Some of Edison’s earliest voice recordings of famous Britons from 1888

Really eerie listening to these moments captured in time 136 years ago when recording equipment was basically ‘unheard’ of. I don’t think many of these people would ever have thought their voices would be heard around the globe at just the click of a mouse 100 years into the future.

The voices of Robert Browning, Arthur Sullivan, Florence Nightingale, a trumpeter from the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava, to major political figures like William Gladstone and Queen Victoria.

This really still qualifies as a mechanical invention at the time, but one which had a more significant impact than others, as it brought the ability to us to perceive something from way back with our senses. Prior to this, there was of course photography, but maybe we have become too used to seeing the many photographs that circulate today from way back when.

Hearing an actual voice recording, is to me closer to it being a real experience. The manner of speech, too, is pleasant to behold today when we have become so used to rushed speech, slang, abbreviations, etc.

Listen at youtube.com/watch?v=BrXUcEh0nc…
#Blog, #history, #technology, #vintage