[78-L] Ephemera as context

[Stephen Davies]

[was: Tony Martin Decca re-issue]

Steven B writes:

<<<
Once was a time I could have provided the data using my half-vast archive 
of catalogs; however, that was before my ...
>>>

        Steven, I feel your pain.  But I notice that you're not writing in 
ALL CAPS, so you must be simmering down a bit.

        Thank you for the pointer to the catalogues as the solution to my 
puzzle ("Whence came this composite Tony Martin disc?").  Obviously, there 
is valuable information in the record company catalogues to which we 
non-owners do not have access, and which the usual discographical 
compendiums do not include.
        Here is a copyright question, then.  Are these catalogues 
protected as "databases", or can we start copying them to a publicly 
accessible forum?
        Is the release date of a new catalogue considered to be the first 
release of a new disc?
        Does anyone track which paper sleeve would have been used for a 
first release?  or how to date a paper sleeve?
        Does anyone track which label appears on the first release, as 
opposed to subsequent pressings where another label may be used?  (We saw 
this with the Six Brown Brothers on Emerson where a variety of labels were 
used for the same disc within a short timeframe.)

        Now, I know that for most of you, your collecting is all about 
gathering the captured sound, but for a few it might also be about 
recreating the original item in it's natural environment.  I'm a big fan 
of context, which comes from studying/assuming/fantasizing about the 
factors in making a disc, not just the outcome, and about the contemporary 
"colour" from that time.

        Years ago, I created a web project based on Dickens' unfinished 
novel, "The mystery of Edwin Drood" (1870).  It's a tantalizing mystery, 
in that Dickens left some clues as to where the novel was heading, and you 
the reader may be able to figure out the ending.  Some of the clues are in 
the recurring illustration which he commissioned for the front cover of 
the serialization.
        If you were given the opporunity to read the novel online, or in a 
paperback issue, or in the original serialization of six installments, 
which would you prefer?  If you wanted to read the serialization, would 
you like a library copy which has been bound, with the covers removed, or 
would you prefer to handle (and this does exist) the separate issues 
complete with the original advertising flyers and gewgaws for local 
companies?
        Doesn't this last option sound much more exciting?  That's the 
sort of option I would like future generations to have when they turn to 
the 78's, of which we are the current custodians.  If they can't touch the 
real thing, at least we can leave them a record of what a disc's original 
features were.

        Comments?
- Stephen D
Calgary


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