The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society, as the oldest such organization in continuous existence, has amassed a huge amount of information over the years. However this treasury is ephemeral, as it exists in sundry articles, presentation material and members’ memories. This all too often gets consigned to the dustbin of history, and in 2009 as an effort to stem the flow it was decided to start a range of monographs dedicated to bring some of this material together in an easily readable form.
The result was the CLPGS Reference Series. The intention has been to produce two books each quarter, coincident with the publication of the Society’s magazine, For the Record. By the autumn of 2011 twelve titles were available, covering subjects including the restoration of the Edison Gem phonograph, the history of many phonograph cylinder manufacturers, a tribute to giants of jazz and computer searchable lists of gramophone disc and cylinder titles on CD. Many of the books include music CDs, these containing a unique wealth of early records.
