Hello,

Dr. Maisonneuve has modestly missed out her own superb work, which includes many papers and articles examining the roots and construction of phonograph and gramophone culture and its evolution from the earliest days until today. The most relevant to the acoustic era is this monograph, which I highly recommend to anyone who reads French:

L'invention du disque 1877-1949: Genèse de l’usage des médias musicaux contemporains, Paris: Editions des archives contemporaines, 2009

As one of the seminal books on this subject and period it sorely needs translating into English.

An earlier paper in English by Dr. Maisonneuve gives a good idea of themes later expanded upon in the book:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223227032_Between_history_and_commodity_The_production_of_a_musical_patrimony_through_the_record_in_the_1920-1930s

(I believe Dr. Maisonneuve's many other interesting publications are in French and in Italian.)

Two other indispensible books:

Martland, Peter Recording History: the British Record Industry, 1888-1931, Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press 2013

Carli, Philip Synergy in America's Early Talking Machine Industry: Technological, Commercial, Cultural, and Musical Factors in Band and Orchestral Recordings, 1894-1917 [PhD thesis], Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 2003

Best wishes,

Nick
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sophie Maisonneuve
Sent: 07 April 2021 17:19
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Books about the acoustic era

Here are a few late additions to the publications already mentioned, some by members of this list. This bibliography, mainly focused on cultural and social history, was compiled in the early 2000’s; thus, recent and other subject-oriented references might be missing:


Batten, Joe. Joe Batten’s Book. The story of sound recording. Being the memoirs of Joe Batten, recording manager. London: Rockliff, 1956.

Bryant, Erich T. « The Gramophone Society Movement : A History of the gramophone societies in Britain, including their links with public libraries », Queen's University, 1972.


Chanan, Michael. Repeated takes. A short history of recording and its effects on music. London/New York: Verso, 1995.


Day, Timothy. A Century of recorded music. Listening to musical history. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2000.


Dearling, Celia, Dearling Robert et al. The Guiness book of recorded sound. Enfield: Guiness Book, 1984.


Edge, Ruth and Leonard Petts. The collector's guide to "His Master's Voice" Nipper souvenirs. E.M.I. Groupe Archive Trust, 1997.

Frith, Simon. « The Making of the British record industry, 1920-1964 » In Impacts and influences, ed. James Curran, 278-290. London:Methuen, 1987.


Gronow, Pekka and Ilpo Saunio. An International History of the Recording Industry. London: Cassell, 1998.


Harvith, John and Susan E. Harvith, ed. Edison, musicians, and the phonograph. A century in retrospect. New York/Westport, CT/London: Greenwood Press, 1987.


Katz, Mark. « Making America more musical through the phonograph, 1900-1930 » American Music 16, n° 4 (1998): 448-475.


Kenney, William Howland Recorded Music in American Life. The Phonograph and Popular Memory, 1890-1945. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.


Le Mahieu, D. L. « The Gramophone : recorded music and the cultivated mind in Britain between the wars » Technology and culture 23, n° 3, juillet (1982).


Mackenzie, Compton. My record of music. London: Hutchinson, 1955.

Martland, Peter. Since records began : E.M.I., the first 100 years. London: B.T. Batsford, 1997.


Miller, Russel and Roger Boar. The incredible music machine. London: Quartet, 1982.

Milner, Greg. Perfecting Sound Forever: The Story of Recorded Music.London: Granta, 2009.

Moore, Jerrold Northrop. A voice in time : The gramophone of Fred Gaisberg, 1873-1951. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1976.


Morton, David. Sound recording: the life story of a technology. Johns Hopkins Paperbacks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.

Philip, Robert Early recordings and musical style : changing tastes in instrumental performances : 1900-1950. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.


Sterne, Jonathan. The Audible Past. Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2003.

Taylor, Timothy D., Mark Katz, and Tony Grajeda, ed. Music, Sound, and Technology in America: A Documentary History of Early Phonograph, Cinema, and Radio. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012.

Thompson, Emily. « Machines, music, and the quest for fidelity:Marketing the Edison phonograph in America, 1877-1925 » Musical Quarterly 79, n° 1 (1995): 131-171.


Best,


Sophie MAISONNEUVE
PhD. History & Civilizations
Associate professor in sociology
Université de Paris - Cerlis