Early British record labels 1898-1926: Z

An enormous amount of information is available on this very important label.

(a) ‘Zonophone Single Sided Records’ by Frank Andrews and Ernie Bayly. 5″, 7″, 10″ and 12″ records, 1904 to 1913; but with the History of Zonophone from its inception in 1898. Index, Coloured label examples and cover. Pub. C.L.P.G.S, 1999. 290 pp. 

(b)‘Zonophone Record’ 10″ and 12″ Double Sided Records; May 1911 – December 1932. A numerical listing by Frank Andrews, James G Hayes and the late Ernie Bayly, with History. Pub. C.L.P.G.S, 2006. 2 volumes: 354 pp & ~80pp. 

Go to www.clpgs.org.uk and select the Bookshop page, so that you can acquire these valuable listings. 

Also, see Frank Andrews, BRI; and TMR 62, 63-64, 65-66, 1982-83. Also HD 166, 167, 168, 169, 1989. Little else need be said. Frank gives a detailed history of the origin & development of Zonophone, which name first appeared in print in the U.S.A. in February 1898. It became in a few years an irritating competitor to The Gramophone Co., and they ended up buying it out, and running it as a second-string label for many years. It was then immensely successful, and early single sided examples are still commonly found after more than 100 years. Regarding the double-sided discs, they began as ‘The Twin’ in August 1908 and continued under this name until May 1911, carrying catalogue numbers from 1 to 415. Twin was then merged with Zonophone – see 638 above. These ran from cat. no. 416 (May 1911) to 2016 (June 1920). From June 1920 to June 1924 the ‘Dog Zonophone’ label was employed on cat. nos. 2017 to 2433. Of course, you will find earlier recordings with later labels, as some of these Zonophones had a very long catalogue life. The 12″ disc above is a good example of this. A-16 consists of two sides made by Billy Williams in 1909, originally issued on two single sided discs. In 1911 the single-sided discs were deleted, but the sides coupled together as A-16. This disc would originally have had the ‘Zonophone Record – The Twin’ label like 638 above. However, it stayed in the catalogue for many years; the label it wears here came in in June 1924. A-16 was finally deleted in April 1929, the sides having been available, therefore, for twenty years.