Ledger Data

Transcription, enrichment, and compilation: Frédéric Levi Mazloum.

This directory contains historical dealer, workshop, auction, and trade ledgers used in the Violin Auction Trends Analytics project. Individual datasets may originate from archives, museums, private collections, published sources, or other documentary records. Source information and any source-specific licensing are documented within the relevant dataset folders.

Purpose

The objective of these datasets is to facilitate research into the historical trade of stringed instruments and bows, including:

• Violins
• Violas
• Cellos
• Double basses
• Bows
• Related workshop and dealer activities

The data may be used for historical, economic, organological, genealogical, and market-analysis research.

Data Structure

Where possible, datasets preserve a diplomatic transcription of the original source alongside enrichment fields added during processing.

The original transcription is never overwritten. Any corrections, standardizations, identifications, classifications, or analytical fields are stored separately in enrichment columns.

Common enrichment categories may include:

• Instrument type
• Maker identification
• Workshop or dealer attribution
• House-made production indicators
• Standardized names
• Price calculations
• Transaction classifications
• Cross-reference identifiers
• Match confidence indicators
• Data quality and discrepancy flags

Not all datasets contain all enrichment fields.

Methodology

• Original source data is preserved as faithfully as possible.
• Corrections based on source verification are documented separately from the original transcription.
• Genuine discrepancies found within historical records are preserved rather than harmonized.
• Monetary values are generally recorded in their original nominal currency unless explicitly stated otherwise.
• Historical price series should be interpreted with awareness of inflation, currency reforms, wartime disruptions, and other economic factors affecting comparability across periods.
• Any assumptions, normalizations, or matching procedures are documented at the dataset level whenever possible.

Licensing

Unless otherwise specified, material in this repository is distributed under the Apache License 2.0.

Some datasets may originate from institutions or archives with separate licensing requirements. In such cases, the original source license takes precedence and will be documented in the relevant dataset folder.

Use and Attribution

You are welcome to:

• Use the datasets in research projects.
• Incorporate them into analytical tools and databases.
• Create derivative works.
• Use them in commercial or non-commercial applications.

Please provide attribution to:

Frédéric Levi Mazloum — Violin Auction Trends Analytics

and comply with the applicable license terms.

Contributions

Contributions are welcome.

Particularly valuable contributions include:

• Additional dealer or workshop ledgers
• Auction records
• Bow datasets
• Viola datasets
• Cello datasets
• Double bass datasets
• Data corrections
• Source verification
• Documentation improvements
• Additional enrichment and matching work

To contribute:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a dedicated branch.
3. Commit your changes with clear documentation.
4. Submit a Pull Request for review.

Disclaimer

These datasets are intended as research resources. While care has been taken during transcription and enrichment, errors and ambiguities may remain in the underlying historical records. Users are encouraged to verify critical information against original sources whenever possible.

Corrections and improvements are always welcome through pull requests.

Current Release Scope

This first release of the Historical Violin Trade Datasets contains only violin transactions from the Lupot–Gand–Bernardel–Caressa–Français ledger corpus covering the period 1918–1943.

Although the broader project is designed to include multiple historical violin trade ledgers from different workshops (maison-level archives), this version is limited to a single corpus and a single instrument category (violins only).

Future releases will expand the dataset to additional instrument types and/or additional archival ledger collections.