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The Mainspring Press Newsletter  •  February 2012

American Cylinder Record Project

Additions Coming to The American Cylinder Record Project

FEBRUARY 5 — Over the next few months we will be posting high-quality scans of many brown-wax cylinder catalogs from Bill Bryant's papers on the website in Acrobat (.pdf) format for the benefit of collectors.

Included are sales list and catalogs from as early as 1893, many of them extraordinarily rare. New postings will be announced on our Article Index Page and on the Mainspring Blog.

Progress Report: The William R. Bryant
Papers and Discographies

FEBRUARY 5 — Volume I of Bill's American Zonophone Records Discography (covering the single- and double-sided ten-inch and twelve-inch popular series of 1904–1912) is in final proofing and will be heading to the printer in March. It will be a 360-page hardcover, offered with an introductory discount for a limited time.

Our next planned title in the series is Volume I of the complete Emerson Records Discography. It will cover all ten-inch issues (1919–1928), including ethic and classical series, and will delve into such fine details as control numbers and associated issues on such labels groups as Federal, Grey Gull, Paramount, and Plaza.

Date entry is also nearing completion on the Leeds & Catlin labels, and is under way on the American Record Company (Hawthorne, Sheble & Prescott), American Record Corporation (1931– 39), Arto/Bell, Grey Gull, Pathe/Perfect (lateral), and assorted vertical-cut labels and brown-wax cylinders.
Zonophone Records - Bill Bryant Discography

Other Coming Attractions

The following publications were originally scheduled for 2011 — But like many other publishers, we scaled back our new releases in the wake of last summer's Congressionally induced financial crisis. All have now been rescheduled for
release later this year (dates to be announced):

American Record Labels and Conmpanies - Kurt Nauck & Allan Sutton

American Record Labels and Companies:
An Encyclopedia
(1891–1943)

Revised and Expanded Edition


By Allan Sutton & Kurt Nauck

 

The most authoritative guide to American record labels, companies, and producers will be back in 2012, in a greatly expanded edition.

The result of twelve years' research, the new edition adds hundreds of entries, including new sections on prototype labels and American-produced ethnic brands.

In addition, the existing entries have been thoroughly revised and expanded using rare primary-source materials that were not available at the time the 2000 edition was published.

The new edition will be a deluxe hardcover with approximately 700 pages. It will be accompanied by a completely revamped label image CD-ROM containing hundreds of new images and featuring an improved user interface.

 Berliner Gramophone Records Discography

Berliner Gramophone Records
in America: A Discography

By Paul Charosh

Victor 78-rpm Black Label Records Discography

Victor Black Label Discography:
22000 / 23000 Series

By John R. Bolig

Rethinking Jazz Discography: Jazz Records, Edition 7

Brian Rust's death was a great loss to jazz collectors. Fortunately, Brian made contractual provisions for the ongoing publication of new editions of his Jazz Records under the auspices of Mainspring Press, which holds the copyright and exclusive world publication rights to the work. As with JR-6, royalties from sales of JR-7 will be paid to the Rust estate.

Jazz Records, Edition 7 (1917–1960) will mark a return to true jazz discography, eliminating the pop and other extraneous material that found its way into JR over the years, while expanding listings through the end of 78-rpm production. We are assembling a team of the most competent discographers and jazz scholars, who will build on Brian's work to create an entirely new jazz discography unlike any other.

JR-7 will be a digital product (in CD-ROM and/or online subscription form) that will include update capability, search engine, photos, linked MP3 sound files, and embedded source documentation. Unlike earlier editions, JR-7 will cite sources for all personnel listings, allowing the user to see which attributions come from reliable primary sources, and which are merely anecdotal or speculative. The underlying database structure is currently in development, and the initial stage of the project will get under way later this year.

Interested in Writing for Mainspring?

We are currently considering proposals and manuscripts for publication in 2013 and beyond. We encourage published authors and researchers to submit manuscripts or detailed proposals for book-length projects in the field of historical sound recordings. We also welcome inquiries from unpublished authors with demonstrated research and writing skills. As with all Mainspring publications, we are looking for original, previously unpublished research based on properly documented primary-source materials.

Although discographies continue to be an important component of our catalog, we are also building a catalog of well-documented narrative histories and encyclopedias dealing with recordings and the recording industry through the end of the 78-rpm era.

To learn more about writing for Mainspring, see "Information for Authors" on our company page.

   
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