His Master's Voice: The Perfect Portable Gramophone

Rating:
Summary: Very useful book, packed with information and great graphics
Review: Dave Cooper has produced a valuable reference work about the portable spring-motored HMV gramophone (phonograph), and a quite beautiful one at that. This is not a subject that has been treated before with such lustrous detail. The story begins in the mid-1920s and finishes as late as 1960 or so (perhaps later if one considers models manufactured in India). All of the models have been illustrated or photographed with their respective color and other model variations (my favorite is the De Luxe Model 101 with crocodile leatherette exterior). Very useful information is detailed for each model, such as mechanical or stylistic variations through the production histories, which make it easy to date your own machine (my red 102 is from about 1950, it turns out). And some very unusual machines are illustrated as well, made for Asian markets or special orders.

The only flaw I can find is the included CD, somewhat of a gimmick, but one which had potential, including British and American pop music from the 20s-30s. The transfers, unfortunately, are not good, a combination of being over-filtered and having unfortunate distortion (perhaps worn records were being overcompensated-for?).

Anyway, buy it for the book. And you can't beat Amazon's price.