Research & Resources
What do we know about the earliest sound recordings? What do they look like? In what context were they created? How were they made? In what form have they survived? These and other questions are answered through our series of facsimiles, primary texts and translations, and working papers.
Facsimiles
Facsimiles offer immediate visual access to our source materials. Many are derived from our high definition scans of primary documents; others are reprints of long unavailable texts. The first six facsimiles trace the invention and development of airborne sound recording via the inventor’s own handwritten documents.
1. Principes de Phonautographie (1857) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
Here Scott gives his first account of the phonautograph and offers as documentation his very first experiments.
2.Brevet d’Invention (1857) and Certificat d’Addition (1859) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
Scott’s only drawings of his phonautographs survive in these patent documents.
3. Graphie du Son (1857) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
Scott tells of his invention’s progress six months after Principes de Phonautographie.
4. M. Scott’s Procedures for the Graphic Fixation of the Voice (1857) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
Jules Lissajous’ Report to the Society (1858) – Jules Lissajous
Phonautographe et fixation graphique de la voix (1859) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, ed. François Moigno
The complete Scott dossier preserved by the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale – the society of prominent men who worked with Scott in 1857 to develop his invention. We have also included the society's formal assessment of the phonautograph's capabilities and an influential 1859 edition of Scott's 'Fixation Graphique de la Voix.'
5. Fixation et Transcription du Chant (1860) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
Scott presented this album of phonautograms made in March and April 1860 to Professor Victor Regnault from “his devoted and grateful servant and student”.
6. Inscription automatique des sons de l’air au moyen d’une Oreille artificielle (1861) – Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville
Scott presented these materials to the Académie des Sciences de l’Institut de France to document his ongoing work in phonautography. This deposit and Regnault’s album contain Scott’s most technically-adept recordings.
Primary Texts and Translations
Primary Texts and Translations place key writings conveniently at the researcher's fingertips for study and consultation.
1. The Phonautographic Manuscripts of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (2009) – Patrick Feaster
This publication offers transcriptions of the texts of all Scott manuscripts dedicated specifically to phonautography in both the original French (annotated to show textual variants) and a strict French-to-English translation.
Working Papers
Active
All working papers to date have been superseded by facsimiles and primary texts and translations.
Retired
1. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s “Principes de Phonautographie”
Superseded by The Phonautographic Manuscripts of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and First Sounds Facsimile No. 1, Principes de Phonautographie (1857)
2. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s 1857 Phonautograph Patent and 1859 Certificate of Addition
Superseded by The Phonautographic Manuscripts of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and First Sounds Facsimile No. 2, Brevet d’Invention (1857) and Certificat d’Addition (1859)
3. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s “Fixation Graphique de la Voix”
Superseded by The Phonautographic Manuscripts of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and Phonautographe et fixation graphique de la voix (1859) in First Sounds Facsimile No. 4
4. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s 1861 Communication to the Académie des Sciences
Superseded by The Phonautographic Manuscripts of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville and First Sounds Facsimile No. 6, Inscription automatique des sons de l’air au moyen d’une Oreille artificielle (1861)