Rainer E. Lotz    Online Discography                                                                                           PARLOPHON / PARLOPHONE

Short company history

     Since the end of 1903 or the beginning of 1904, Carl Lindström G.m.b.H. in Berlin built talking machines under the name "Parlophon"; the entry in the trademark register took place on 9 December 1904 - also for records. The Lindström company logo in the form of a letter "L" resembling the English pound sign with two crossbars in front of an outside horn machine, and enclosed by three concentric circles, was registered by Lindström in Berlin, in 1907, for both machines and records.

     Only with the takeover of the Beka company in 1910 Lindström actually began with the production of its own records, which were marketed from January 1911 as "Parlophon-Record" (30cm diameter, at the price of 3- Mk.). At the same time, the production of 30cm Beka records was discontinued. The figurative label design depicting a young woman in front of a horn gramophone was also registered for protection in 1911.

Apparently the name Parlophon was not protected abroad. Between 1906 and 1910 Lieban & Co, also based in Berlin,  distributed a 25cm label called "Disque Parlophone" in Belgium, using masters from Anker and Lyrophon. In France around 1910 there was another label of this name, the pressings (29cm diameter) used material of La Semeuse. In Spain there was a “Parlofon Español” using Homophon masters, and even a “Disque Parlofone”. Therefore Lindström’s own Parlophon material was initially distributed in France under the name Lutetia (the Latin name for Paris). In 1913, Lindström also acquired Lieban’s. From now on Parlophon-Record could be sold world-wide.

     After WWI Lindström used the name “Parlophon” for 25cm records as well, though the relevant trademark was not registered until December 1928. The first of these records were released for export markets - for West Africa as early as 1926, in Sweden from 1927.

     At home in Germany the first 25cm Parlophon records were not released until 1928 in a B.12000 series. There were also Parlophon labels earmarked for Austria and Czechoslovakia, starting with re-issues of old pre-war Beka recordings from the 1910-1912 period. Parlophon records were also pressed in foreign record factories belonging to the Lindström Group, such as Argentina, Greece, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, USA. In some instances records were spelled “Parlophone” for easier pronunciation.

     Since the union with Columbia in 1926, occasionally Columbia material appeared on Parlophon. With the acquisition of Lindström by EMI in 1931, the 30cm Parlophon label was discontinued in Germany. From now on the anglicized “Parlophone” records were pressed mainly in the UK, and plants abroad (such as Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, India, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland). The last 78s were pressed in 1968.

     In Tsarist Russia illegal pirate pressings were offered under the name “Parlophon” or “Parlophon Monarch Record” or “International Parlophon Record”.

Introductory notes:
     The GHT (Gesellschaft für historische Tonträger, Society of  Historical Recordings, Vienna, http://www.phonomuseum.at/) regularly conducts conference meetings of international discographers and serious record collectors. At the "9th Internationaler Diskografentag" (20-24 May 2008, Immenstadt, Germany) it was decided to focus on the hitherto neglected  “Lindström Story". This website is an attempt to provide an overview and rough dating table for all releases on the Parlophon labels. Due to the complicated history of company mergers and corporate identities, this list also covers - at least for the time being - labels that were  controlled by EMI London, after they acquired Lindström.

Acknowledgements and sources:
Rinus Blijleven (Netherlands), Suresh Chandvankar (India), Du Jun Min (China), Björn Englund (Sweden), Mojtaba Ghiasvand (Iran), Sanyaya Jayaratne (Sri Lanka), Michael Kinnear (Australia), Sunny Mathew (India), James Mitchell (Australia/Thailand), Eddie Shaw (UK), Paul Vernon (UK/USA), Jonathan Ward (USA), Christian Zwarg (Germany)

Parlophon catalog and order numbers:   UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Parlophon-catalog-numbers.htm

The setup is as follows

Catalog numbering block - Category or Prefix - Country or Language - Diameter (cm) - Date/Years - Country where pressed  - Colour of Label - Comments

The absence of a pefix is denoted by "-".

Information such as label colours can often only be derived from physical autopsy of the artifacts. The present overview uses colour identifications that need to be standardized (especially: brown, red. red-brown. brown-red, maroon, violet, lilac, purple). The absence of a pefix is denoted by "-".

Parlophon labels:  

Parlophon-label-images.htm

If you have additions or corrections: Please contact us by e-mail: rainer-lotz@gmx.de