My Year of the Book - Day 111: In honor of #recordstoreday2018 today, letâs dig out a few examples of why long-playing record collections became known as âalbums,â just in case you donât already know. The first recorded discs (from about 1910 on) played at 78 rpm, which meant that a full-sized record could only hold about three minutes of content. In the 1930s, record companies began to sell collections of these records by the same artist in books similar to photo albums, with multiple paper sleeves to hold the records, and the name stuck. Some, especially those for children, even had a 12- or 24-page book bound in. Here are a few examples from my record library, including a Louis Prima collection from Majestic Records (3 discs), the soundtrack âalbumâ from the Broadway musical âHigh Button Shoesâ starring Phil Silvers (4 discs), and a âLittle Nipperâ story book album from RCA Records featuring a couple âWinnie the Poohâ tales excerpted from the A.A. Milne books (with the original, pre-Disney art), both âtold byâ a young Jimmy Stewart. This album is especially cool because it is two-sided...when you finish reading with one story, you simply flipped the album and the attached storybook over and let Jimmy tell you the next one. Ah, the beauty of cutting-edge technology. #recordstore #78rpm #jimmystewart #disney #winniethepooh #aamilne #oldrecords #recordalbums #book #bookish #booknerd #bookgeek #bookstagram #yearofthebook #childrensbooks #1930s #oldbooks #booklover #mycollection #louisprima #philsilvers #broadway #soundtrack #rsd
