Hi Glenn ~ This is an engaging report. It would be interesting to know more about the acquisition circumstances, since this appears to be a "collector's collection". The only item I can respond to is the non- Edison albums. These were made by other suppliers (obviously); I have one, purple cloth bound, "Edison Records" lettered on the spine and thick spacers at the spine interior to give more room between the sleeves.
I've also seen DD records of the pre-paper label era with no label information appearing. My guess about the one that should have a recording on one side but is blank, is that it's a test pressing rather than a hurried output of some kind. Given that this assortment of records seems to contain some key examples of Edison record types, one has to wonder if it has some connection to the Edison companies. How far from New Jersey are you? Sometimes variety packs like this one don't fall far from the tree. Regards, Andy Baron On Aug 12, 2008, at 7:54 AM, Glenn Longwell wrote: > Hi Folks, > I hit the Edison jackpot this weekend. I came home with about 115 > Edison records. Twenty four of them were in original Edison boxes, > one needle type and a Let Us Not Forget. In all, a good day! > There were some interesting peculiarities about the bunch though > which leads to some questions. > I haven't looked at all Edison DDs in the past but I've only ever > seen take letters after the matrix number. I pulled out several of > these early ones from the boxes and I see take numbers. I checked > them against a DD spreadsheet I have (don't remember who sent it to > me but it's a "complete" list of takes and matrix numbers) and only > take letters are listed for these records, not numbers. Is it > possible these are different takes or perhaps my take 2 is actually > considered B? I don't have doubles of any of these to compare. > Another peculiarity is 6 discs (not in boxes) that have the > Explanatory talk by Harry Humphrey on the L side. However, they > don't have the engraved label, it's blank. The matrix number and > take letter are there but no label. Could these be early pressings > they were trying to get out the door so quick they didn't finish > engraving the mold? > 50 of the records came in thick binders (10 records to a binder) > that say "Edison Records" in the spine. I'm positive they weren't > made by Edison as there's no Edison company info on it anywhere but > found it interesting as I'd never seen binders before specifically > for Edison DDs. > The last peculiarity I've seen before. A one sided DD that should > have a second side but it's blank. It's supposed to have the > Explanatory Talk on the other side. It's 82521. I'm guessing again > that this was an issue of needing to get it out the door quickly > before the other side was done. > For those that are interested for discographic reasons I'd be happy > to put together a spreadsheet of these early ones with matrix and > take numbers for comparison. Just let me know. > I've also noted that the boxes come in two colors, green for the > 80000 series and blue for the 82000 and 82500 series. Did the > 50000 series ever have boxes as well? If so, what color were the > boxes? Were there any other colors used? > Lastly, is there a record considered to be the first released DD? > Thanks, > Glenn > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
