Bows for Musical Instruments of the Violin Family is a seminal luthier reference book compiled by the late Chicago violinist Joseph Madison Roda (1894–1970)[1] and published in 1959 by William Lewis and Son of Chicago. The book is about bows and bow makers and includes detailed illustrations prepared by Gladys Mickel Bell (1901–1992). Roda, a Czech immigrant from the small village Nový Dvůr near Myslív,[2] had been a violinist with the Chicago Grand Opera Company from 1933 to 1935 and a violist with the Chicago Symphony from 1936 to 1956 Bell, at the time, was a violinist, cellist, music educator, and sales person at William Lewis and Son.