May 1939 GRAMOPHONE Magazine - a 78RPM Dreambook--a time machine into the most intense and committed era of classical music.

I've had a stack of these magazines for a long time, and I love to just browse through them, letting them create a Spotify playlist for me as I stream Artur Schnabel, Friedrich Schorr, Chaliapin, Kreisler, Furtwangler, Toscanini, Barbirolli--not to mention the composers who were the living, working, latest news--Stravinsky, Bartok, Ravel, Strauss, Delius, Vaughn Williams, and on and on. 

I probably should have included more of the period advertising in these pictures, since they're remarkable, and will fascinate any fan of antique sound--the thorn needles, the Orthophonic breakthrough, the new electrical recordings, and fantastic phonographic wildebeests like the EMG with its horn the size of a small car. 

Meanwhile the music criticism is at a very high level indeed, as edited by Compton Mackenzie, and the fact that it's immersed in its time, and the authors are able to remember performances by previous singers and conductors never even recorded, doesn't mean the aesthetics are invalid--in fact the essays, beautifully-written, give a perspective of the present that it's hard to produce within yourself any other way. It was an enviable time to be a music listener.

The photos will show the condition of the magazine, which I would describe as Good if it were a contemporary item, but at 90 years old has to be considered Very Good...this may officially be "paper ephemera" but the magazine was printed on stock that has certainly remained bright and supple. There are small rips and creases here and there, but this is still well-bound and will keep on giving. 

I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I have.