Caedmon Records
| Caedmon Audio | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Barbara Holdridge, Marianne Roney |
| Distributor(s) | HarperAudio |
| Genre | Spoken Word |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Official website | Harper Audio |
Caedmon Audio and HarperCollins Audio are record label imprints of HarperCollins Publishers that specializes in audiobooks and other literary content. Formerly Caedmon Records, the name was changed when the label switched to CD-only production. Its marketing tag-line was Caedmon: a Third Dimension for the Printed Page.
Caedmon was a pioneer in the audiobook business, it was the first company to sell spoken work recordings to the public and has been called the "seed" of the audiobook industry. Caedmon was formed in New York in 1952 by college graduates Barbara Holdridge and Marianne Roney. Their first release was a collection of poems by Dylan Thomas as read by the author. The B-side contained A Child's Christmas in Wales which was added as an afterthought - the story was obscure and Thomas himself couldn't remember its title when asked what to use to fill up the LP's B-side - but this recording went on to become one of his most loved works, and launched Caedmon into a successful company. The original 1952 recording was a 2008 selection for the United States National Recording Registry, stating it is "credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States".
The company went on to record other notable writers reading their own works, such as W. H. Auden, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and many more. The label expanded further to encompass other types of spoken word recordings, including children's stories, speeches, plus English- and foreign-language classics. Theater performances were also staged for the label, starring either the Shakespeare Recording Society or the Theatre Recording Society, depending on the playwright. These performances included many famous actors and actresses, including Anthony Quayle, Claire Bloom, Richard Burton, Albert Finney, John Gielgud, Siobhán McKenna, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Felix Aylmer, Paul Scofield, Alec McCowen, Donald Pleasence, Ralph Richardson, Max Adrian and Maggie Smith among others. Other notable readers for the label included Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, and Louis Jourdan.
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