The Countess of Stanlein Restored: A History of the Countess of Stanlein Ex Paganini Stradivarius Cello of 1707

The book's dust jacket is dirty; shop worn, kind of looks like it was dragged across a dusty floor.

Not a bad little book. Lots of info. The only thing is it is a little bit too short. Might have gone into the various techniques restorers use.

An interesting story told in a easy to read manner. The way the story was unfolded kept me going all evening after I started. By the end of the night I finished the whole book. I like it.

Quick delivery. I'll enjoy reading it.

A little shorter than expected. More technical detail of the restoration is what I was hoping for. I enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Great information but should have been an article not a book.

A most charming book of a most valuable cello that almost was lost forever.

good read on the restoration

This short book is really an extended essay, and makes for a diverting evening's reading. Nicholas Delbanco is an accomplished prose stylist but he has chosen to concentrate on the human interest aspect of the story he tells and ends up saying comparatively little about the actual restoration of the instrument. It is clear he knows little about stringed instruments and their history. For instance, he asserts that viols and violas da gamba are different kinds of instrument -they are not; and he implies that cellos were developed from viols, a point which is, at the very least, highly contestable, notwithstanding the fact that some individual cellos were converted from individual viols. Overall, this is a book for enjoyment, and that is no bad thing, rather than for information.

Worth the money

nice book