1880s catalog illustrating Edison tinfoil phonograph

[TinfoilPhono]

There is quite a bit of information about the "Hardy" tinfoil phonograph to be found in original source materials but I have never seen any contemporary illustrations -- until now.

I just picked up a rare catalog of electrical and scientific goods sold by Charles Magne in Paris, ca. 1882. It is chock-full of great illustrations and descriptions of all sorts of things, ranging from batteries to telephones to elevators to dynamos. The phonograph section is unfortunately small but the lack of detail is more than compensated by the half-page, detailed engraving of the Hardy.

For those who aren't familiar with the story, Edison personally approved the manufacture of this phonograph in early 1878 through his agent, Theodore Puskas. It was the first phonograph ever sold to the public but they didn't sell well since it was an expensive novelty with no practical use. (See the Setember 2005 issue of The Sound Box for the full story.)

This is a wonderful engraving, signed "Alix" in Paris. But looking at the grain of the table to the left of the machine, and the shadows at the lower right, I think this engraving was 'appropriated' from another artist. I can't make out what may have been written, other than at lower right where it seems to say "phonographe".

[phonogfp]

Wow - period phonograph literature with illustrations doesn't come much earlier than that!

Congratulations, Rene - -

George P.

[Starkton]

This drawing from Jules Verne's novel "Les tribulations d’un chinois en Chine" isn't very detailed in comparison, but from 1879/1880 (reproduced in: The Leisure Hour, No. 1468, London, February 1880, p. 107)