William Nunns

Biography

William Nunns was a New York piano maker who, in 1839, gave employment to the newly arrived Fischer brothers, John U. and Charles S. Fischer, descendants of a Naples piano-making family. The brothers soon became his partners under the firm name Nunns & Fischer. Nunns retired from the business in 1840, at which point the firm was renamed J. & C. Fischer and went on, under the Fischer brothers, to build considerable wealth as a maker of reliable pianos. No other biographical details, dates, or origins are given for Nunns in the text. From Spillane (1890): William Nunns came to New York from London in 1821 alongside his brother Robert, first working in the shop of Kearsing & Sons. In 1824 the brothers founded Robert & William Nunns at 96 Broadway, a firm noted for introducing French-style piano actions and for its honorable dealing, including its purchase of an improved piano "scale" from maker Charles Sackmeister rather than copying it uncredited. William later withdrew from the partnership with his brother to manufacture on his own account, and subsequently became associated with J. & C. Fischer, forming Nunns & Fischer; after 1840 this partnership dissolved and the business passed into J. & C. Fischer, with Nunns again withdrawing to work independently. William Nunns was described by Spillane as one of the most original piano-makers of his time. Almost half a century before Spillane's writing, Nunns collaborated at the start of what became the firm of J. Fischer, giving that house's beginnings in the New York piano trade an auspicious and noteworthy character. William Nunns is credited by Napoleon J. Haines with originating the idea for a double overstrung square grand piano that Haines's firm built in 1853, a claim the text states "cannot be overlooked." No further biographical detail is given.

Highlights

• Employed brothers John U. and Charles S. Fischer in New York in 1839, soon taking them on as partners under the name Nunns & Fischer.
• Retired in 1840, after which the firm became J. & C. Fischer.
• Co-founded R. & W. Nunns with brother Robert in 1824
• Withdrew and partnered with J. & C. Fischer, forming Nunns & Fischer, before again working independently after 1840
• Described as one of the most original piano-makers of his time
• Collaborated in the early beginnings of what became the firm J. & C. Fischer
• Credited by N. J. Haines with the idea behind a double overstrung square grand piano built in 1853

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 289.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 150, 151, 152, 153, 199, 208.

Public domain.