Early Diamond Disc record prices and 12 inch Diamond Discs?

[Valecnik]

I've had this record sleeve around and never really read it before I guess. I hope the pricelist is readable in the lower right. It lists several series of 12 inch Diamond Discs for a much as $6.00 per record! I can't find any date on the sleeve but it must be 1912-1913 and it must have been printed in anticpation that these expensive 12 inch records would be offered. Of course none were, except for a few sample records, until the advent of the Edison Longplay.

Here's the other side. Note that even this 10 inch title sold for a whopping two dollars!

[MordEth]

I find it interesting how seriously Edison took his patents and licenses...from the first scanned image:

EDISON RECORD

Manufactured by

Thomas A. Edison, Inc., Orange, N.J., U.S.A.

Every genuine Edison Record bears this signature [Thomas A. Edison]
Patented in the United States, November 25, 1902, July 12, 1910, March 19, 1912, December 3, 1912. Other Patents Pending.
Patented in Foreign Countries.

NOTICE.

No license whatever is granted to anyone to use this patented record for making duplicates nor for any other purpose except the reproduction of sound upon an Edison Phonograph. Edison Records are supplied by us to Jobbers and Dealers who are our licensees under written license agreements. All Jobbers’ license agreements provide that they shall not sell or supply this patented record to anyone except licensed Dealers, and all Dealers’ license agreements provide that they shall not sell this patented record in the United States for less than the price given in the accompanying schedule. No license is granted to the public to use this patented record except upon payment of the current catalogue retail list price to a licensed Dealer. Until such payment has been made, no license is granted for the use of this patented record except by licensed Jobbers and Dealers for the purposes of demonstration only, nor for its sale at a less price (except that licensed Jobbers may give authorized discounts to licensed Dealers), nor for any dealings therein by persons not holding our written license. Any violation hereof or of the license agreements of our licensees is an infringement of our patent rights for which every person concerned therein is liable.

THOMAS A. EDISON, INCORPORATED.

EDISON DISC RECORDS

U.S. Retail List Prices

10 inch Nos. 82001 to 82500 ................ $ 2.00
10 inch Nos. 82501 to 83000 ................     2.50
10 inch Nos. 83001 to 83500 ................     3.00
10 inch Nos. 83501 to 84000 ................     3.50
10 inch Nos. 84001 to 84500 ................     4.00
10 inch Nos. 84501 to 85000 ................     4.50
10 inch Nos. 85001 to 85500 ................     5.00
10 inch Nos. 85501 to 86000 ................     5.50
10 inch Nos. 86001 to 86500 ................     6.00

12 inch Nos. 92001 to 92500 ................ $ 2.00
12 inch Nos. 92501 to 93000 ................     2.50
12 inch Nos. 93001 to 93500 ................     3.00
12 inch Nos. 93501 to 94000 ................     3.50
12 inch Nos. 94001 to 94500 ................     4.00
12 inch Nos. 94501 to 95000 ................     4.50
12 inch Nos. 95001 to 95500 ................     5.00
12 inch Nos. 95501 to 96000 ................     5.50
12 inch Nos. 96001 to 96500 ................     6.00

For prices in other Countries see current catalogue of Edison Records in such Country.

[hr][/hr]
And the text from the second scan:

No. 82043

RONDO CAPRICCIOSO
C. Saint Saëns
VIOLIN SOLO
PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT

AMONG the foremost of French composers stands Charles Saint Saëns, who was born in Paris, October 9th, 1835. At the age of two and a half years he began the study of the piano; at five he could easily play a Grétry opera from the score, while at seven he entered the Conservatoire at Paris, being taught by Stamaty, Maleden and Halevy.

In 1853, when only eighteen, he was appointed organist at the church of St. Merry, and from 1861 to 1877 was organist at the Madeleine, Paris, succeeding Lefébure-Wély. The greatest triumph of his early career was attained in 1867, when the price was unanimously awarded to him for his cantata, “Les Noces de Prométhée” in the competition organized during the International Exhibition of that year—a prize competed for by over two hundred musicians.

Though he acquired a great name as a pianist, making many successful concert tours through Europe, Saint-Saëns is best known through his many compositions.

“Rondo Capriccioso” for the violin, is a striking piece in its technical brilliancies, and well demonstrates the genius of its composer. It has, by reason of its difficulties of performance and its beautiful themes, long been a favorite among concert players.

MEDITATION—THAÏS
Massenet
VIOLIN SOLO
PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT*

THE opera of Thaïs is the most important of all the operas of Jules Massenet, who is considered one of the greatest of French composers. Not only is the music a masterful piece of work, but the story is exceedingly interesting, based on a novel of Anatole France, adapted by Louis Gallet.

This story of the courtesan who turned from the God of love to the love of God, was one that enlisted all of the sympathies of Massenet, the consequence being that he penned for it his most inspired pages. The most popular of these compositions is the intermezzo entitled “Meditation Religiouse.” It symbolizes in tones the conversion of Thaïs, having for its poetic content the words she address in the morning to Athanael, after having spent the night in meditation: “Thy word has remained in my heart as a balm divine—I prayed, I wept—there came into my soul a great light.”

So beautiful and dramatically expressive a melody as this, was too entrancing to be heard only once or twice. Massenet instinctively used it again in the oasis when Athanael so evidently has forgotten everything but Thaïs, and once more he uses it in the death scene, to delineate the last transport of her soul.

PRICE $2.00 IN THE UNITED STATES.

[hr][/hr]
* This was actually misspelled on the sleeve as ‘ACCOMPANMENT’.

I am woefully ignorant of opera and the violin piece, but certainly Edison’s copywriters did a very good job of attempting to sell both pieces.

Thanks for sharing these scans!

— MordEth

[richardh]

Interesting that they printed these upfront of the 12" disks being offered for sale (which in the even they never were). WoW $6 then was alot of money I would imagine.

I have the Thais disk that the sleeve talks about - thats a great recording of a very nice piece of music. Thanks for posting Bruce and thanks David for the text as I did have difficulty making out the scan (no age jokes here please )

RJ

[Valecnik]

Richard, Using George Frow's book as a reference, an Edison phonograph selling for $200 in the US in 1912 would hae been offered in the UK for ~42GBP. If you extrapolate that it means an a six dollar Edison record would have sold in the UK for ~1.50GBP if that helps. Pretty expensive.

[Viva-Tonal]

Is the violinist identified anywhere?

[MordEth]

WoW $6 then was alot of money I would imagine.

RJ,

I believe that these were quite expensive discs at the time—I’ll have to find an inflation calculator to determine what that would be in today’s currency.

I have the Thais disk that the sleeve talks about - thats a great recording of a very nice piece of music.

If you’re willing and able to do a transfer of it (I don’t remember if you’ve done transfers of Edison Diamond Discs), I’d love to get to hear this version. I found a more modern recording and it’s definitely a great piece of music.

Thanks for posting Bruce and thanks David for the text as I did have difficulty making out the scan (no age jokes here please )

You’re welcome. I still need to run your Victor Radio Dial List through OCR (and then convert it into tables). Obviously, this was a much smaller and quicker project.

My want-to-do list is still pretty long at the moment, although today finally saw another board improvement...

Is the violinist identified anywhere?

Not on the sleeve, at any rate. Perhaps Bruce can answer you about the disc label.

Out of curiosity—when did Edison stop referring to records as Re-Creations?

— MordEth

[Viva-Tonal]

I don't know when, but it was certainly after the adoption of paper labels, as I have seen some that say RE-CREATION as opposed to RECORD.

[MordEth]

WoW $6 then was alot of money I would imagine.

RJ,

According to the inflation calculator that I found:

What cost $6 in 1912 would cost $127.38 in 2007.

Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2007 and 1912, they would cost you $6 and $0.28 respectively.

To convert that into GBP: $6 ≈ £4.19, $127.38 ≈ £88.89 and $0.28 ≈ £0.20.

I don't know when, but it was certainly after the adoption of paper labels, as I have seen some that say RE-CREATION as opposed to RECORD.

I always liked the use of Re-Creation, although the way they bandied it about (particularly in manuals) seems almost haughty.

By the way, after looking it up on the spreadsheet of Diamond Discs available here, the credit for “Meditation—Thaïs” is Albert Spalding (violin), André Benoist (piano), and “Rondo Capriccioso” is the same violinist, but does not list a pianist. I would guess that it is perhaps the same pianist as well, though.

— MordEth

[Valecnik]

Unfortunately as was Edison's common practice at the time, the name of the artist is not mentioned. It seems really odd today. I should note that I could not check the record itself because the record inside the jacket is a different title.

[richardh]

David, thanks for the information. WoW - expensive indeed in todays money!!

I have dug out my copy of this Edison disk and unfortunately all it says on the label is violin solo with piano accompanyment. Shame really not to identify the artists.

Unfortunately I don't have a pick up wired for vertical cut disks and playing them with a standard wired pick up just doesn't do justice to the sound.

I bought this copy off Carsten last year as I just love this piece of music - I don't have many vertical vut disks so just haven't got around to getting a second pick up head and re- wiring it. It isn't hard to do - just a bit fiddly!

RJ