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Mainspring Label
Gallery / Photos
adapted from ARLIE
TALKING BOOK
Children's Records
(1919-1921)
The Talking Books marked Victor H. Emerson's entry into the burgeoning
children's-label market. Produced by
the Emerson Phonograph Company and distributed through the Emerson
Record Sales Company (New York) under license from the Talking
Book Corporation (358 Fifth Avenue and 1 West 34th Street, New
York), Talking Book records were first announced in the Talking
Machine World for May 15, 1919.
The records were manufactured by a process invented by Victor
Emerson (patent #1,399,757) covering "a tablet made in imitation
of the appearance of a well-known animate or inanimate object
and comprising a phonographic record that can reproduce sounds
which the hearer generally associates with that object."
The Talking Book line included "talking dolls" and
"talking animals," records laminated to colorful die-cut
figures, like the example above. According to the Talking
Machine World, "elocutionists of note and merit make
these talking records, so that the child's ear is attuned to
perfection of sound from infancy."
On January 26, 1921, creditors filed a petition in bankruptcy
against the Talking Book Corporation, citing liabilities in excess
of $75,000 and assets of approximately $5,000. Few examples of
this short-lived venture have survived in good condition.
©
2000 by Mainspring Press. Photo © 2000 by Kurt R. Nauck
III. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be
reproduced without prior written consent of the copyright holder(s).
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