Lot #136: The Guinness book of recorded sound by Robert & Celia Dearling

Man has documented his thoughts, achievements and aspirations for thousands of years, preserving them on silent stone or paper. It is only during the last century (as far as we know for certain) that it has been possible for him to document his surroundings and activities in sound that can be played back at will. This book follows the story of a multi-million pound industry which has been built upon the accidental pricking of a finger. It is a story that encompasses countless experiments and mistakes, the use of materials as varied as metal, plastic and chocolate for the storage of sound, and the radically different methods by which that sound has been stored, from rough grooves on the first primitive cylinders, to the latest digital techniques. More important even than the methods of storing sound is the sound itself. Only since Edison has man been able to retrieve the actual voices of politicians dead for decades, the music of singers and instrumentalists who delighted the Victorians, and the sounds of our rapidly-changing world. A major section of the book traces the ever-widening repertoire that accompanied the development of the record industry, charting the best-sellers that made that industry successful and the special projects which gave it prestige and significance. Measurements: 7x1x9 Pickup category timeslot {A}