Edison Bell
“Edison Bell”! When declaimed, it has a fine, resonant sound. The term Edison Bell is used, rather casually by collectors and students, to describe a company which began in London and existed from the earliest years of commercial sound recording, almost all on cylinders (circa 1890). It expanded, burgeoned, and at its height, in the mid and late 1920s, was active all over Europe.
The label of the special record. It is thought only to have been distributed to Edison Bell’s wholesalers (factors), and certain prominent dealers and individuals. Certainly this single-sided disc is quite scarce, and it has been suggested that the pressing run might have been only around 250 copies; but that is conjecture.
Alas, the Wall Street Crash of October 1929, eventually destroyed ‘Edison Bell’, along with hundreds, nay, thousands of other ‘innocent’ businesses; and it finally disappeared altogether, around 1935.
In fact, calling the company ‘Edison Bell’ is, in one sense, a serious violation of its extremely long and convoluted history, during which the company existed under, perhaps, six different names, if not more. If you read the long text below, you will encounter several of the earlier ones. However, this site is concerned primarily with what record companies actually did, rather than what they were called, especially in view of the fact that this web-page covers only a very narrow time period of just a year or so: 1924 into 1925.
Happily, the CLPGS has published, in its ‘Reference Series’, a detailed company history and an exhaustive list of its issues on its British labels, as well as some others. For more information and how to purchase: Visit the CLPGS Reference Series and scroll down to 41.