Royal Purple Amberol phonograph cylinder containing ‘Simon the Cellarer’ by Arthur Middleton, Issue Number 29044, associated with an Edison 'Amberola' phonograph, 1912-1929

This is an example of Royal Purple Amberol cylinder, one of the latest designs made by Thomas Edison in the late 1910s. These cylinders were the same as celluloid coated wax as his Blue Amberols, but they were dyed purple and marketed as higher end recordings. They usually stuck to classical and operatic genres, and the songs are said to have been chosen by Thomas Edison himself.

This cylinder is a recording of ‘Simon the Cellarer’, originally written by composer John Liptrot Hatton (1809-1886) & lyricist William Henry Bellamy (1800-1866) in 1860. It is a British comedic tale of Simon and Dame Margery, a drunken pair of singletons considering marriage – but Simon denies Margery’s advances. This cylinder is an American version of the song by Arthur Middleton (1800-1929), an American opera and bass-baritone singer, said to be the house bass for Edison’s National Phonograph Company.