These are all E_ or better--amazing sides. I do know how to properly ship 78s--check my feedback.

4 records, two sets of 4 parts each:

AMERICAN RELIEF FOR CZECHOSLOVAKIA MORAVIAN BESEDA and CZECH BESEDA orch. dir. Victor King.
Shipping: $6


WIKIPEDIA:

The , patented by in 1857, used a vibrating and stylus to graphically record sound waves as tracings on sheets of paper, purely for visual analysis and without any intent of playing them back. In the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by and digitally converted into audible sound. of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008. Along with a tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound.

In 1877, invented the . Unlike the phonautograph, it could both record and reproduce sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no documentary evidence that Edison's phonograph was based on Scott's phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a wax-impregnated paper tape, with the idea of creating a " repeater" analogous to the repeater he had been working on. Although the visible results made him confident that sound could be physically recorded and reproduced, his notes do not indicate that he actually reproduced sound before his first experiment in which he used as a recording medium several months later. The tinfoil was wrapped around a grooved metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately. The article that introduced the tinfoil phonograph to the public mentioned Marey, Rosapelly and Barlow as well as Scott as creators of devices for recording but, importantly, not reproducing sound. Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats.[] Numerous applications for the phonograph were envisioned, but although it enjoyed a brief vogue as a startling novelty at public demonstrations, the tinfoil phonograph proved too crude to be put to any practical use. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a hollow wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device. The wax created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century.

with disc record gramophone

Lateral-cut disc records were developed in the United States by (although Thomas Edison's original patent included flat disks), who named his system the "gramophone", distinguishing it from Edison's wax cylinder "phonograph" and 's wax cylinder "". Berliner's earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, only in Europe, were 12.5 cm (approx 5 inches) in diameter, and were played with a small hand-propelled machine. Both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality. In the United States in 1894, under the trademark, Berliner started marketing records of 7 inches diameter with somewhat more substantial entertainment value, along with somewhat more substantial gramophones to play them. Berliner's records had poor sound quality compared to wax cylinders, but his manufacturing associate eventually improved it. Abandoning Berliner's "Gramophone" trademark for legal reasons, in 1901 Johnson's and Berliner's separate companies reorganized to form the in , whose products would come to dominate the market for many years. Emile Berliner moved his company to Montreal in 1900. The factory, which became the Canadian branch of , still exists. There is a dedicated museum in Montreal for Berliner (Musée des ondes Emile Berliner).

In 1901, 10-inch disc records were introduced, followed in 1903 by 12-inch records. These could play for more than three and four minutes, respectively, whereas contemporary cylinders could only play for about two minutes. In an attempt to head off the disc advantage, Edison introduced the Amberol cylinder in 1909, with a maximum playing time of ​4 1⁄2 minutes (at 160 rpm), which in turn were superseded by , which had a playing surface made of , a plastic, which was far less fragile. Despite these improvements, during the 1910s discs decisively won this early , although Edison continued to produce new Blue Amberol cylinders for an ever-dwindling customer base until late in 1929. By 1919, the basic patents for the manufacture of lateral-cut disc records had expired, opening the field for countless companies to produce them. Analog disc records dominated the home entertainment market until they were outsold by digital in the 1980s, which were in turn supplanted by distributed via and .

78 rpm disc developments Hungarian record, 90 to 100 rpm Early speeds

Early disc recordings were produced in a variety of speeds ranging from 60 to 130 rpm, and a variety of sizes. As early as 1894, 's United States was selling single-sided 7-inch discs with an advertised standard speed of "about 70 rpm".

One standard audio recording handbook describes speed regulators, or , as being part of a wave of improvement introduced rapidly after 1897. A picture of a hand-cranked 1898 Berliner Gramophone shows a governor. It says that spring drives replaced hand drives. It notes that:

The speed regulator was furnished with an indicator that showed the speed when the machine was running so that the records, on reproduction, could be revolved at exactly the same speed...The literature does not disclose why 78 rpm was chosen for the phonograph industry, apparently this just happened to be the speed created by one of the early machines and, for no other reason continued to be used.

A multinational product: an operatic duet sung by and , recorded in the US in 1906 by the , manufactured c. 1908 in Hanover, Germany, for the , Victor's affiliate in England

By 1925, the speed of the record was becoming standardized at a value of 78 rpm. However, the standard differed between places with electricity supply at 60 (cycles per second, Hz) and those at 50 Hz. Where the mains supply was 60 Hz, the actual speed was 78.26 rpm: that of a 60 Hz illuminating 92-bar calibration markings. Where it was 50 Hz, it was 77.92 rpm: that of a 50 Hz stroboscope illuminating 77-bar calibration markings.

Acoustic recording

Early recordings were made entirely acoustically, the sound being collected by a horn and piped to a , which vibrated the cutting stylus. Sensitivity and frequency range were poor, and frequency response was very irregular, giving acoustic recordings an instantly recognizable tonal quality. A singer almost had to put his or her face in the recording horn. A way of reducing resonance was to wrap the recording horn with tape.

Lower-pitched orchestral instruments such as and were often doubled (or replaced) by louder instruments, such as . Standard in orchestral ensembles were commonly replaced by , which became popular with recording studios.

Even drums, if planned and placed properly, could be effectively recorded and heard on even the earliest jazz and military band recordings. The loudest instruments such as the drums and trumpets were positioned the farthest away from the collecting horn. , a member of , which recorded at in 1923, remembered that at first Oliver and his young second trumpet, , stood next to each other and Oliver's horn could not be heard. "They put Louis about fifteen feet over in the corner, looking all sad."

Electrical recording An electronically recorded disc from AG, Germany, c. 1930

During the first half of the 1920s, engineers at , as well as independent inventors such as , developed technology for capturing sound with a , amplifying it with , then using the amplified signal to drive an electromechanical recording head. Western Electric's innovations resulted in a broader and smoother frequency response, which produced a dramatically fuller, clearer and more natural-sounding recording. Soft or distant sounds that were previously impossible to record could now be captured. Volume was now limited only by the groove spacing on the record and the amplification of the playback device. Victor and Columbia licensed the new system from Western Electric and began recording discs during the Spring of 1925. The first electrically recorded record was 's "Impromptus" and 's "Litanei" performed by for Victor in .

A 1926 ad in offers records "by the latest Victor process of electrical recording". It was recognized as a breakthrough; in 1930, a Times music critic stated:

... the time has come for serious musical criticism to take account of performances of great music reproduced by means of the records. To claim that the records have succeeded in exact and complete reproduction of all details of symphonic or operatic performances ... would be extravagant ... [but] the article of today is so far in advance of the old machines as hardly to admit classification under the same name. Electrical recording and reproduction have combined to retain vitality and color in recitals by proxy.

Examples of Congolese 78 rpm records A 10-inch Decelith blank for making an individually cut one-off recording. A German product introduced in 1937, these flexible all-plastic discs were a European alternative to rigid-based .

Electrically amplified record players were initially expensive and slow to be adopted. In 1925, the Victor company introduced both the , an acoustical record player that was designed to play electrically recorded discs, and the electrically amplified Electrola. The acoustical Orthophonics were priced from 95 to $300, depending on cabinetry. However the cheapest Electrola cost $650, in an era when the price of a new was less than $300 and clerical jobs paid around $20 a week.

The Orthophonic had an interior folded exponential horn, a sophisticated design informed by impedance-matching and theory, and designed to provide a relatively flat frequency response. Its first public demonstration was front-page news in The New York Times, which reported:

The audience broke into applause ... [said]: '[Gentlemen], that is a band. This is the first time I have ever heard music with any soul to it produced by a mechanical talking machine' ... The new instrument is a feat of mathematics and physics. It is not the result of innumerable experiments, but was worked out on paper in advance of being built in the laboratory ... The new machine has a range of from 100 to 5,000 [cycles], or five and a half octaves ... The 'phonograph tone' is eliminated by the new recording and reproducing process.

Gradually, electrical reproduction entered the home. The spring motor was replaced by an electric motor. The old sound box with its needle-linked diaphragm was replaced by an electromagnetic pickup that converted the needle vibrations into an electrical signal. The tone arm now served to conduct a pair of wires, not sound waves, into the cabinet. The exponential horn was replaced by an amplifier and a loudspeaker.

Sales of records declined precipitously during the of the 1930s. , which purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929, introduced an inexpensive turntable called the Duo Jr., which was designed to be connected to their radio sets. According to Edward Wallerstein (the general manager of RCA's Victor division), this device was "instrumental in revitalizing the industry".

78 rpm materials

The earliest disc records (1889–1894) were made of variety of materials including hard . Around 1895, a -based material was introduced and became standard. Formulas for the mixture varied by manufacturer over time, but it was typically about one-third shellac and two-thirds mineral filler (finely pulverized or ), with cotton fibers to add tensile strength, carbon black for color (without which it tended to be an unattractive "dirty" gray or brown color), and a very small amount of a lubricant to facilitate release from the manufacturing press. Columbia Records used a laminated disc with a core of coarser material or fiber.

The production of shellac records continued throughout the 78 rpm era which lasted until the 1950s in industrialized nations, but well into the 1960s in others. Less abrasive formulations were developed during its waning years and very late examples in like-new condition can have noise levels as low as vinyl.[]

Flexible, "unbreakable" alternatives to shellac were introduced by several manufacturers during the 78 rpm era. Beginning in 1904, Nicole Records of the UK coated or a similar substance onto a cardboard core disc for a few years, but they were noisy. In the United States, Columbia Records introduced flexible, fiber-cored "Marconi Velvet Tone Record" pressings in 1907, but their longevity and relatively quiet surfaces depended on the use of special gold-plated Marconi Needles and the product was not successful. Thin, flexible plastic records such as the German Phonycord and the British Filmophone and Goodson records appeared around 1930 but not for long. The contemporary French Cellodiscs, made of a very thin black plastic resembling the vinyl "sound sheet" magazine inserts of the 1965–1985 era, were similarly short-lived. In the US, were introduced in early 1930. They were made of a patented translucent plastic called coated on a heavy brown paper base. A new issue debuted weekly, sold at newsstands like a magazine. Although inexpensive and commercially successful at first, they fell victim to the and US production ended in 1932. Durium records continued to be made in the UK and as late as 1950 in Italy, where the name "Durium" survived into the era as a brand of vinyl records. Despite these innovations, shellac continued to be used for the overwhelming majority of commercial 78 rpm records throughout the format's lifetime.

In 1931, RCA Victor introduced vinyl plastic-based Victrolac as a material for unusual-format and special-purpose records. One was a 16-inch, ​33 1⁄3 rpm record used by the sound-on-disc movie system. In 1932, RCA began using Victrolac in a home recording system. By the end of the 1930s vinyl's light weight, strength, and low had made it the preferred material for prerecorded radio programming and other critical applications. For ordinary 78 rpm records, however, the much higher cost of the synthetic plastic, as well as its vulnerability to the heavy pickups and mass-produced steel needles used in home record players, made its general substitution for shellac impractical at that time.

During the Second World War, the United States Armed Forces produced thousands of 12-inch vinyl 78 rpm for use by the troops overseas. After the war, the use of vinyl became more practical as new record players with lightweight crystal pickups and precision-ground styli made of or an exotic alloy proliferated. In late 1945, RCA Victor began offering "De Luxe" transparent red vinyl pressings of some classical 78s, at a de luxe price. Later, introduced vinyl Deccalite 78s, while other record companies used vinyl formulations trademarked as Metrolite, Merco Plastic, and Sav-o-flex, but these were mainly used to produce "unbreakable" children's records and special thin vinyl DJ pressings for shipment to radio stations.

78 rpm disc sizes

In the 1890s, the diameter of the earliest (toy) discs was generally 12.5 cm (nominally 5 inches). By the mid-1890s, discs were usually 7 inches (nominally 17.5 cm) in diameter.

By 1910, the 10-inch (25 cm) record was by far the most popular standard, containing about three minutes of music or other entertainment on one side.

From 1903 onwards, 12-inch (30 cm) records were produced, mostly featuring or selections, with four to five minutes of music per side. , and also issued 12-inch popular medleys, usually spotlighting a Broadway show score.

An 8-inch (20 cm) disc with a 2-inch (50 mm)-diameter label became popular for about a decade[] in Britain, but those records cannot be played in full on most modern record players, because cannot track far enough toward the center of the record without modifying the equipment. In 1903, Victor offered a series of 14-inch (36 cm) "Deluxe Special" records, which played at 60 rpm and sold for two dollars. Fewer than fifty titles were issued, and the series was dropped in 1906, due to poor sales. Also in 1906, a short-lived British firm called Neophone marketed a series of single-sided 20-inch (50 cm) records, offering complete performances of some operatic overtures and shorter pieces. also issued 14-inch and 20-inch records around the same time.

78 rpm recording time

The playing time of a phonograph record depends on the available groove length divided by the turntable speed. Total groove length in turn depends on how closely the grooves are spaced, in addition to the record diameter. At the beginning of the 20th century, the early discs played for two minutes, the same as cylinder records. The 12-inch disc, introduced by Victor in 1903, increased the playing time to three and a half minutes. Because the standard 10-inch 78 rpm record could hold about three minutes of sound per side, most popular recordings were limited to that duration. For example, when 's Creole Jazz Band, including on his first recordings, recorded 13 sides at in Richmond, Indiana, in 1923, one side was 2:09 and four sides were 2:52–2:59.

In January 1938, started recording for , and to allow for longer continuous performances, he recorded some 12-inch discs. explained: "Gabler realized that a jam session needs room for development." The first two 12-inch recordings did not take advantage of their capability: "Carnegie Drag" was 3m 15s; "Carnegie Jump", 2m 41s. But at the second session, on April 30, the two 12-inch recordings were longer: "Embraceable You" was 4m 05s; "Serenade to a Shylock", 4m 32s. Another way to overcome the time limitation was to issue a selection extending to both sides of a single record. Vaudeville stars recorded "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean", written by themselves or, allegedly, by Bryan Foy, as two sides of a 10-inch 78 in 1922 for . Longer musical pieces were released as a set of records. In 1903 in England made the first complete recording of an opera, 's , on 40 single-sided discs. In 1940, Commodore released and his Band's recording of "" in four parts, issued on both sides of two 12-inch 78s. The limited duration of recordings persisted from their advent until the introduction of the in 1948. In popular music, the time limit of ​3 1⁄2 minutes on a 10-inch 78 rpm record meant that singers seldom recorded long pieces. One exception is 's recording of and 's "", from , made on May 28, 1946. Because it ran 7m 57s, longer than both sides of a standard 78 rpm 10-inch record, it was released on 's Masterwork label (the classical division) as two sides of a 12-inch record. The same was true of 's performance of the song on the of Carousel, which had been issued on a 78-rpm album set by American in 1945.

In the 78 era, classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on the longer 12-inch 78s, about 4–5 minutes per side. For example, on June 10, 1924, four months after the February 12 premier of , recorded an abridged version of the seventeen-minute work with and His Orchestra. It was released on two sides of Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s.

Record albums

78 rpm records were normally sold individually in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were plain, or sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name. Generally the sleeves had a circular cut-out exposing the record label to view. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontally or stood on an edge, but because of their fragility, breakage was common.

German record company pioneered the album in 1909 when it released the by on 4 double-sided discs in a specially designed package. However, the previous year had produced an album for its complete recording of the opera . The practice of issuing albums was not adopted by other record companies for many years. One exception, , produced an album with a pictorial cover for its 1917 recording of ().

By about 1910, bound collections of empty sleeves with a or cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than the records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them.

In the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78 rpm records by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight per album. When the 12-inch vinyl LP era began in 1948, each disc could hold a similar number of tunes as a typical album of 78s, so they w

Beseda (Russian: Беседа, IPA:  (), 'Symposium') was a clandestine consisting of "", among them the most prominent and grand names of the , formed in 1899. The members, which included among others , met in the in , and initially restricted discussion strictly to the affairs of the zemstvos. After the persecution of the zemstvos was increased in 1900, when it dismissed several hundreds of liberals from the elected zemstvo boards, the circle was forced to confront political issues and questions. In the following two years, the Beseda would become the "leading force of ", with a wide spectrum of public men, from to civic leaders, supporting it, and its calls for reform.

The discussion group was formed in the wake of resumed persecution of the zemstvos after increased liberties during the . The resumed persecution had also banned 's , formed 1896 and closed shortly after, which drove him, "a reluctant revolutionary", into the circles of the radical .

One of the founders of the circle was Prince , a distinguished at the .

Beseda (Russian: Беседа, IPA:  (), 'Symposium') was a clandestine consisting of "", among them the most prominent and grand names of the , formed in 1899. The members, which included among others , met in the in , and initially restricted discussion strictly to the affairs of the zemstvos. After the persecution of the zemstvos was increased in 1900, when it dismissed several hundreds of liberals from the elected zemstvo boards, the circle was forced to confront political issues and questions. In the following two years, the Beseda would become the "leading force of ", with a wide spectrum of public men, from to civic leaders, supporting it, and its calls for reform.

The discussion group was formed in the wake of resumed persecution of the zemstvos after increased liberties during the . The resumed persecution had also banned 's , formed 1896 and closed shortly after, which drove him, "a reluctant revolutionary", into the circles of the radical .

One of the founders of the circle was Prince , a distinguished at the .

Beseda (Russian: Беседа, IPA:  (), 'Symposium') was a clandestine consisting of "", among them the most prominent and grand names of the , formed in 1899. The members, which included among others , met in the in , and initially restricted discussion strictly to the affairs of the zemstvos. After the persecution of the zemstvos was increased in 1900, when it dismissed several hundreds of liberals from the elected zemstvo boards, the circle was forced to confront political issues and questions. In the following two years, the Beseda would become the "leading force of ", with a wide spectrum of public men, from to civic leaders, supporting it, and its calls for reform.

The discussion group was formed in the wake of resumed persecution of the zemstvos after increased liberties during the . The resumed persecution had also banned 's , formed 1896 and closed shortly after, which drove him, "a reluctant revolutionary", into the circles of the radical .

One of the founders of the circle was Prince , a distinguished at the .