[78-L] 78 album covers

[David Lennick]

It should also be pointed out that the single records weren't in plain sleeves 
either but usually had the manufacturer's name and logo, lists of other records 
of interest, engravings of great artists listening to the phonograph etc.

dl

Cary Ginell wrote:
> Not being a serious collector of pre-1920 materials, I don't personally have a lot that predates Steinweiss. I do, however, have a Decca 78 album, No. 66, consisting of three discs of fiddle tunes by Clayton McMichen. This was probably issued around 1936-37. The cover features a photograph of McMichen, and the set comes complete with a detailed booklet. I can scan this as evidence, but it is not what I would consider to be "album art," merely a descriptive summary of what's in the album, along with a photo. If someone can send me scans of two or three items that definitively predate Steinweiss and that can be considered "album art," I will forward it to Liesl with my official response.
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
>> From: tkneebone1 at abe.midco.net
>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>> Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:31:20 -0600
>> Subject: [78-L] 78 album covers
>>
>> I am not sure what date is being used when writing about about the creator 
>> of the first illustrated album covers.  It is possible that history does not 
>> record the name of the first person(s) who designed early albums.  In my 
>> collection there are some of those albums that I am sure are quite old. 
>> Here are some I know about, not all are still in my collection:
>>
>> Columbia.  Mozart: Divertimento K 287, strings & horns. Goberman ensemble 
>> with Szigeti as violin     soloist.  Blue with colored circles.  Many of 
>> their albums used this pattern.
>> Victor.  Musorgskii: Pictures at an exhibition.  Koussevitzky & Boston sym 
>> orch.  Brown or rust         colored, with some kind of embossing.  Many of 
>> their albums used this pattern.
>> Decca.  Bing Crosby album.  Photo of Crosby on the cover.  A booklet 
>> enclosed.
>> Musicraft.  Sylvia Marlowe playing Scarlatti sonatas.  I think there was a 
>> photo of a harpsichord on it.
>>
>> Except for the Crosby album, I suppose these albums could not be called 
>> "illustrated" -- but they surely were housed in more than brown sleeves! 
>> Some of these should have carried the name of the designer.
>>
>> I discovered, to my sadness, that water and those old albums do not mix.  I 
>> had to discard many of them after a flood in my basement "melted" them.  The 
>> discs survived well, but the albums did not.
>>
>> Ted Kneebone. 1528 S. Grant St., Aberdeen, SD 57401. Phone: 605-226-3344.
>>