The Phonograph’s Salutation

"The Phonograph’s Salutation"

“The Phonograph’s Salutation” (1888, 1891), a poem written and recited onto record by Horatio Nelson Powers, was first “published” as an audio recording onto a wax cylinder in 1888, with the print text of the poem included on a pamphlet that was made to accompany the cylinder. The cylinder and accompanying print version were then sent across the Atlantic Ocean from Orange, New Jersey, where the recording was made, to London, England, where it was used to promote the capacities of Edison’s new perfected phonograph as a means of creating audible correspondence, or, phonograms. 

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