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I've never seen or heard of that one before. I'd like to have it in my collection but not for $1400.

Neither have I, and so far I haven't been able to find any info about the company.
I've been reading through some information about Russell Hunting & there's plenty of stuff about his time spent with G&T, Sterling & Pathé, but so far no mention of him even going to America to set up or manage a company.
Could it be a different Russell Hunting??

Russell Hunting was an American who went to Europe after being indicted for making pornographic cylinders in the US. See the 'Actionable Offenses' CD by Archeophone for details.

Pornophonic!

In 1897/98, Russell Hunting was responsible for the export business of the Columbia Phonograph Company, with the exception of France. Could the name Universal Phonograph Co. be derived from the Type C "Universal" Graphophone, introduced in 1897?

Russell Hunting was a prominent fellow in the early talking machine industry. He recorded Irish monologues (notably the "Casey" series)for the New England Phonograph Company, Columbia, and Edison, before moving to Britain in late 1898. He would not return permanently to the U.S. until 1940.

As John has pointed out, Hunting was prosecuted in 1898 for producing obscene records, and this may well have encouraged him to strike out for foreign shores. Up to that time, Hunting had not only become a successful recording artist, but had founded and published The Phonoscope, the first independent journal "Devoted to Scientific and Amusement Inventions Appertaining to Sound & Sight." (This publication ran from 1896-1900.) The March 1898 and April 1898 issues feature a half-page advertisement for "Russell Hunting, General Sales Agent/General Purchasing Agent; Phonographs, Graphophones, Records, Etc. and lists a 21 East 20th Street (New York City) address. The Universal Phonograph Company record box in question happens to list this same address, which isn't surprising since Hunting was listed as Manager of the firm.

The July 1898 issue of The Phonoscope featured "A Gallery of Talent Employed for Making Records." This was primarily a Columbia promotional piece, but included photographs and biographical information on 21 of the day's most popular recording artists. Russell Hunting was naturally included:

"Russell Hunting stands preeminent as a maker of talking machine records. He originated the famous Casey series. His voice, his rare faculty as a mimic, his mastery of brogue and his rich humor, all combine to make him an ideal record-maker. His talent is by no means confined to the making of Casey records, but the character of Michael Casey upon its first appearance, so to speak, took so well, that Mr. Hunting has little time to do other work for talking machines. Mr. Hunting has been successful on the stage, but his interest in talking machines and the demand for his work, has resulted practically in his retirement from theatrical ventures. He puts genius in his work as well as a high degree of artistic skill."

Yet, Hunting's fortunes in the U.S. changed rapidly. In the December 1898 issue of The Phonoscope, the Universal Phonograph Company was announced as being located at 34 East 21st Street. The February 1899 issue offered more information:

"Jos. W. Stern & Co., the popular music publishers, and the Universal Phonograph Co., operated by them, have removed to their fine new offices on 21st Street, New York, occupying four entire floors of the large building which presents an imposing front of plate glass with steel framework in relief. The new offices are the handsomest ever shown by a music publishing house in this country, and the plant of the Universal Phonograph Company, occupying nearly all of the second floor, is a model of ingenuity, convenience, and invention. This Phonograph concern began business not quite three years ago at 21 East 20th Street, where a unique and valuable reputation was promptly established..."

Mitchell B. Marks was mentioned as being the current manager of Universal.

Russell Hunting by this time was working for James Hough as recording director of Edison-Bell. In 1904 he founded the Russell Hunting Record Co., Ltd. Then in 1906, with Louis Sterling, the firm of Sterling and Hunting, Ltd. Hunting became recording director for Pathé and set up the U.S. branch. From 1922, Hunting worked out of Paris, managing Pathé's European activities. Around 1904, Hunting recorded a few discs for Zonophone in Britain, re-recorded some "Casey" material after 1914, and even recorded in the 1920s for the Regal label of Sterling's Columbia Graphophone Co., Ltd.

All in all, a pretty remarkable career in the early talking machine industry!

George P.

I'm a lover of graphics, so I thought I'd include a couple relating to Russell Hunting, taken from the pages of The Phonoscope.

The first issue of the publication (November 15, 1896), carried this nice full-page advertisement. No other ads this large appeared again for Hunting in The Phonoscope.

George P.

Finally, this ½ page ad appeared in the March through July 1897 issues of The Phonoscope. This ad corresponds with the label design seen on the record box that initiated this thread, including the 45 East 20th Street address. This suggests the record box dates from this 1897 period.

Hope you found this enjoyable. Best to all - -

George P.

phonogfp wrote: Russell Hunting by this time was working for James Hough as recording director of Edison-Bell. In 1904 he founded the Russell Hunting Record Co., Ltd. Then in 1906, with Louis Sterling, the firm of Sterling and Hunting, Ltd. Hunting became recording director for Pathé and set up the U.S. branch. From 1922, Hunting worked out of Paris, managing Pathé's European activities. Around 1904, Hunting recorded a few discs for Zonophone in Britain, re-recorded some "Casey" material after 1914, and even recorded in the 1920s for the Regal label of Sterling's Columbia Graphophone Co., Ltd.

All in all, a pretty remarkable career in the early talking machine industry!

George P.

Thank you George for sharing your thoroughly researched sources!

I can add the following:

In October 1898, Russell Hunting became head of the recording department of "The Edisonia Ltd." James E. Hough's The Edisonia Ltd., founded in mid 1897 with a capital of £40,000, was sole licensee and fully-owned subsidiary of the Edison Bell Phonograph Co. Ltd. for which it sold talking machines of all makes, and manufactured records.
In August 1906, the Russell Hunting Record Co. Ltd. received the selling rights in Great Britain for Odeon and Fonotipia machines and records from the Odeon Co. and became sole sales agents for the International Linguaphone Company. In May 1908 the Russell Hunting Record Co. went into liquidation.

And this is when he fled the UK for France, stealing about 160 Sterling masters from the best sellers list, joined Pathé and the Sterling recordings were released in Sept 08 on Pathé disc, then he soon became Cheif of recording for Pathé.

Thanks George for that early info on Hunting. I hadn't found anything on him prior to his joining Edison Bell.