Home > Arts, literature and performance > Early spoken word recordings

These recordings provide a fascinating review of the era of spoken word audio that preceded the advent of long-playing records and tapes. Linguaphone recordings courtesy of Linguaphone. More.

These recordings can be played by anyone in the UK.

All recordings on this site are governed by licence agreements.

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• English Conversation: At the Tobacconist's

  English Conversation: At the Tobacconist's: Issued as part of the Linguaphone series 'English Conversation' . Original issue number: LINGUAPHONE ENGLISH EC 20E; matrix number: EC20E

• English Conversation: The Restaurant

  English Conversation: The Restaurant: Issued as part of the Linguaphone series 'English Conversation' . Original issue number: LINGUAPHONE ENGLISH EC 10E; matrix number: EC10E

• Dagger Speech from 'Macbeth'

  Dagger Speech from 'Macbeth': From Act II, Scenes 1 and 2. Starts 'Go bid thy mistress ... ' and ends ' ... Macbeth shall sleep no more'. Original issue number: HMV D 372; matrix number: 4502f 01039

• Lord Byron's 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'

  Lord Byron's 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage': Issued as part of the Linguaphone series 'English Literary' (first series) . Original issue number: LINGUAPHONE ENGLISH EE 20; matrix number: EE 20

• Francis Bacon's 'Of Studies'

  Francis Bacon's 'Of Studies': Issued as part of the Linguaphone series 'English Literary' (first series). Original issue number: LINGUAPHONE ENGLISH EE 1