was exceptionally generous with his time and knowledge during this period and was a great help to many of us in the trade looking for advice.

Alongside the bench, he was a serious historian. He researched the 1988 British Violin exhibition and co-wrote its catalogue, which the British Violin Making Association published in 2000. He was a founder member of the BVMA, and a second book with them, on the Voller Brothers, followed in 2006.

His later research centred on the Panormo family, and took him into archives in Italy, France and Ireland. The result was the Panormo exhibition held in London in 2016, which he curated, together with its catalogue. He had hoped to turn that work into a full book on the family, but did not live to finish it.

He taught and lectured a great deal: at Newark, at the Oberlin workshops in America, on the BVMA’s set-up courses, and across Europe through the EILA, as well as in Australia and Asia.

He died in Tunbridge Wells on 9th December 2025, after a long illness, and is survived by Anneleen, their two sons and three grandchildren.

He was a vegetarian, a good cook and a lover of wine.

My overriding memory of him is of a deeply honourable man. I feel privileged to have known him.

James, 16th October 2026

These Lots will be available to view at The Langham.

Sunday 25th - 10am to 5pm
Monday 26th - 10am to 5pm

Open viewing.

If you have any questions about the auction please email [email protected] or call

+44(0)20 7099 7114.

Buyers' Fee is 22% and VAT may be applicable.

Shipping Zones
Zone 1 - UK | Zone 2 - Europe | Zone 3 - US/Canada | Zone 4 - International
Please note shipping rates are for guidance only.

Lot	Title	Estimate	Bid
1	The Voller Brothers By John Dilworth, Andrew Fairfax & John Milnes	£10 - £20	£30	View
2	I Segreti di Sgarabotto Liuteria Emiliana del Novecento	£10 - £20	£20	View
3	I violoncelli di Antonio Stradivari / Antonio Stradivari's Cellos Ente Triennale Internazionale degli Strumenti ad Arco / Consorzio Liutai Antonio Stradivari Cremona	£10 - £20	£30	View
4	The American Violin	£10 - £20	£30	View
5	The British Violin The catalogue of the 1998 exhibition '400 Years of Violin & Bow Making in the British Isles'. British Violin Making Association	£10 - £20	£40	View
6	The A to Z of Georgian London Introductory notes by Ralph Hyde. Harry Margary, Lympne Castle, Kent, in association with Guildhall Library, London, 1981	£10 - £20	£10	View
7	Violin Makers of the German School Volume A-K Volume L-Z By Walter Hamma	£10 - £20	£90	View
8	Slavné Evropské Housle / Famous European Violins By Jaroslav Svěcený	£10 - £20	£10	View
9	De Vlaamse Muziek In de maatschappij van de 15de en 16de eeuw. By Robert Wangermée	£10 - £20	£10	View
10	The Meisel Family Violinmakers Klingenthal, Vogtland, Saxony. By K. Lothar Meisel with Betty Vos	£10 - £20	£10	View
11	German and Austrian Violin-Makers By Karel Jalovec. Paul Hamlyn. Water staining to the title page	£10 - £20	£10	View
12	Franz Geissenhof und seine Zeit / Franz Geissenhof and His Time By Rudolf Hopfner, with biographical essays by Rita Steblin. Edition Bochinsky / Kunsthistorisches Museum	£10 - £20	£40	View
13	Polska Szkoła Lutnicza Instrumenty Grobliczów i Dankwartów	£10 - £20	£10	View
14	Violin Making in Scotland 1750-1950 By David Rattray. British Violin Making Association	£10 - £20	£10	View
15	Edward Withers Ltd 230 Years of Violin Craft in Soho By Adam Whone	£10 - £20	£30	View
16	Originali, Modelli e Copie Exhibition catalogue. Ente Triennale Internazionale degli Strumenti ad Arco, with the Consorzio Liutai & Archettai Antonio Stradivari, Cremona	£10 - £20	£10	View
17	The Cooper Collection, Volumes 1 and 2 By Albert W. Cooper	£10 - £20	£30	View
18	Johann Öhbergs Violoncelli By Bengt Nilsson	£10 - £20	£10	View
19	Polskie Skrzypce w Musée de la Musique w Paryżu / Polish Violin in the Musée de la Musique in Paris Unknown works of Polish violin making masters. By Jan Bartoś. Wydawnictwo Akademii Muzycznej w Poznaniu	£10 - £20	£10	View
20	400 Jaar Vioolbouwkunst in Nederland / 400 Years of Violin Making in the Netherlands	£10 - £20	£50	View
21	Masterpieces of Italian Violin Making Important Stringed Instruments from the Collection at the Royal Academy of Music By David Rattray	£10 - £20	£20	View
22	Preziosi Strumenti, Illustri Personaggi Liuteria e Musica tra Seicento e Novecento in Europa. Edited by Giovanni Accornero. Edizioni Il Salabue / La Venaria Reale	£10 - £20	£10	View
23	The Legend of Italian Violins Brescian and Cremonese Violin Makers 1550-1950. Chimei Museum	£10 - £20	£10	View
24	Benjamin Banks, The Salisbury Violin Maker 1727-1795 By Albert W. Cooper	£10 - £20	£10	View

Total lots: 259

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A Selection from the Workshop of Andrew Fairfax - 30th October

A Selection from the Workshop of Andrew Fairfax

Sunday 25th - 10am to 5pmMonday 26th - 10am to 5pmOpen viewing.

If you have any questions about the auction please email [email protected] or call

+44(0)20 7099 7114.

Buyers' Fee is 22% and VAT may be applicable.

Shipping Zones Zone 1 - UK | Zone 2 - Europe | Zone 3 - US/Canada | Zone 4 - InternationalPlease note shipping rates are for guidance only.

Sunday 25th - 10am to 5pm
Monday 26th - 10am to 5pm

Open viewing.

Shipping Zones
Zone 1 - UK | Zone 2 - Europe | Zone 3 - US/Canada | Zone 4 - International
Please note shipping rates are for guidance only.