The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Here's an unusual one... a rare recording of Florence Nightingale on a 1930s Victor special issue. Plain white label with typewritten title and LCS 047309-1 catalog number.

This is a dramatic recitation with orchestra and sound effects detailing Florence Nightingale's career, and contains a dub (or "re- recording" as the announcer calls it) of Nightingale's brief 1890 cylinder recording made by Edison's phonograph company.

A small sticker on the label says that this was issued by the International Record Collector's Club of Bridgeport, Conn. I don't know if this is a test pressing, or if this was perhaps a limited issue for educational purposes. I got this in an amazing huge buy of records from a university library years ago.

The single- face mid 1930s recording plays great- it *might* even be "Z" shellac because surface noise is almost non existent with a 3 mil stylus.

Reverse is the RCA Victor "Spiderweb" design.

I'm asking $125.00 plus shipping.

This is a reissue of the early 1930s dubbing from the original Florence Nightingale cylinder. Edison Bell issued a 10" shellac pressing of it in the UK in 1933, immediately before they went bankrupt. I have the original pressing.

IRCC imported the Edison Bell pressing and made a transfer from it on 12" disc in August/September 1939, first issued in the US on National Vocarium, matrix CS-041359-1. A later transfer was issued on National Vocarium TNV-130, mx. LCS-047309-1. Commercial pressings of TNV-130, bearing red labels, were announced in August 1941. Special pressings of mx. LCS-047309-1, with RCA-Victor back, were also issued.

Here is the impressive label of the 1933 Edison Bell issue. This copy sold at auction in 2012 for GBP£103.

Sales of this record were negligible, hence it's rarity today, and I understand that there were no more issues in the "19th Century Celebrity Series" before Edison Bell collapsed. There had been plans to issue recordings of Tennyson and the trumpeter who sounded the charge at Balaclava, to name but two. What an interesting series this would have been.

epigramophone wrote:There had been plans to issue recordings of Tennyson and the trumpeter who sounded the charge at Balaclava, to name but two. What an interesting series this would have been.

Master recordings of four discs from the series seem to exist. Besides Florence Nightingale, Lord Tennyson and the trumpeter Martin Lanfried, Robert Browning comes to mind.

Very interesting info. I knew about the EB issue but was unaware of the rest of this. Thanks!