2009 ARSC Certificate of Merit  

"A fine reference work not just for record collectors but also those interested in
Edison, popular culture, and musical taste in the 1920s." — Book News
   

The Edison
Discography (1926–29)

By Raymond R. Wile

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Compiled by ARSC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Raymond Wile, this fascinating volume covers the final and most interesting phase of Edison record production — a period that saw the conversion to electrical recording; introduction of long-playing and lateral-cut discs; an attempt to enter the radio transcription market; and finally,
the closure and dismantling of the Phonograph Division in 1929. Features include:

• Discographic details from the original company files at the Edison Nation Historic Site, supplemented by inspection of the original discs and catalogs — recording locations and dates, matrix numbers and takes, artist aliases, accompanists and conductors, composer credits, and more
     
• Coverage of all Diamond Discs, Needle-Type (lateral) discs, Sample Records, Long-Playing 24- and 40-Minute Records, and dubbed Blue Amberol cylinders  
     
• Details of Edison radio transcriptions, experimental recordings, special-use recordings, and cancelled releases
      
• Day-by-day account of studio activities, including auditions and equipment tests
      
• Illustrated historical introduction, including the first fully detailed account of the company's shut-down operations in 1929
      
• Title, artist, accompanist, and vocal-chorus indexes, and Blue Amberol cross-reference
      
• 7" x 10" hardcover / 472 pages, illustrated

RAYMOND R. WILE has been honored by the Association of Recorded Sound Collections
with a Lifetime Achievement Award. His discographies and scholarly articles, examining
the earliest days of the American recording industry, have appeared in Record
Research, ARSC Journal, and other highly respected publications.