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A Century of Recorded Music Antique NYACCO Record Album 12 Victor & Victrola 78 RPM Records An Early 20th Century Musical Time Capsule
There is something remarkable about opening an old record album and realizing that more than a century ago, someone selected these records, placed them into these sleeves, and returned to them whenever they wanted music in their home.
Offered here is an original NYACCO loose-leaf record album containing 12 large Victor and Victrola shellac 78 RPM records. The collection represents music recorded primarily during the 1910s and early 1920s, with documented performances reaching back to 1909.
Rather than separate the records, this collection is being offered intact as it was found. Together, the old album, black-and-gold Victor labels, beautiful red Victrola Red Seal records, operatic selections, concert band music, orchestral performances and early popular dance music create a wonderful snapshot of the first decades of commercially recorded sound.
Notable Names in the Collection Alma Gluck • Efrem Zimbalist • Amelita Galli-Curci • Arthur Pryor\'s Band • Reinald Werrenrath • Josef Pasternack • Joseph C. Smith\'s Orchestra • Victor Light Opera Company Complete Record Catalog # Victor No. Selection Artist / Performer 1 35014 A: Glory Song (Oh, That Will Be Glory for Me)
B: The Radiant Morn Hath Passed Away Criterion Quartet / Lyric Quartet 2 35644 A: Réconciliation Polka
B: Spanish Dance in G Minor Victor Concert Orchestra
Josef Pasternack, conductor 3 74041 The Holy City Emilio de Gogorza
Single-sided Red Seal 4 35166 A: Oberon Overture
B: Norma Overture Arthur Pryor\'s Band 5 35698 A: Ziegfeld Follies of 1920 – Medley Fox Trot
B: Cuban Moon – Fox Trot Joseph C. Smith\'s Orchestra
Side A paper label is missing; catalog number remains stamped into record 6 35413 Gems from Robin Hood – Parts 1 & 2 Victor Light Opera Company 7 31740 The Two Grenadiers Reinald Werrenrath
Victor Orchestra accompaniment
Single-sided 8 35428 Gems from Aida – Parts 1 & 2 Victor Opera Company 9 74594 La Traviata – Ah, fors\' è lui Amelita Galli-Curci
Single-sided Red Seal 10 89096 The Lost Chord Alma Gluck & Efrem Zimbalist
Soprano with violin obbligato and orchestra
Single-sided Red Seal 11 74599 Don Pasquale – Cavatina
\"Quel guardo il cavaliere\" Amelita Galli-Curci
Single-sided Red Seal 12 35440 A: Gems from Chin Chin
B: Gems from Maid in America Victor Light Opera Company A Few Highlights
One of the collection\'s standout records is Victrola 89096, The Lost Chord, pairing celebrated soprano Alma Gluck with violinist Efrem Zimbalist.
Another fascinating piece is Victor 35698, featuring Joseph C. Smith\'s Orchestra, Cuban Moon and a Ziegfeld Follies of 1920 medley with an Irving Berlin connection.
The album also contains two Amelita Galli-Curci Red Seal records and an Arthur Pryor\'s Band disc, giving the collection a particularly nice cross-section of early recorded music.
The Album
The records are housed in an original NYACCO Record Album with its printed Record Album Index, heavy covered boards, metal-backed loose-leaf binding and individual record sleeves.
NYACCO albums of this construction were marketed during the early 1920s, making the album itself an appropriate period home for this collection. The assortment appears consistent with an early-20th-century personal record library rather than a modern grouping of unrelated records.
The recordings represented in this collection span approximately 1909 through the early 1920s. Certain Victor catalog numbers were re-recorded or reissued over time, so exact pressing dates are not claimed for every individual disc.
Condition
This collection is more than 100 years old and shows appropriate age and use.
The NYACCO album has substantial exterior wear, edge and spine wear, fraying, age staining and deterioration. Several internal paper sleeves have splitting, tears, edge loss and deterioration around the binding area. Please review all photographs carefully.
The records themselves show varying degrees of age, surface wear, dust and handling marks. They have not been play-tested and no numerical or traditional record grade is being assigned. One record, Victor 35698, is missing its Side A paper label, though the catalog number is still visibly impressed into the record and the side can be identified.
Several of the Red Seal and earlier Victor records are intentionally single-sided recordings; their plain reverse sides are original to the manufacture and are not missing labels.
Nothing has been aggressively cleaned or restored. The collection is being sold as an antique historical grouping in the condition shown.
Imagine the Original Owner...
A century ago, listening to one of these records meant choosing a disc from this album, placing it on a Victrola or phonograph, lowering a steel needle into the groove and hearing music fill the room without radio, streaming or electronics. The album has survived into another century with those records still tucked inside. That is the part of this collection I find most compelling.
Sold as One Complete 12-Record Collection A wonderful display or research piece for the Victrola collector, phonograph enthusiast, 78 RPM collector, music historian or lover of early recorded sound. Please view all photographs as they are an important part of the description and condition assessment. VICTOR • VICTROLA • NYACCO • EARLY RECORDED MUSIC
