c. 1831 R.&W. Davis

R.&W. Davis was primarily a London dealer, who generally contracted to have instruments built offsite, but occasionally had guitars made on the premises by journeymen luthiers. One such journeyman was Joseph Gerard (c. 1806–1844). Gerard was a favorite maker of the acclaimed British guitar virtuoso, composer, and tutor Catharina Josepha Pelzer, later known through marriage as Madame Sidney Pratten.

There is evidence to suggest that Gerard arrived in London in 1831 to build guitars in the Davis workshop, as one extant guitar labeled by Davis is signed under the soundboard “Joseph Gerard/á Londres/1831.” Although Gerard claimed he was from Paris, he probably was born and initially trained in Mirecourt in northeastern France. (It was fashionable at the time for French émigrés to embellish their resumes by claiming they worked in the capital.)

The 1830s R.&W. Davis guitar in the Austin-Marie Collection looks nearly identical to one signed by Gerard, held in the Royal College of Music collection in London and is likely one of his instruments. With its back and sides made of Brazilian rosewood, topped with an ornate headstock, it portrays a typical Mirecourt design.

R.&W. Davis did business into the next decade before selling their firm in 1846 to violin maker Edward Withers.