Unusual Cylinder Record Slip

[phonogfp]

Over the winter I acquired a group of five-inch cylinders, and among them was this Columbia record of Ingersoll at the Tomb of Napoleon. The box and lid contain the typical freehand factory markings, but the record slip is unusual. As you can see, the writer took some care in his penmanship. There may have been a logical reason for this, because the writer may have been the recording artist - Harry Spencer (Len Spencer's brother). Their father was the originator of Spencerian handwriting. Not only did the writer leave his elaborate initials, but he also dated the slip.

I don't find this selection available on Columbia Grand records until the 1900 catalog, although the company earlier made a point to inform customers that other records could be "made to order." In light of Harry's personal attentions (if indeed this is Harry's writing) on this record slip, I wonder if this record had been specially requested by the original owner. In any event, it's an unusual and - I think - interesting little footnote to the record.

George P.

This image from the Internet shows some of the variations of Spencerian script. The second initial on the record slip doesn't look much like an "S" to me, but after seeing these and others, I'm not so sure...

[Curt A]

The 2nd "S" in Savannah looks similar, at least the lower portion... his initial "S" may have been a personal stylized version used as a signature...

[EdisonWizard]

That looks to me like an F, I kind of do my F's that way when writing cursive.

[phonogfp]

That looks to me like an F, I kind of do my F's that way when writing cursive.

I agree - I'm not 100% convinced that the second initial is an "S" but I'm not finding any better candidates unless it's a lower-case "G." It seems as though I have a Columbia slip with the initials "HG" stamped on it around here somewhere. If I have the gumption, I might look through some boxes...

Meantime, here's a sample of Spencerian script of the first half of the alphabet. (I was taught this script in elementary school. It didn't take.)

George P.

[EdisonWizard]

You can see kind of there, how they come back thru the F with the tail. Could be someone's take on it. I'll see what I can dig up as well...might be better to use bing on something like this as Google can sometimes be too broad.

[NEFaurora]

George P.,

Great piece of history!

I've heard of this selection before, but never heard its actual contents.

It would be great if there was an mp3 copy of the selection on the web somewhere, but that's probably wishful thinking. I'd love to here it as I actually visited Napoleon' s Tomb in Paris in 1988. It's absolutely huge! The biggest tomb that I've ever seen.

PS: I just did a search on the web, and apoarently numerous copies are out there!

:0)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

[phonogfp]

The major record companies carried Ingersoll at the Tomb of Napoleon in their catalogs until around the middle of the first decade of the 20th century (when non-comedic "Talking Records" generally faded from popularity).

If you Google this title, you'll find several transcripts of the speech. I don't know what Robert Ingersoll sounded like, but Harry Spencer had quite an impressive baritone.

George P.

[fran604g]

George, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the stylization of the letter in question as actually being an "S".

I'm no expert in Spencerian script, but I do own a work done by my Great Grandfather's Grandfather, done during an exhibit of Spencer and Rice's developed script technique at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the "Crystal Palace" at Hyde Park. According to historical documentation in a privately held collection of letters and artifacts found at the Holland Land Office, in Batavia NY, he took "...the championship prize..." for his portrait of President Zachary Taylor. This portrait hangs in my home (as you know).

Algernon Sidney Pratt (b. March 18, 1809 - d. November 13, 1886), did the original Master Copies for the Spencer and Rice copybooks that were to be distributed throughout their many schools and used to instruct the "Spencerian" craft. As a business partner of Spencer and Rice's, he was a longtime instructor at several of their institutions, including the "Cary Seminary", located in the town of Alexander, Genesee County, NY.

To get a sense of the incredible variations of stylization that adept "Spencerians" (my term) could apply to their own hand, I've included a couple photos of his work. The actual portrait is much darker from age and environment than the image I included here, it has been post-edited by me, for clarity purposes.

Be sure to note his signature found at the bottom of the portrait.

Best,
Fran

[phonogfp]

Very interesting, Fran, and historically pertinent. I found quite a variety of Spencerian "S"s on the Internet, and lacking a more likely letter, I'm inclined to believe it's an "S." I'm still not 100% certain, but a lower-case "G" or lower-case "F" as an initial doesn't make sense.

As for that depiction of President Taylor, this is the first time I've looked at it closely. Boy, there's a lot going on there! I didn't even see "Twelfth President" or "United States of" until my 3rd or 4th tour through that garden. Your great-great-great-grandfather must have invested a lot of time in this.

Thanks for the perspective.

George P.

[fran604g]

You're most welcome, George.

Not to hijack your post (and I apologize, but you know how I love to talk about myself ), but: Family legend has it that he did the work in one (relatively) short session, from a Daguerreotype of the President that was being displayed at the Exhibition in close proximity. He supposedly did it with ink made from tobacco. I've imagined the image he "copied" was none other than one of Matthew Brady's work, but I have no proof, other than the great similarity to one of Brady's Taylor portraits, in particular.

While at the Great Exhibition, I understand that he had also executed other works of the same talent. One such work was of a famous George Washington portraiture, in which many reproductions were made of, and still today reproductions are currently made available at the Mount Vernon Museum (Washington image courtesy http://www.mountvernon.org. See link below).

*Brady Daguerreotype image courtesy: http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/gallery/20gal.html, and "Wikimedia".

Best,
Fran