The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I'm on good terms with a local auctioneer & his staff and they are willing to let me go into the back room to look at the stock. This latest trip was a shocker! Many,many albums all labeled Victor Encyclopedia of Recorded Music and it even has the directory that tells you what's what.
I tried to google the title but only got results for the 1950s Jazz set (of which I have). My next step after this post is to contact the Victor discography people to let them know the set is here.

As these fit into the mindset/interest/knowledge of those of us on this site, would anyone like to share their knowledge with me as to what I stumbled(!) across.
Thanks for the help.

Were these Batwing label, 78's?

Is this the set? Or are yours the earlier version from 1924 with batwing labels This is the Victor Library of Recorded Music dating from the mid thirties, consequently they'd all be scroll labels. This ad is from December 1935. I suspect that it was pressed on the legendary Z shellac, but I don't know. I've never seen any records from the set but I have seen a single album that obviously came from this issue.

Jim

Any chance the RCA D-22 radio/phono shown in the ad is with these records? The D-22 was one of the most elaborate RCA sets ever offered. It featured 22 tubes and included a big power amplifier, two big speakers, and a dynamic volume range expander, one of the first offered to the public. The D-22 is pretty rare these days as it was very expensive and came out in the depth of the Great Depresssion, so few were sold. I've heard of only a few existing in private collections. A D-22 in good condition is now probably worth considerably more than that whole library of records.

I recall seeing 2 individual discs from such a "set" about a month ago. They were batwing labeled Victor 78's and the two I saw claimed to contain the favorites of the past 20 or 30 years. When I looked at the actual song contents however I saw none of the stuff I personaly liked so I lost interest and moved on.

From what I looked at, they were the scroll labels....so the these would be for the electric players given my knowledge of Victor at this point. Thanks for the help.

I'm pretty sure the set Steve is referring to is the one Jim posted the ad for. I have lots of the albums from it and some of the records that came in a collection I got last summer. The albums are all 12 inch with anywhere from four to seven pages in each, many with 10 and 12 inch pages intermixed, each album was green or maroon in color, pretty fancy. They were indeed pressed on "Z" shellac and there was a book indexing the entire set sold with it originally, which I've heard of but never seen. If you ever come across a Victor scroll with something like "G-4" on the label under the regular catalog number, you've got a disc from the original set. That was the designated album page for the specific disc. I've never seen a complete set, but there was one offered by one of the record dealers a few years ago that was somewhat complete as I remember even with the set of shelving it was supplied with. The records in the set weren't special issues by any means, but highlights of the Victor catalog (or "library" as it were). I'd love to know what the whole set was, all I do know is that there were some Bori and Galli Curci electrics and some complete classical pieces and even some black label things included.

I just went down to the record bunker and found one and took some fast shots with my iPhone, but it gives you an idea of what the albums look like.

Sean

I thought I had heard that the recordings were Z shellac but I wasn't sure. Since I have it to hand , I thought I'd scan the only other advertisement that I've ever run across for these recordings . This one appeared in November 1935, and I note that they make no mention of the price of either the D-22 or the Victor Library...all 461 discs therein! I suspect this was a case of " If you have to ask, you can't afford it."
Greg is right: that D-22 would sound superb, judging from the performance of the cheaper models. I have the second from the top of the line Magic Brain radio ( not the radio-phono) from 1934 ...with separate bass and treble controls along with a selectivity option. It sounds really superb....when it's working, that is to say. It's not at the moment and I haven't the time to rip into it again. Tube equipment has its drawbacks.
Jim

SteveinAlaska wrote:I'm on good terms with a local auctioneer & his staff and they are willing to let me go into the back room to look at the stock. This latest trip was a shocker! Many,many albums all labeled Victor Encyclopedia of Recorded Music and it even has the directory that tells you what's what.
I tried to google the title but only got results for the 1950s Jazz set (of which I have). My next step after this post is to contact the Victor discography people to let them know the set is here.

As these fit into the mindset/interest/knowledge of those of us on this site, would anyone like to share their knowledge with me as to what I stumbled(!) across.
Thanks for the help.

Whilst the set may not contain rarities, if it were me and I had the change to buy a big part / or complete set then I would jump at the chance. Did you go for it in the end?

S-B-H

Lenoirstreetguy wrote:I thought I had heard that the recordings were Z shellac but I wasn't sure. Since I have it to hand , I thought I'd scan the only other advertisement that I've ever run across for these recordings . This one appeared in November 1935, and I note that they make no mention of the price of either the D-22 or the Victor Library...all 421 discs therein! I suspect this was a case of " If you have to ask, you can't afford it."
Greg is right: that D-22 would sound superb, judging from the performance of the cheaper models. I have the second from the top of the line Magic Brain radio ( not the radio-phono) from 1934 ...with separate bass and treble controls along with a selectivity option. It sounds really superb....when it's working, that is to say. It's not at the moment and I haven't the time to rip into it again. Tube equipment has its drawbacks.
Jim

The woman in the advert is the model of elegance. How times have changed...