[78-L] 78 album covers

[Michael Biel]

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. 

Neither do the authors of the articles, web sites, and books.  Many are
just using a 1938 date which is impossibly early for a red label
Columbia C-11.  I think it is mid 1940, finding that RELEASE date is
important.

> > It is possible that history does not record the name of the first person(s)
> > who designed early albums. 

The fact that Steinweiss signed his covers is unusual.

> > In my collection there are some of those albums that I am sure are quite old.

What you think is old might differ from what many of us think is old. 
As I have mentioned in the OTR circles we both travel in, NUMBERS are
what matter to record collectors, which is something that exclusively
OTR collectors don't really understand since they rarely ever encounter
the original artifact, which is what record collectors work with all the
time.  The album number is more important than the title or artist when
identifying it.  For example, there are oodles of albums by Bing, some
with similar titles and some being reissues with identical titles.  The
album number is the identifier.  The classical albums you mention and
describe are the type of albums with relatively plain or stock front
covers are what Steinweiss revolutionized the industry away from.  And
many of these albums can be found with the original plain covers and
later copies with individual illustrated covers.  While you seem to have
only a very few of these albums, I have several hundred and have seen
thousands.  Some of the collectors here have thousands and have seen
many thousand more.  It is when you go thru large amounts of these we
see the patterns of production.  But the pop albums rarely had those
plain covers as early alternates, and those are the ones I am using as
an example.      

> > 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.

These are probably repressings of early plain album covers which now
have a "stock" design with the identification titling.  This design was
probably Steinweiss, and was used to make the albums look more modern
without having to go to the expense of making a different design for
each different album. 

> > 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.

This is how the albums looked until the early 40s.  Many of them later
were given design covers.

> > Decca. Bing Crosby album. Photo of Crosby on the cover. A booklet enclosed.

Album number is what is important for this purpose of dating.

> > Musicraft. Sylvia Marlowe playing Scarlatti sonatas. I think there was a
> > photo of a harpsichord on it.

I don't have my discographies available to date this.  Does someone have
"The Cradle Will Rock" available because that we know is a 1938
Musicraft album that might have had an illustrated cover.

> > 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.

Since these were not singles but were sets, they were in albums.  But
single 78s usually had logos, illustrations, record catalog info, etc. 
Since they were not for the specific records, we call them "generic"
sleeves, or "label generic" sleeves.  

>From Steve Barr: 

> the first "78 album sets" (c1923-4?) were virtually all classical 
> music...andthey 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...?!

Four 12-inch discs.  This was later reissued on red label Columbia with
master pressings (C-55) and as David mentioned, a Steinweiss cover which
was used for the Columbia Special Products LP reissue.

> Victor launched their P-* album series around 1935-36; did these
> come with "cover art," or did that show up later?  Steven C. Barr 

Yes they did have illustrated covers, but there were not too many of
them before 1940. These and the Deccas are what I am trying to use as
pre-Steinweiss examples -- so RELEASE date is what is important. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com