Black Diamond Bell Brand Lyric: Steel and Wound Strings. National Musical String Company Catalogue, together with Nine Original Photographs of the Company's Workers, circa 1909-17

(National Musical String Company; William R. McClelland, Sole Owner)

Published by National Musical String Company, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1909

About this Item

Folio (9" x 12"). Stapled quarter cloth color pictorial wrappers with cover title: "Catalogue of Steel & Wound Strings". 56, [3]pp., and ten preliminary leaves. With a few printed slips tipped in, and some notations with price changes, etc. Illustrated from photographs, including full-page color lithographic illustrations. Produced by the printing plant of the National Musical String Company at New Brunswick. The cloth spine is partially split along the back joint, the bottom third of one text page (pp.52-53) has been cut out, else near fine. Accompanying the catalogue are nine original gelatin sliver photographs, consisting of two loose prints (8 ¾" x 7") reproduced in catalogue: of women operating machinery in the "Automatic Looping Department" and "Winding Department"; and six mounted (10" x 8") prints (three of women and three of men) working in various other departments. The photographs, one of which is dated in the image (1909), were taken by I.S. Van Derveer of New Brunswick, with his ink stamp on the back of the two loose unmounted prints. Founded in 1897, when the firm was purchased by William R. McClelland in 1917 it had grown into the largest plant in the world devoted to the manufacture of musical strings. It employed over 150 workers, primarily women, to manufacture musical strings known for their "precision and accuracy," from cord, silk, steel, and cat gut. Its two world-famous brands of musical strings, Bell and Black Diamond, were made for every type of stringed instrument. The company's site located along the Raritan River Railroad is now a National Historic Landmark. A beautifully produced and detailed scarce surviving catalogue: *OCLC* locates no copies; together with nine rare original photographs of the Company's workers. Seller Inventory # 542329

Bibliographic Details

Title: Black Diamond Bell Brand Lyric: Steel and ...

Publisher: National Musical String Company, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Publication Date: 1909

Condition: Near Fine