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Here is a nice 60-pages Victor Red Seal catalogue of October 1903, introducing the five-digit numbering system. The first "De Luxe" 12-inch red seal records are already listed, but Caruso's visit in November 1903 is only announced. The layout is nicely done. All artists and their records are described in detail.

It must be pretty uncommon. I am still looking for the first red seal catalogue of May 1903. Any offers? Anybody willing to sell it to me?

I don't wish to be a fuss pot but, if you are taking offers on this great piece, should it not be in the "yankee trader" section???.

I assume that Starkton is looking for someone who has the earlier catalog he is looking for, hence his question. So I read it the other way 'round.

Peter.

Peter,I can read it that way also. However, because others have been chastised in the past (not me) . I was just mentioning this to avoid confusion.Perhaps the word "trade" or a mention of such would be a better choice. Although, "trading" is also a part of the "yankee trader" section. Hey, what do I know...... .

It seems I interpreted it correctly, Starkton has edited his post. Who would want to sell such a rarity. I'm positively jealous. Original early catalogs, be it for machines or records are getting all too rare. Also many of them are in dire need of de-aciding, otherwise they may crumble to dust in only a few years time, because of chlorine acid (HCl) literally dissolving the paper.

Peter.

Peter, I see the correction. Please understand as a new member to this forum that some have been "chastise" for posting items for sale,trade and even wishing to buy. Hence the very reason the "yankee trader" is a part of this forum. Therefore, and this is only my opinion. If a member wishes to sell,trade or even possiably buy then that is the place to post. What I think I was trying avoid was members feeling that this only applys to some and not all of us.

syncopeter wrote:Also many of them are in dire need of de-aciding, otherwise they may crumble to dust in only a few years time, because of chlorine acid (HCl) literally dissolving the paper.

It seems that many of the larger companies used paper of good quality with only a small amount of wood pulp. While yellowing and acid-related paper breakdown exists, visible in the catalogue cover, it is comparatively less pronounced. The inside pages are white as snow. 99,9% of these catalogues were simply thrown away because they were outdated after a few months. Hence the May 1903 Victor Red Seal catalogue is virtually non-existent.

@Gramophone78

I may have started posting actively only recently, I not really unfamiliar with the forum. I myself try to be as polite as possible, sometimes using mild irony but never intentionally will flame a fellow member. I've seen too many forums go down in the past few months and losing loads of knowledge that will probably never be public again, because of public flaming between members.

@Starkton
I only wanted to stress that these catalogs are so rare (out of a max of 5,000 original copies - and quite probably much less - maybe only a handful remain) that it may be worth the money to have them professionally preserved

syncopeter wrote:@Starkton
I only wanted to stress that these catalogs are so rare (out of a max of 5,000 original copies - and quite probably much less - maybe only a handful remain) that it may be worth the money to have them professionally preserved

I cannot agree more. My paper and photographic items are stored well protected in a professional archive system: http://www.secol.co.uk/

The next step is to acquire suitable sleeves in various sizes for my records: http://archiv-box.de/filestorage/1/1_769.pdf

I guess in retospect my suggestion may have been veiwed as a "flaming".However,I must stress that was not my intention and as a matter of record Starkton as been a invaluable wealth of information to me personaly and this forum. I was only trying to avoid a problem with those that have been chastised from making a big deal of the wording.
It would seem that I have just made it worst. For that I'm very sorry.I repeat,that this was by no means directed at Starkton solely but,for all of us.