23 August 2012
Martin Moir Donation
The British Library is fortunate to be the recipient of a collection of more than 500 very rare recordings built up over many years by the well known record collector and dealer, Martin Moir and donated by him and Kay Helena Scholastica Parkes.
Mr Moir ran The Gramophone Exchange in Wardour Street for many years and as a result a considerable number of rare discs passed though his hands, many into his own personal collection. The Library has acquired not only rare shellac 78rpm discs, but LPs and CDs as well. The CDs include many unusual releases on the American MCA label and other short-lived or hard to find foreign labels such as Pilz, Urania, Arlecchino (a series of recordings by the great conductor Herman Abendroth), Stradivarius and Deutsche Schallplatten.
Classical highlights on shellac include eleven early Caruso discs including five extremely rare early blue label Zonophones whilst on vinyl there are such unusual labels as the Westminster Laboratory Series, Concert Hall, Chamber Music Society, Plymouth, Westminster, Ades, Sine Qua Non, Amadeo and Remington. Mr Moir collected certain classical artists such as violinist Peter Rybar whose LPs are very hard to find, and conductor Robert Heger, while for a Japanese client he used to acquire any recording he could find of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Other rarities include a Danish EMI LP of singer Vilhelm Herold (1865-1937) in test pressings and unpublished recordings made between 1904 and 1908.
There is a curious format of LP on the Trimicron label, promoted as a ‘triple play disc’ with one hour per side containing Beethoven’s Third and Sixth Symphonies plus an overture.
However, the collection is not only of classical recordings; it is an eclectic mix of diverse popular, classical, jazz, blues, music hall, world music, spoken word and many curiosities such as an Adolf Hitler speech from 1933 on two ten inch German shellac discs, The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce on LP and The Investigator which was a radio play written by Reuben Ship and first broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The play lampooned the actions of the US House Committee on Un-American Activities and Senator Joseph McCarthy. There is a cardboard picture postcard disc from CBS Auravision of excerpts from Richard M. Nixon’s nomination acceptance speech of August 8, 1968 and three LPs of Trujillo Merengues (Dominican political songs).
Jazz discs on shellac include a series of recordings on the Melodisc label containing some of the Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts while an important collection of 24 LPs on the sought after Clef Records label include the Jam Session series and further recordings by such jazz greats as Lester Young, Flip Phillips, Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton. Fifteen shellac discs from the Vocalion Swing Series filled many gaps in the Library’s holdings. There are also rare blues records including a very rare early American Columbia disc of Blind Willie Johnson. Other shellac discs appear on such desirable labels as Actuelle, Zonophone, Edison, Okeh and Gennett. British music hall star Marie Lloyd turns up on the Ariel label whilst Stanley Holloway appears on the rare Dubrico label.
There is also a collection of 31 seven-inch Berliner and early Gramophone Company discs one of which is a very scarce recording of bird imitator Charles Mildare recorded on the 29th May 1900. One possibly unique disc is of a private recording of film producer and founder of Universal Pictures Carl Laemmle giving a ‘pep’ talk to his employees.
The Moir collection is unique for the range of material it encompasses, the diverse styles of music and performance and the rarity of many of the discs. Mr Moir was honoured with the unveiling of a plaque in the British Library Conservation Centre in 2012. All of his donated recordings can be found by searching the catalogue using his full name of Martin James Gordon Moir.