Vintage Catalogs

[danb]

I recently acquired an origianl brochure for Gibson Junior instruments.. I'm a fan of these nifty old catalogs with their hyperbole and way with words.. here's an example:



Available as 2 500k jpegs here:
Page 1
Page 2

or as a single 1 meg pdf

[danb]

I'm pretty sure that's our friend Lloyd on page 2 holding a TB-5 (second from the left).

Using this as a starting point, I'm very interested in getting scans of *all* the original Gibson catalogs and brochures into the mandolin archives.. as part of an expansion I've been working on for the site. I have probably *just* enough records in the archive to have at least one photo of most instruments and models that have appeared in catalogs etc, and I'd like to start comparing the catalog records with the real thing.

Please get in touch with me via private message if you have any vintage original catalogs you wouldn't mind loaning me for the purpose of scanning them to display at the mandolin archive. I have a fairly good collection of photocopied & reproduction ones, but I'm after relatively clean originals to scan & display!

Happy new year

[Brian Aldridge]

I'm not sure who the girl is, but I believe the fourth guy to the right is Bugsy Segal and the last guy is Al Capone. The first guy may well be a young Henry Kissinger. Seriously though, thanks Dan. Cool stuff indeed.

[UKHABU]

Hi dan - up early for New Year's Day - Happy New Year!
What date is this Catalogue?

[danb]

1924 I think

[Darryl Wolfe]

While we are on this subject..I am interested in a Gibson Catalog N (purchase or loan) Catalog must have the complete and intact foldout cover. If I could borrow one, I could scan and make a new cover for mine. Dan, you can borrow my N and Q

[Strado Len]

Dan:

I think that tenor player may be James (Jimmy) Johnstone.

[Jim Garber]

The first guy is a young Nick Lucas. There is an almost identical photo of him in the Gibson book with a tenor banjo on page 74. I was trying to figure out whether that is a mandolin or a mandola.

The woman pictured is silent film star Priscilla Dean. I think that is what her signature says at the bottom of #the photo.

The guy all the way on the right is none other than Ralph Dexter of New York City #and of Lou Gold's Wigwam Orchestra (who?) I found the identical photo in a reprint of a banjo brochure.

Also, I believe that the 2nd from the left banjoist is not Loar but is Eddie Peabody. He is pictured on the reprint with that exact banjo but in a different pose.

Jim

[MANDOLINMYSTER]

This is an excellent idea. I love all the info those old catalogs have. Unfortunately these items are hard to come by, and even if I found one, I probally could not afford it. So YES, post some of these historicly important pages for all of us to enjoy

[Bradley]

I have a catalog from 1929 which is in really good shape.
It is "1929 catalog R"

I will try to get it scanned locally to share with everyone

[danb]

Excellent, and thanks for the offer Darryl! If any of you are scanning with the intention of my putting copies on the mandolin archive, please scan at 300DPI or so. I'll happily convert pages of emailed jpegs into cleaned-up jpegs & pdf files to host at the mandolin archive. Eventually I want to make a fairly detailed guide of everything that was available when with pictures of the real thing compared to the catalogs.

My plan is to have facing pages on a single scan rather than scanning pages individually, as often the layots span the fold. Once we get going, I'll make a list of what I have, and what I'm still looking for..

[Dave S]

Dan,
I am looking for Gibson "G" page 50 and "J" page 33 which contain quotes and pictures of J.W.Mclouth....can anyone help me?
Dave

[Jim Garber]

Dave S:
Your wish is my command. This is page 33 bottom of Catalog J. I think he very well may be playing your mandolin.

If you want a higher res of this, PM me.

Jim

[Dave S]

That is so awesome!
You have helped me confirm that the person in my quartet photo IS J.W. Mclouth. In fact your picture is the same as the biography picture on page 1 of my post (1906 f4 Artist)
Now... How do I confirm that the F4 in the Quartet photo is the #same mandolin I have?
The mandolin in this picture does not have an alternating pearl and abalone binding and inlaid pickguard... this would put this f4 in this picture around 1910+
Dave

[Wesley]

Warning - Gu***r content ahead. I had once a friend drop by with a pristene 1933 Martin 00-42 that some friends found in a closet. It included the cataloge their dad had ordered the guitar from. The only mark on it was a tiny little check next to the price of the 00-42 - only $115.00. And the OM-45 was priced at $200.00. Can I have one of each please ?