[78-L] 78 album covers

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1 at abe.midco.net>
>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.
>
Well, the first "78 album sets" (c1923-4?) were virtually all classical 
music...and
they usually came in albums that simply listed the composer and work(s) on
the front "cover"...without much, if any, "art!" I wonder if the first "pop 
music"
album set would have been the "Showboat" set of three (IIRC) 12" Brunswick
discs...?! Victor launched their P-* album series around 1935-36; did these
come with "cover art," or did that show up later?

Steven C. Barr