Consolidated Brown-Wax Cylinder Catalog Highlights (Late 1890s)

A companion piece to the United States Phonograph Company flyer shown in the previous post — This Consolidated Phonograph Companies  Supplemental Bulletin shows the same address as U.S. Phonograph and lists the Issler titles from “The Bride-Elect,” possibly the same recordings featured in U.S. flyer. The latest song titles listed in this catalog were early 1899 publications, providing an approximately date for this piece.

We’ll be posting higher-resolution scans of the complete 20-page catalog, along with many other rare brown-wax lists, on the Mainspring website in the upcoming months as part of The American Cylinder Record Project.

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CYLINDER COLLECTORS — Be sure to check out the new Indestructible and U-S Everlasting History and Cylinderography, the first volume in Mainspring Press’ new American Cylinder Record Index series.

United States Phonograph Company Flyer (Brown-Wax Cylinders, c. 1898)

This rare United States Phonograph Company four-panel flyer advertises selections from Sousa’s comic opera, The Bride-Elect, in this case played not by Sousa’s band, but by Edward Issler’s. The flyer most likely dates to 1898. The Bride-Elect opened at the Knickerbocker Theatre (New York) on April 11, 1898, closed in June after 64 performances, then had a  brief return engagement at the Harlem Opera House in October of that year.
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The flyer is from Bill Bryant’s archive, which also includes a complete 32-page United States Phonograph Company cylinder catalog and related materials. We’ll be scanning and posting the full catalog on the Mainspring Press website later this month, as part of our new American Cylinder Record Project.

Excerpts from the Harms, Kaiser & Hagen Cylinder Catalog (with more to come soon)

From the Bill Bryant archive, three pages from the very rare Harms, Kaiser & Hagen cylinder catalog, c. 1898. We’ll be posting the complete catalog with all of the cylinder listings on the Mainspring website soon, as part of our American Cylinder Record Project — stay tuned!
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Books in the American Cylinder Record Project series so far include Edison Blue Amberols: The Complete Cylinderography (US and Foreign Issues), and Indestructible & U-S Everlasting Cylinders: An Illustrated History and Discography. Currently in the works are The Brown Wax Cylinder Index: A Catalog Compendium (1891–1901) and The Complete Edison Gold-Moulded Cylinder Index: U.S. and Foreign Issues.