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In the same batch of 78's (see my post about 9-inch Zonophone records: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47329) I found more than a dozen (so far) of a label I had never come across before: Nassau. I've read the entry on them in Sutton & Nauck, but it leaves me wanting more: manufactured for an unknown retailer or distributor, unlisted place of manufacture, etc. All but one that I have found so far have the "scroll" type label pictured on the left. Can anyone tell me any more about these? Any idea where -- in terms of both stores and geography -- they were sold, and where they are most likely to be found? How uncommon are they?

This UK site is a valuable resource :

http://early78s.uk/n/

Thanks for posting that link - what a fantastic resource that web site is!

Apart from anything else, Nassau labels must be the most uninformative ever printed. I have a ten-inch disc or the 'scroll' type whose entire wording is THE TOURIST / Band / C 48. The piece sounds like one of Sousa's, and the nameless band is one of the best I have ever heard.

The 'Imperial' label, destined (as the name implies) for the British market, is closely related to these; my example (Frank C. Stanley singing Elgar's 'Land of Hope and Glory') has a label on the back with similar wording to that of the Nassaus and printed in the same typeface.

Oliver Mundy.