The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just seen a picture of these "Famous Imperial Records" which is a make I've never seen before.... Anyone have any info on the make ??

Looks like a rare product... James.

Thanks for the info. There isn't much on the web so I assume there aren't many of these left.

As both John Bull and Uncle Sam are pictured on the boxes it occurred to me that there might be an Anglo-American connection, so I did a little digging and found as follows :

In 1892 Edward F.Leeds and Cleveland Walcutt began supplying wax cylinders and recorders to the phonograph trade, and by 1896 they were selling their own pre-recorded cylinders. In 1897 the American Graphophone Company sued for infringement of patents, but Leeds and Walcutt continued and were found guilty of Contempt of Court.

Walcutt then left the business in 1898, and in 1899 Leeds founded a new company with L.R.Catlin. Manufactured at their works in Middletown, Connecticut, cylinders were soon followed by disc records, which were exported to Britain on the Imperial label. Eventually in 1907 repeated lawsuits resulted in a Court Order perpetually restraining Leeds & Catlin from making and selling disc records, which confirms the information in Roaring20s post.

Thanks for the info - I guess the fact that they weren't around for long explains why I have never seen one of these cylinders before...........

Is this the same Imperial record company who made 6"/3 minute cylinder records?
Mine has reference to Lambert machines on the carton.