Is there a good Columbia Records reference?

Discussions on Records, Recording, & Artists
MarkELynch
Victor II
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Location: Silver Spring, MD

Re: Is there a good Columbia Records reference?

Post by MarkELynch »

Discographers Brian Rust and Tim Brooks published a four volume set of books entitled The Columbia Master Book Discography. The publication date was 1999 but it may still be available. It covers every American issued Columbia recording.

Here is a description.

This detailed compilation of Columbia recordings gathers information about every Columbia disc record made between 1901 and 1934 and designed for American use. The listings also include recordings that were never issued. Recording dates, including re-makes, titles, composers, artists, and catalogue numbers (when allocated for issue) are shown. Where available in the original company files, the details of accompanists to soloists, the vocalists on dance records, and the pseudonyms often employed by certain artists are all shown in detail. A history of the Columbia Phonograph Company to 1934, and analysis of its recording programs and printed matter is also included. The work is divided among four volumes. The first volume covers the Matrix Series 1 through 4999 spanning the years 1901 to 1910. The second volume covers the Principal U.S. Matrix Series spanning the years 1910 to 1924. The third volume covers the Principal U.S. Matrix Series spanning the years 1924 to 1934. The fourth volume covers the 12-inch U.S. Matrix Series spanning the years 1906 to 1931. Some 28,000 titles are included that trace the changes in popular taste during the first third of the 20th century.

melvind
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Re: Is there a good Columbia Records reference?

Post by melvind »

Thanks! I will look for them.

melvind
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Re: Is there a good Columbia Records reference?

Post by melvind »

I found that there is at least some of these books on the USCB DAHR website.http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.ph ... detail/124. If they have all the record matrix and numbers somewhere, it is not clear to me how to find them. The record I was looking for does not show up at all in DAHR and the link above has what seems to be introductions to various volumes and sections.

I sure wish I understood how things are organized on this site. It has great info, but I find it really hard to find things. The Victor records seem to be the most complete part, but Columbia seems to be hit and miss.

Rastus10
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Re: Is there a good Columbia Records reference?

Post by Rastus10 »

When I was a graduate assistant and borrowed the 1901-25 volumes of the Columbia discography through Interlibrary Loan, I had access to a departmental photocopying card with thousands of dollars on it. Given the expense of those volumes now and then, I really wish that I had used it to spend a few hours on that copying "project." Nothing like a paper copy, even if slightly less than above-board. As if that matters in the scheme of things for such a selective interest.

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howardpgh
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Location: Pittsburgh

Re: Is there a good Columbia Records reference?

Post by howardpgh »

Gramophone-georg
The even and uneven circles are a code for where the record was pressed. The circles are also sometimes split at the top over the picture as part of the secret code.
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